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Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

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Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#91

Post by macintux »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #48
tylerhou wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before COVID most non-remote companies could still function if their VC was broken; now it's impossible without VC.

Is video really that important? Sure it has benefit of being a bit more cozy, but in reality phone is sufficient to discuss work. Screenshare is much more important, especially for knowledge workers.

The problem with phone calls isn't the lack of video, but the lack of a "click here to join the meeting" interface.

Group meetings are much less hassle through Skype, or Teams, or Zoom, or whatever computer-based option you choose, than waiting for everyone to drag out their phones, dial the right number, type in the right meeting code.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#93

Post by tyre »

sooheon wrote: post #85
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.

That's no longer true and hasn't been for years.

Coincidentally I was invited to Slack for user testing a couple years ago. They asked me to sign into slack and as I was going through that said, "you know what's really annoying? When I do this now I have to sign into each workspace." When I signed in, a list of available workspaces appeared.

Turns out I was a user tester for exactly that feature.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#94

Post by macintux »

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 ran into a sequence of really odd behaviors with a Teams meeting this week.

Step 1: click on the "join this meeting" button in Exchange (incorrectly said Skype with my first draft)

Step 2: realize when Teams launches that it has inexplicably taken me to a days-old meeting with a different group

Step 3: see a Teams notification that another co-worker has started the correct meeting

Step 4: click on that notification, hear it ring, and a woman picks up the phone

Step 5: discover that my co-worker had fat-fingered the callback number (he wanted to use his phone for audio), so Teams dialed a complete stranger for me as well as him instead of connecting me to the meeting.

That poor woman must have been so terribly confused.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#95

Post by gchamonlive »

chapium wrote: post #88
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.

To be fair, everyone using Ubuntu saw no problems. But Ubuntu is known to have somewhat deep system customisation. You can't expect someone using Ubuntu to respect the KISS principle. However, this no way justifies how bad it behaved under Arch. You don't see other major application doing the same kind of mess in someone's system.

EDIT: I usually frown upon such comments, but in this case I think I might do that. I have a windows installation for games, I will just use it to run Zoom. If we come to think of it, it IS already running Windows, so Zoom isn't the worse thing running there...

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#96

Post by mullingitover »

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…

Hangouts data point(s): I was just on a conference call a few hours ago with 90+ participants on Hangouts. We've done these numbers routinely at work and we've never had a problem with it.

I dislike and don't trust videoconferencing apps that can't run in the browser, and Zoom goes the extra mile by requiring you to use their sketchy package installer. I'm really enjoying the scrutiny they're getting right now. They should just run in the browser without requiring installation.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#97

Post by anonymoushn »

tyre wrote: post #93
sooheon wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

That's no longer true and hasn't been for years. Coincidentally I was invited to Slack for user testing a couple years ago. They asked me to sign into slack and as I was going through that said, "you know what's really annoying? When I do this now I have to sign into each workspace." When I signed in, a list of available workspaces appeared. Turns out I was a user tester for exactly that feature.

I suppose I hadn't made it to the proper test bucket when I installed Slack earlier this year.

Re: Maybe we shouldn’t use Zoom after all

#98

Post by damontal »

overgard wrote: post #74

Maybe I'm weird, but I find video conferencing really jarring -- id rather just have the audio. The thing to me is that since the camera is offset from the screen, you never make eye contact with the person you're talking to, you both look like you're looking at something else when you're looking at each other. That, and seeing a reflection of every face I make on screen makes me really self conscious. "Do I always l…

I try to look directly at the camera when speaking rather than the image of the other person. Or if you position the laptop camera far enough away it matters less.
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