Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't sign language less efficient than typing? Are there conditions where you are on a video call with a keyboard in front of you, where you prefer to use sign language over typing? Or is the use case when you're away from a keyboard? Would it help to have text-to-speech built into the video software?
What's your point? The same can be said with regards to oral communication. People who communicate in sign language do so in a very expressive way, a way that pure text cannot capture. You should go out of your way to experience this for yourself.
We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
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Re: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
#22I thought Jitsi was the FOSS alternative. Surprised there's a new FOSS contender.
Re: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
#23I actually had to read this whole thing twice because the first time I thought they genuinely wrote all that without even suggesting a single FOSS alternative to zoom. They don't actually suggest one so much as effervescently mention one (BigBlueButton) near the end without describing it at all or even indicating that, yes, this is the what they want people to drop Zoom for. No wonder there's no author listed, this i…
Re: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
#24As a Deaf person using sign language, Zoom is essential for virtual meetings as its the only platform I've used that consistently delivers acceptable video performance. Teams suffers from random issues that just crops up out of nowhere eg videos going blank, sudden reductions in bittate, periods of excessive dropped frames, etc. Google's platform (whatever its called these days) struggles to cope with multiple videos…
Isn't sign language less efficient than typing? Are there conditions where you are on a video call with a keyboard in front of you, where you prefer to use sign language over typing? Or is the use case when you're away from a keyboard? Would it help to have text-to-speech built into the video software?
Re: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
#25As a Deaf person using sign language, Zoom is essential for virtual meetings as its the only platform I've used that consistently delivers acceptable video performance. Teams suffers from random issues that just crops up out of nowhere eg videos going blank, sudden reductions in bittate, periods of excessive dropped frames, etc. Google's platform (whatever its called these days) struggles to cope with multiple videos…
Re: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
#26As a Deaf person using sign language, Zoom is essential for virtual meetings as its the only platform I've used that consistently delivers acceptable video performance. Teams suffers from random issues that just crops up out of nowhere eg videos going blank, sudden reductions in bittate, periods of excessive dropped frames, etc. Google's platform (whatever its called these days) struggles to cope with multiple videos…
Teams and Zoom suffer from (hyper)scaling issues. They have way more resources than you and I but when lots of people decide to use it simultaneously then it will suffer - death by a thousand or millions of cuts.
If you can self host on a reasonable platform then you will almost certainly get a far better experience than any big jobbie. You will need suitable internets for your server too. You will want 10-30ms latency and roughly 5Mbs-1 per attendee for 1080p. So for 25 users, you will need something like 150Mbs-1.
For you, I would get your mates together and self-host. Surely you have a nerd who could run the thing for you? If not, then farm it out but do be careful.
Obviously, where you actually are is rather important. I'm in the UK and will have rather different advice for a substantially different environment.
Re: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
#27Standards exist for video conferencing, but Zoom refuses to work with them simply because they think their market position will allow it.
Re: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
#28As a Deaf person using sign language, Zoom is essential for virtual meetings as its the only platform I've used that consistently delivers acceptable video performance. Teams suffers from random issues that just crops up out of nowhere eg videos going blank, sudden reductions in bittate, periods of excessive dropped frames, etc. Google's platform (whatever its called these days) struggles to cope with multiple videos…
Can you try and comment on meet.jit.si ?
The codebase of Jitsi is quite a tangled tightly coupled mess, exhibiting poor coding practices in Java. As a result, its performance is subpar, and it struggles to scale efficiently, especially in larger conferences. Even achieving consistent performance in smaller gatherings can prove to be a challenge. With respect to deployment, thats also another complicated mess. Browser version upgrades also often completely break the platform, requiring waiting for fixes then having to update and redeploy your entire system end to end because, as mentioned above, its very highly tightly coupled. You simply cannot compare this to native apps like zoom or teams.
While Jitsi might suffice for casual interactions among a small circle of friends, it pales in comparison to more reliable platforms like Zoom or even Discord. For those seeking a dependable alternative to platforms like Zoom, don't even bother with Jitsi as it falls far far short and will be a massive time and support money sink for your corporation.
Re: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
#29Remember when FOSS community discussions occurred in archived mailing lists crawled by search engines? How quaint!
Now your average project invites everyone to their "Discord server", the discussions equivalent of a black hole.
Re: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”
#30As a Deaf person using sign language, Zoom is essential for virtual meetings as its the only platform I've used that consistently delivers acceptable video performance. Teams suffers from random issues that just crops up out of nowhere eg videos going blank, sudden reductions in bittate, periods of excessive dropped frames, etc. Google's platform (whatever its called these days) struggles to cope with multiple videos…
The OSS solutions include: Jitsi, Bigbluebutton (BBB) and Galène. I toyed with Jitsi when the pandemic hit but was battered into using Teams instead. It was very quick in my estimation. Teams and Zoom suffer from (hyper)scaling issues. They have way more resources than you and I but when lots of people decide to use it simultaneously then it will suffer - death by a thousand or millions of cuts. If you can self host…
"Do a part time job as an IT admin" is not a great answer. "Here's a hosting company that charges a reasonable price for a reasonable TOS" would be much more usable