How the Zoom macOS installer does its job without you clicking ‘install’

Post by drewg123 » Tue, Mar 31, 2020, 1:54 PM UTC

dceddia wrote: post #11

dbbk wrote: post #5

But why are they doing this? What is the benefit?

If I had to guess, it’s an attempt to optimize install conversions. Every multi-step process you ask a user to perform is effectively a (marketing/sales) funnel. Some percentage of people drop off at every step. Maybe Zoom they thought that if they moved the actual installation closer to Step 1, then more people would accomplish it. It’s awfully sneaky though, especially that password dialog.

Post by dbbk » Tue, Mar 31, 2020, 1:56 PM UTC

drewg123 wrote: post #61

dceddia wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I had to guess, it’s an attempt to optimize install conversions. Every multi-step process you ask a user to perform is effectively a (marketing/sales) funnel. Some percentage of people drop off at every step. Maybe Zoom they thought that if they moved the actual installation closer to Step 1, then more people would accomplish it. It’s awfully sneaky though, especially that password dialog.

They could have also made it just work in a web browser without having to use workarounds. That's one of the reasons why I strongly prefer Google Meet and get annoyed at vendors that want me to use solutions that require me to install software.

Post by Wowfunhappy » Tue, Mar 31, 2020, 2:02 PM UTC

zuppy wrote: post #13

t0mas88 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still curious why everyone thinks Zoom "just works" while others don't. Because in an enterprise context it is often hard to download an executable and run it with sufficient permissions. While Google and Microsoft both offer a product that "just works" with only a browser. What makes Zoom more "just works" than that?

they work for your use case. hangouts can’t handle many users (is it 10 the limit?), which is a deal breaker for me. we’ve tried and people couldn’t join the call. if by microsoft you mean teams, i’m not aware of it working without accounts (not an issue for google as most people have google accounts).

Post by Wowfunhappy » Tue, Mar 31, 2020, 2:05 PM UTC

javagram wrote: post #41

microtonal wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understood why Apple still supports the pkg format. It seems a half-baked leftover from the 2000s and even then I was already surprised that there is no way to uninstall things through the macOS GUI. I am not sure if this has changed (I try to avoid pkg files and use Homebrew cask to uninstall such packages), but IIRC you had to list the files with pkgutil on the command-line, remove stuff by hand and then --…

In my experience I’ve seen even technical users (Who were used to windows) struggle with the idea of dragging an .app from an open disk image to the Applications folder. They would end up running the app from the disk image and then getting confused when it disappears after restart.

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Tue, Mar 31, 2020, 2:09 PM UTC

javagram wrote: post #41

microtonal wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understood why Apple still supports the pkg format. It seems a half-baked leftover from the 2000s and even then I was already surprised that there is no way to uninstall things through the macOS GUI. I am not sure if this has changed (I try to avoid pkg files and use Homebrew cask to uninstall such packages), but IIRC you had to list the files with pkgutil on the command-line, remove stuff by hand and then --…

In my experience I’ve seen even technical users (Who were used to windows) struggle with the idea of dragging an .app from an open disk image to the Applications folder. They would end up running the app from the disk image and then getting confused when it disappears after restart.