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Launch HN: Gather.Town (YC S19) – Spatial video chat for remote teams

gather.town

141–150 of 163 posts

Re: Launch HN: Gather.Town (YC S19) – Spatial video chat for remote teams

#142
post #16

My boss got excited about this a few weeks back, but none of the rest of the office wanted to really use it (and we had some issues with video/audio feeds). I don't really get the idea: what problem does this solve that Slack/Zoom/etc don't? The whiteboard seems OK but no software can solve the problem that drawing with a touchpad sucks. Am I going to have to schedule meeting rooms again? Forget finding the right Zoo…

I think this is more geared towards orgs that are not really remote. They're just replicating the office environment online. In order for this to work I'd have to work all day with a camera on my face, if I understood this correctly. This sounds awful to me. I do think this would be really cool/fun for events, but for day-to-day work, I'd absolutely hate it.

> In order for this to work I'd have to work all day with a camera on my face, if I understood this correctly. This sounds awful to me.

Yeah I wasn't sure, is that what they're suggesting as the use-case? Always-on video and mic sounds awful, even if most of the time no one sees it. My home is not my office, my "home office" is just a desk in my living room and I share this space. So opening a window to my home is, frankly, unwelcome.

Re: Launch HN: Gather.Town (YC S19) – Spatial video chat for remote teams

#143
post #87
post #38

Aww man, I've been ideating around this exact idea for MSFT teams for a while now. (not like I had any time or buy-in for it) BRILLIANT. There is always a faint sense of jealousy and vindication when I see an idea being executed so close to what a person has been pushing for. Congrats ! I think you're onto something. I would readily pay for this if I could get my entire team to adopt it. (which I'd say is nearly impo…

Thanks so much! Curious why you think it would be nearly impossible to get your team on it?

partly because I work for a large company that is deeply integrated with MSFT teams. Also, at that size, we don't usually have such team level autonomy. Lastly, they don't want us routing any information through a 3rd party. Confidentiality and security is critical.

In general, mature teams do not adopt entirely new communication styles just because they are better. It usually takes something that is either revolutionary (eg: when Slack first got popular as a move away from email). Or, it is a seamless addition to what they already have and doesn't rock the ship.

Re: Launch HN: Gather.Town (YC S19) – Spatial video chat for remote teams

#144
post #40
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And High Fidelity: https://www.highfidelity.com/

And Movement: https://www.movement.fm/spaces And MakeSpace: https://makespace.fun/ And GroupRoom: https://grouproom.io/

And Remo: https://remo.co

Re: Launch HN: Gather.Town (YC S19) – Spatial video chat for remote teams

#146
post #5

Congratulations on the launch! Thoughts on competitors like Gatherly? https://www.gatherly.io/

This and other links look great, and more natural/simpler than the 2d board. But gatherly doesn't seem ready to serve my family and I if I have to request info (I can't just sign up). What's the best, simple app like this that allows easy subconversations that my family, parents, other non-technical folks could easily join? I don't mind paying to host but it has to be easy for them to log in and use.

You should try Remo https://remo.co It’s very easy to branch out into sub conversations and targeted at non technical folks.

Re: Launch HN: Gather.Town (YC S19) – Spatial video chat for remote teams

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you want Discord.

If Discord had the possibility of Slack's channel system (everyone can create one, you choose which ones to join) then it'd be perfect. For a very small remote organization, Discord would definitely be my go-to choice to start with, but privacy concerns and the fact that it stops working well with more people involved would eventually be a blocker.

Hey, my team and I were inspired by this exact use case and have been building something on our own. If you're interested please shoot me an email at xzhao254[at]gmail I would love to get your thoughts on it and maybe have you try it out.

Re: Launch HN: Gather.Town (YC S19) – Spatial video chat for remote teams

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you want Discord.

It is quite staggering how Discord don't have a business plan yet. Makes me think there must be something up with their security, I can't think of any other reason why they wouldn't give private paid plans for businesses. There are a LOT of people who would jump over from slack.

Well.. They kinda do With Nitro and a properly configured server, it makes a damn fine slack replacement
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