FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web • Hacker News Board

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#281

Post by fauigerzigerk » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 8:39 AM UTC

simondotau wrote: post #271

lurkerasdfh8 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> illegal besides being immoral and a literal F-U to your consumers, it can bring anti trust cases when you are as big as Apple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in But other than that, well, just go celebrate your $2 gain on your APPL stocks despite the fact you were prohibited to call 50% of your friends just so someone couldn't save a few bucks when buying a phone for their teenage kid. Go you!

I think it's funny that Android users are so angry with Apple for not releasing iMessage and FaceTime for Android. How dare Apple not make their communications platforms even more dominant! Not having iMessage on Android is immoral! Not having FaceTime on Android is "a literal F-U" to their customers! I think it's funny because Apple left a decade-long opening for Google to build equally good Android alternatives to…

>I think it's funny that Android users are so angry with Apple for not releasing iMessage and FaceTime for Android.

I don't get the impression that Android users are angry at all. It's me as an iPhone user who is pissed about never being able to use any of these supposedly fantastic services.

I have never used FaceTime and probably never will if it is true that Android/Linux/Windows users cannot initiate FaceTime calls on this new FaceTime web app.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#282

Post by fauigerzigerk » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 8:42 AM UTC

SilverRed wrote: post #162

floatingatoll wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My theory is that FaceTime calls can only be initiated/scheduled from an Apple device. That prevents most of the spam problem, since you won’t be able to initiate a call through web.

This also boosts value for ios users more than the rest. It means an ios user can facetime anyone rather than only ios users while an android users still has to rely on an alternative solution.

I worry that my contacts could feel insulted if they find out I'm contacting them via this sort of "don't call me" communications channel.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#283

Post by gtyras2mrs » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 8:49 AM UTC

afavour wrote: post #188

gambiting wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly 100% feel like this is the main justification for all changes happening with Google products. I swear to god Google Photos changes the entire layout every year for no reason whatsoever. Whatever they change it to isn't better, just different. But the entire website has to be remodelled and your users have to learn the entire website again because.....someone on the UI team has to justify their 6 digit sala…

The transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music has been insane. They rebuilt apps seemingly from the ground up, only without a bunch of features. Meanwhile the actual product has, at best, stood still for about two years now. Meanwhile Spotify are running rings around them.

I have Youtube Music (through Premium) and it's still annoying. Especially when it decides some cover version on Youtube is "for Kids" and then refuses to play in the background. Which is one of the few features actually essential for a music player.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#284

Post by avereveard » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 8:55 AM UTC

lurkerasdfh8 wrote: post #237

bottled_poe wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can't have facetime for android because that will remove the barrier for families to buy Android phones for their kids I might be missing something... Is there something in this that is illegal?

> illegal besides being immoral and a literal F-U to your consumers, it can bring anti trust cases when you are as big as Apple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in But other than that, well, just go celebrate your $2 gain on your APPL stocks despite the fact you were prohibited to call 50% of your friends just so someone couldn't save a few bucks when buying a phone for their teenage kid. Go you!

They could have been in every school and every office by now with a cross platform solution, instead they have zoom&co eating that space. I don't think they're happy about that either.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#285

Post by oaiey » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 8:56 AM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #6

I always use WhatsApp or Instagram for non-work video chatting. FaceTime is completely irrelevant unless you just happen to have your entire social circle using one company's hardware with no exceptions.

That is a regional thing. Depending in which country and circle you live, usage of messengers vary a lot.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#286

Post by dmitriid » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 9:09 AM UTC

cacarr wrote: post #254

josephg wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sure it does - the technical aspects of Google’s products are fantastic. But I’ve been burned enough times now and I just assume anything interesting and new that Google makes will be rebranded / deleted / shunted into a new department in a few years for no reason. Google duo? What about Allo? Is that gchat? Is it related to hangouts? Or was that just a Google plus thing? Does that even still exist? Is duo it rel…

One can understand scepticism, but Duo isn't going anywhere. If you need a FaceTime replacement, just use Duo and put all the rest of that mess out of your mind.

> One can understand scepticism, but Duo isn't going anywhere

"In August 2020, it was reported that Google was planning to eventually replace Google Duo with Google Meet, but would continue to support Duo and "invest in building new features" in the long term"

https://9to5google.com/2020/08/14/sources-google-meet-replac...

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#287

Post by fauigerzigerk » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 9:14 AM UTC

nixy wrote: post #269

lurkerasdfh8 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> illegal besides being immoral and a literal F-U to your consumers, it can bring anti trust cases when you are as big as Apple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in But other than that, well, just go celebrate your $2 gain on your APPL stocks despite the fact you were prohibited to call 50% of your friends just so someone couldn't save a few bucks when buying a phone for their teenage kid. Go you!

To be honest, it is more a F-U to your competitors' customers than to your own. I don't get why Apple creating a feature for their own ecosystem has to be made available to other ecosystems as well. It's not like Face Time is the only video calling solution out there.

>To be honest, it is more a F-U to your competitors' customers than to your own.

Why? As an iPhone user, I am the one who paid for the development of FaceTime, but I can't use it because communications tools require network effects that FaceTime doesn't have. I can't even use it with my wife.

I'm not saying it's somehow illegitimate or even illegal for Apple to do this, but what it tells me is that Apple cares more about hurting competitors than about providing a useful service to its own paying customers.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#288

Post by zarzavat » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 9:21 AM UTC

cacarr wrote: post #252

lotsofpulp wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my family, it was the best video calling option back in 2010-2012 or so, and there was no competition. So all the older people only know how to use Facetime, and no one is going to go through the trouble of teaching them anything else. I also have been embarrassed trying to teach Google's solutions and then Google messing with them over and over, so I won't ever try to introduce a Google service again.

Duo is pretty easy for the old folks on i-devices, in my experience. It's pretty much Google's FaceTime, and isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I think it's actually a bit nicer than FaceTime.

I have only ever heard about Duo on HN. Nobody I know uses it, people outside the US use WhatsApp or Facebook and people inside the US use FaceTime.

Even Hangouts which is abandonware is better promoted than Duo and takes a prominent place in the Gmail UI along with Meet.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#289

Post by distances » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 9:21 AM UTC

cacarr wrote: post #254

josephg wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sure it does - the technical aspects of Google’s products are fantastic. But I’ve been burned enough times now and I just assume anything interesting and new that Google makes will be rebranded / deleted / shunted into a new department in a few years for no reason. Google duo? What about Allo? Is that gchat? Is it related to hangouts? Or was that just a Google plus thing? Does that even still exist? Is duo it rel…

One can understand scepticism, but Duo isn't going anywhere. If you need a FaceTime replacement, just use Duo and put all the rest of that mess out of your mind.

How do you know this? I don't know anyone using it so I've honestly been assuming it's the next to go. I've been using Meet with all my groups as it feels like a corporate solution and thus maybe more stable.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#290

Post by teekert » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 9:35 AM UTC

lurkerasdfh8 wrote: post #237

bottled_poe wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can't have facetime for android because that will remove the barrier for families to buy Android phones for their kids I might be missing something... Is there something in this that is illegal?

> illegal besides being immoral and a literal F-U to your consumers, it can bring anti trust cases when you are as big as Apple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in But other than that, well, just go celebrate your $2 gain on your APPL stocks despite the fact you were prohibited to call 50% of your friends just so someone couldn't save a few bucks when buying a phone for their teenage kid. Go you!

Prohibited? There are many many other options of course. Admittedly, FaceTime is the best I ever used (no echoes, just works, works best over low bandwidth, etc.)