Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all • Hacker News Board

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#81

Post by nilkn » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:32 AM UTC

dig1 wrote: post #39

y-c-o-m-b wrote: post #6

Reliability goes a long way and Zoom is very reliable, especially considering the recent spike of users. I value privacy, but I think the jury is still out on this company. They need time to react to the public scolding they're enduring as of late. Hopefully things change for the better and they take security more seriously after this. EDIT: A word

Had a meeting tonight with over 50 participants. Screen sharing. Not a single hitch or problem. In the past tried multiple times with Hangouts (dies after you get more than 4 on board), jitsi meet (not good with bad connections), Slack (good luck with video), Hipchat (video doesn't work for more than 3 participants) and Skype (connection drops). On one of my previous gigs, we ditched everything and took Mumble + goog…

BlueJeans works fine with 100+ participants in my experience.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#82

Post by montroser » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:36 AM UTC

tozeur wrote: post #27

The one video chat app alternative no ones talking about because the majority of HNers don’t work in Microsoft shops: Teams, with 44 million DAU.

We've been using https://team.video and loving it.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#83

Post by GolDDranks » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:38 AM UTC

tetrisgm wrote: post #9

I've seen about 10 different articles against Zoom during the past 3 days. I really don't enjoy using Zoom, but the volume and frequency of criticism is odd. Has anyone figured out where it's coming from?

Well, for one datapoint, I had never heard about Zoom before, but had to use it for the first time a week ago. I was appalled of the macOS installer, that behaved like a malware. (No user consent taken before installing, plus why even have an installer where an .app would suffice)

This experience was negative enough, that I have been retweeting some articles about Zoom. It seems that the installer isn't the only problem.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#84

Post by ccktlmazeltov » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:38 AM UTC

tetrisgm wrote: post #9

I've seen about 10 different articles against Zoom during the past 3 days. I really don't enjoy using Zoom, but the volume and frequency of criticism is odd. Has anyone figured out where it's coming from?

short sellers, stock is overvalued at the moment.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#85

Post by sooheon » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:40 AM UTC

dijit wrote: post #58

I have avoided weighing in on all the talk about Zoom recently. Mostly because I'm an outsider, my company does not use Zoom. However I've used Zoom once or twice, for interviews or in one case working with a friend on a pair programming session. At my company we use teams, slack, skype and discord (yes, really). Heres the thing though; The first time I used Zoom I was actually petrified (as I usually am) that I have…

> On-boarding is a enormous part of why Slack is trouncing other instant messaging efforts

Slack's separate sign-ins for each space is strange to me. On a new install, I can't log into my account and automatically be connected to every space I'm registered to.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#86

Post by ccktlmazeltov » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:41 AM UTC

starfallg wrote: post #35

tozeur wrote: post #27

The one video chat app alternative no ones talking about because the majority of HNers don’t work in Microsoft shops: Teams, with 44 million DAU.

True. Most HNers would use Slack, and most would argue that MS Teams is a poor copy of Slack.

If you could pick your app would you choose {workplace, zoom, slack} or {yammer, teams, teams}

You gotta really love pain if you choose the latter one.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#87

Post by gchamonlive » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:45 AM UTC

I used zoom today and the experience from a tech viewpoint is horrifying...

It messed up my PulseAudio settings so bad I could not get my bluetooth headphone working until I started the app again. It really sent shivers down my spine. What the hell is this app doing to my arch installation?

Then it started going in and out of fullscreen. It launched itself back and forth from my workspace. The goddamn app was all over the place.

Not to mention the processing spikes. My CPU which under heavy compiling never goes above 80, was around 90 degrees. At one point I was actually considering opening wireshark to see if it was receiving jobs and cryptomining on my computer.

I am not paranoid, but I am neved using this piece of garbage again in my main installation. It has to be treated like a piece of malicious software that is doing god knows what to your installation. It must be run in a virtual machine, with a NAT separation from the rest of your network, with control over CPU resources and with total isolation from the rest of your config.

It really did NOT behave well.

EDIT: I guess the worst part is that I am kinda expected to use this thing. People in management just decided they were going to use zoom without consulting the tech department. And I can see the appeal. It works for one. It empowers the speaker, detects really well turn taking, and just gives a good general sense of control. But from a tech standpoint is really terrifying. Click detection? Device control hijacking (pulseaudio)? Not respecting aspect and desktop placement? Those are outrageous and I can't see people outside IT understanding these concerns.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#88

Post by chapium » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:47 AM UTC

gchamonlive wrote: post #87

I used zoom today and the experience from a tech viewpoint is horrifying... It messed up my PulseAudio settings so bad I could not get my bluetooth headphone working until I started the app again. It really sent shivers down my spine. What the hell is this app doing to my arch installation? Then it started going in and out of fullscreen. It launched itself back and forth from my workspace. The goddamn app was all ove…

Runs flawlessly on win10 and OSX.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#89

Post by jseliger » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:47 AM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #79

haecceity wrote: post #53

I don't think the average user cares so much about security and privacy as hacker news readers.

Even on HN, plenty of people have differing priorities, and it can vary depending on the context. For me, my work meetings and family meetings aren't sensitive, so encryption isn't a big deal. For my family in particular, the fact that even grandma can click a single link and be looking at her entire family in a matter of seconds is a huge win. We tried WebEx. We tried Teams. Then I suggested we try Zoom, and it was…

The big "problem," if one can call it that, is that Zoom seems to work seamlessly, simply, and reliably, while no one else does.

This is a scenario where one product really works, particularly for non-technical users, and the others don't appear to.

The big feature is "it works." Whoever is behind it appears to understand "death before inconvenience." http://paulgraham.com/road.html. Much open source software never achieves widespread adoption because it is technically impressive but inconvenient or poorly designed to users.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#90

Post by jseliger » Thu, Apr 02, 2020, 1:48 AM UTC

tozeur wrote: post #27

The one video chat app alternative no ones talking about because the majority of HNers don’t work in Microsoft shops: Teams, with 44 million DAU.

I wonder if it has a seamless Mac app for download, as Zoom does. I am poking around their site and don't see an obvious link to it.