Google bans Zoom from employees' computers • Hacker News Board

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#111

Post by StudentStuff » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:01 PM UTC

rad_gruchalski wrote: post #101

tazjin wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Meet is the only one of these that has always worked reliably for me. Doesn't require any strange clients, works in most browsers, never randomly fails to move just some person's audio and so on. Disclaimer: I work for Alphabet, but already held this opinion before I did.

> worked reliably for me Every second time I’m using it, I either don’t hear the other people, or people do not hear me. YMMV.

I couldn't get it to work in Firefox ESR on Debian 10, and audio was consistently choppy for me in Chromium 80 after I went through their forced account creation process. Zoom wouldn't use my camera either in Chromium :c

Jitsi and Google Meet worked by following a link and clicking one popup. Much easier UX

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#112

Post by ghaff » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:01 PM UTC

andreygrehov wrote: post #36

How do people feel about BlueJeans?

Use it. It's "OK." It's integrated with room systems. Use primetime for bigger broadcast-style meetings. However, I've switched to Google Meet for when I set up meetings, in part because it's better integrated with Google Calendar so it's just easier (fewer steps).

I'm not sure one is necessarily better than the other once you're in the call but I prefer Meet for the Calendar integration.

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#113

Post by cameronbrown » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:03 PM UTC

hacker_newz wrote: post #66

I interviewed at Google a while back for an SRE position working with the Hangouts team. My first interview was in another office and the audio in Hangouts session would not start. We ending up having to move on to the next interview. I'm not surprised even Google employees don't use it.

> I'm not surprised even Google employees don't use it.

I wouldn't go that far - there's something like 250k hangout meetings per day at Google[0] and that was before Covid.

[0] https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/how-google-went-all... (2017)

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#114

Post by StudentStuff » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:04 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #84

crazygringo wrote: post #77

I mean, Google bans MS Office from employees' computers as well (with special-case exceptions), so they use Docs instead. Since Google has Meet (Hangouts), this isn't really surprising. It mainly sucks for when an employee (especially in sales) has a call with a client that uses Zoom and can't use Meet, because then you're forced to dial in, which just puts you at a disadvantage when everyone can see everyone's face…

> because then you're forced to dial in, which just puts you at a disadvantage when everyone can see everyone's face except yours. Can't they just participate in a call from the browser? I thought Google only banned the application/app, not usage of the service altogether.

The browser version of Zoom seems to require a free account be created, and it was audio only in Chromium, I could not get it to use my camera. Zoom refused to work in Firefox.

Jitsi and Google Meet seem to work in both browsers, without requiring me to log in.

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#115

Post by rurban » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:04 PM UTC

azurezyq wrote: post #34

_delirium wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's surprisingly common for people not to own a non-work computer other than a phone/tablet, especially now that prevalence of desktop computers is declining. Some people do still have a home desktop, or a separate personal laptop, but a lot of people I know don't. Or they might have one but it's a shared family computer that's mostly used by the kids, while parents use their work laptops.

Not surprising at all. I'm also among them. Reasons are: 1. performant laptops are expensive. 2. If not for work, most of the time you don't need it.

Like 400€ for the latest Ryzen 3,which blows away all my desktop PC's? Lenovo E495.

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#116

Post by arrty88 » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:04 PM UTC

Zoom's issues are fixable... unlike a hardware defect like the macbook pro keyboard and the iphone antenna that didn't work well... Zoom is clearly better than the alternatives and has my 80 year old uncle talking about it. This too shall pass.

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#117

Post by jefftk » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:05 PM UTC

"Employees who have been using Zoom to stay in touch with family and friends can continue to do so through a web browser or via mobile."

(Disclosure: I work for Google, speaking only for myself)

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#118

Post by cosmotic » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:05 PM UTC

NikolaNovak wrote: post #100

softwaredoug wrote: post #30

God please don't make me use a non-zoom video conferencing tool! I have used about a dozen over the years in my role as a consultant, and Zoom has been by far the most reliable. I’m hopeful lots of good can come from the scrutiny, but please Zoom get your act together so I don’t have to use some other buggy thing that doesn’t actually work.

It's fascinating to see people's experiences. I've been using WebEx in enterprise/corporate environment for couple of years intensively, and it "just works". I can download desktop client, but I can also just run it on browser. Zoom always wants to install weird clients that violate policies and cause my corporate laptops to refuse or bork. I recognize my experience may be a minority one, but I'm surprised, genuinely…

softwaredoug is probably referring to an older version of those other conference packages.

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#119

Post by cameronbrown » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

mulmen wrote: post #38

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Googlers don't use Zoom for company work. It was banned as in it can no longer be installed on corp laptops.

Right but it's also astonishing that was allowed before. If it's not needed for work why would it be installed? Why would any non-work software be allowed on corp laptops?

Generally you can install anything, but the responsibility is on you though. It's not uncommon to see people with Steam, Spotify or other personal software too.

Re: Google bans Zoom from employees' computers

#120

Post by kryogen1c » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

lanevorockz wrote: post #106

softwaredoug wrote: post #30

God please don't make me use a non-zoom video conferencing tool! I have used about a dozen over the years in my role as a consultant, and Zoom has been by far the most reliable. I’m hopeful lots of good can come from the scrutiny, but please Zoom get your act together so I don’t have to use some other buggy thing that doesn’t actually work.

There is the thing that all Zoom keys are kept and maintained in China. I wonder if this is not the main concern.

got a source for that claim? I work in IT and we use zoom and I have never read that in any article.

not that we save anything from zoom that I need to be concerned about key storage for, but concerning nonetheless.