I really don't like the Mute/Unmute button in Zoom. It shows a button showing a crossed out mic with "Unmute" below it. And the other state for this button is a mic with "Mute" below it. The button's icon and text are always opposite of each other. It is so confusing. I always have to think twice before clicking it.
How Zoom works [slides]
61–70 of 149 posts
Re: How Zoom works [slides]
#62Rumor was always that Skype used to have E2E, then Microsoft bought it for a susprising amount of money and as first action removed server-side encryption... And therefore of course the rumor/assumption thay the NSA or similar was in the back funding the deal.
AFAIK it wasn't about E2E encryption, but P2P calls, and mega-peers which would serve as ad-hoc "servers" for coordination of other clients. That was dropped when Microsoft bought Skype and instead switched it to using central servers. However, I notice these days that calls are P2P, meaning I see in my PC's connections the IP of the person I'm talking to, so not sure what's going on there...
My guess is that the signaling servers are centralized. You need those for connection establishment between two peers. Once they 'know' each other, they may aswell talk to each other directly. Routing all calls through central servers would yield an enormous bill every month. On the other hand, it is sometimes necessary as direct communication between peers may not be possible (NAT, firewalling). IIRC, a central server is also required for multi-party calls.
Re: How Zoom works [slides]
#63A large part seems to be about the invite feature and UI, which is something that I never encountered because I wouldn't even think about inviting people from inside a video conference software. Passing links around in other channels seems far more useful to me, and is the only way I access or share meetings. And Skype, where you first have to find the people you want to talk with is much, much more annoying there th…
> I wouldn't even think about inviting people from inside a video conference software.
I think the intent in the skype model is "make the other end ring like a phone call" - sometimes that's what you want, other times it isn't.
Re: How Zoom works [slides]
#64Title is "How Zoom works". It's a good article with valid points but nothing about Skype. The editorialized title "Turns out Zoom isn't all that different to Skype after all" has no appreciation for how hostile Skype's technology has become in the past 10 years. It went from nicely working Qt program that worked well on OSX, Linux, and Windows to Electron beast that maybe works on Windows, could possibly be mining bi…
Where did you see it stopped working on Linux? What kind of misinformation is that?
More relevant is that it went from a p2p network structure to full centralized under Microsoft.
Re: How Zoom works [slides]
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
But it worked... nicely. Meaning it did what it was supposed to do at least, quickly, with little resources, few bugs etc.
I'm an Electron-hater in general, but are you forgetting the fact Skype for Linux didn't support group video calls until the Electron version?
This is simply not true.
Re: How Zoom works [slides]
#66Spot on. I really wonder if all those people claiming "Zoom just works, unlike x" have really believed that the first time joining a meeting, or if they're just used to its weird UX quirks.
The real innovation Zoom brought to the table (IMHO) was not requiring you to make an account to join a call.
Inconsequential within a company where everyone already has a account - but critical if it's a one-off or rare call - such as a vendor talking to a customer, a hiring manager inviting someone to interview, or a doctor calling a patient.
Re: How Zoom works [slides]
#67Zoom has great video and audio. I think good echo cancellation, video that copes well with the network, lower latencies - we don't experience that directly but the after effect is you feel subjectively better about the experience.
I think picking each part of the UX apart is secondary to making the key feature work well.
Re: How Zoom works [slides]
#68Title is "How Zoom works". It's a good article with valid points but nothing about Skype. The editorialized title "Turns out Zoom isn't all that different to Skype after all" has no appreciation for how hostile Skype's technology has become in the past 10 years. It went from nicely working Qt program that worked well on OSX, Linux, and Windows to Electron beast that maybe works on Windows, could possibly be mining bi…
Skype is dead in the water, has been suffering for years since the push to Teams started. Teams behaves a lot more stable in an enterprise environment, whether that is by design or neglect I'm not sure.
> Teams behaves a lot more stable in an enterprise environment, whether that is by design or neglect I'm not sure.
Teams is based (used to be shared code) on Skype For Bussiness, and it was designed to work better in office environments. A while ago they were struggling with the opposite- working over slower unreliable lines.
Re: How Zoom works [slides]
#69What are some open source skype alternatives? The ones I have used all require central server. I would like to see something which is more p2p with super nodes.
There isn't any.
Re: How Zoom works [slides]
#70I really don't like the Mute/Unmute button in Zoom. It shows a button showing a crossed out mic with "Unmute" below it. And the other state for this button is a mic with "Mute" below it. The button's icon and text are always opposite of each other. It is so confusing. I always have to think twice before clicking it.
I spend a lot of time on calls, but it’s always felt clear to me.
The icon is the state and the text is the action that will happen if you click it.