(FORTUNE Magazine) – Unless doodling brings us closer to heaven, some meetings can be a real waste of time. Since time is money, someone has finally come up with a way to show how much a meeting costs -- and, maybe, wastes. Meet the Meeting Meter. The Meter is computer software, available in IBM-PC and Mac versions, that lets every participant in a meeting enter his or her salary (secretly, of course). There's a place to add additional costs, such as rent. Then start the clock, and the Meter tallies the total cost of a gathering, including time spent on unfocused presentations and the like. Of course, some meetings actually achieve something, and consultant Bernie DeKoven, 52, who commissioned the software, doubts whether you can equate the cost of a meeting and its value. Still, the desire to know the pricetag seems to have hit home. While no large corporations admit they use the Meter systemwide, individuals working for AMR's American Airlines, Eastman Kodak, Texaco, and even the FBI have bought the $40 software, which is available from DeKoven's Palo Alto Institute for Better Meetings. In the spirit of good citizenship, DeKoven is offering an updated edition to Uncle Sam, at no charge. The General Services Administration approved the freebie -- presumably after a meeting.