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I think this might be a trailblazing WWDC - when they notice that there are many engineers that wanted to get help, but they couldn’t afford the travel to Calif

I think this might be a trailblazing WWDC - when they notice that there are many engineers that wanted to get help, but they couldn’t afford the travel to California. I’d bet that in 2021 there’s gonna be WWDC as usual in San Jose and they’ll delegate some of the staff to support remote engineers. Hell, I’d push for better FaceTime to promote it as a ‘perfect’ replacement for Zoom... Think about it! If I were Craig, I’d move some of the finest engineer to make a really compelling contender for other videochat apps. You’re green bubble in Messages - out of style. You’re not using FaceTime for remote call - get out of here...

rfoo 7y ago
But hey it just can't be really compelling if it is Apple device only.
- SamuelAdams 7y ago
  Yep, I'm guessing 90% or more of Fortune 500 companies use Windows computers. FaceTime will only run on MacOS / iOS devices, so even if it was a superior video chat product the exclusivity of the app is what kills it. Zoom, however, works on just about all devices.
  - obmelvin 7y ago
    Just had some coworkers complaining the other day in slack about use of RingCentral since its rebranded zoom but software won't run well on their linux dev machines! Zoom itself they have no issues with, unless other people join using the RingCentral client apparently. tl;dr - yes, a compelling video chat software must run well on all employee devices for real success
- gargs 7y ago
  It doesn't have to be, though. Just like iMessage is hugely successful despite being limited to Apple devices, and even then widely differing in features and reliability, for example, between iOS and macOS. A wonderful collaborative experience could just be a USP for the platform. FWIW, the now obsoleted iChat was way ahead of the curve compared to the current iteration of FaceTime in group settings, anyway.
- miles 7y ago
  FaceTime doesn't necessarily have to support only Apple devices: Petition: Keep your promise to make FaceTime open source https://www.change.org/p/apple-inc-keep-your-promise-to-make-facetime-open-source https://www.change.org/p/apple-inc-keep-your-promise-to-make... Legal battle may be to blame for Apple breaking Steve Jobs’ FaceTime promise https://macdailynews.com/2018/06/07/legal-battle-may-be-to-blame-for-apple-breaking-steve-jobs-facetime-promise/ https://macdailynews.com/2018/06/07/legal-battle-may-be-to-b...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
mcphage 7y ago
> when they notice that there are many engineers that wanted to get help, but they couldn’t afford the travel to California I think the restriction for a lot of these bigger conferences (WWDC, Google's big Android conference) is how many people the physical space can hold. The tickets always either sell out really fast, or they have to hold a raffle for them. So they're definitely aware that there are lots of people who want to attend but are unable.
- SalimoS 7y ago
  You shouldn’t forget the people who want to go but can’t afford it (in my country I have to work 3 full months juste for the 1500$ ticket)
  - mcphage 7y ago
    I didn't forget about you (well, us)—it's just that, even if they made it more affordable, they still couldn't increase attendance, since their space was pretty maxed out.
PHGamer 7y ago
zoom works on multiple systems. facetime is apple only. Remember they are a hardware company not software, they use the software ecosystem to force you to buy their hardware
- ksec 7y ago
  >Remember they are a hardware company not software, they use the software ecosystem to force you to buy their hardware This is what a lot of people thought and it is actually the other way round, and as Steve Jobs put it himself [1], Apple is a software company, you just have to buy its hardware to use it. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEeyaAUCyZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEeyaAUCyZs
echelon 7y ago
Hangouts/Meet already works on all devices and OSes. This is a bit like Swift - it's really only attractive to those in the Apple ecosystem and doesn't acknowledge the world outside of it.
- lostlogin 7y ago
  The OP is discussing it in regard to Apple’s developer conference. If there is ever a situation where the audience can be assumed to be Apple centric, this is probably it.
- cvwright 7y ago
  Hangouts/Meet hardly works for me at all, and definitely not in Firefox. It's like the old days when "DOS isn't done til Lotus doesn't run". It's too bad, too, Hangouts used to be a nice platform.
  - RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 7y ago
    I use Hangouts Meet on a daily basis with Firefox, and AFAIK everything works. Screen / window sharing, live transcripts, recording, etc. all work fine. There was a period a few months (over a year?) ago where Hangouts Meet would reject Firefox and tell you to use Chrome, but certainly not anymore.
    - cvwright 7y ago
      Hmm, sounds like I need to give it another shot. It’s definitely failed for me during the current school year (2019-20). Usually the audio fails to come through, or one side of the call gets booted off as soon as the other side joins. It worked great on Mac in late 2017 and early 2018.
      - RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 7y ago
        I'm also using a Mac, as are most of my co-workers, and it's fine for us 99% of the time. If you're on Catalina, be sure to grant the appropriate permissions to FF. You should only have to do this once -- the first time -- but this could explain why audio's not working for you.

rfoo 7y ago

But hey it just can't be really compelling if it is Apple device only.

SamuelAdams 7y ago
Yep, I'm guessing 90% or more of Fortune 500 companies use Windows computers. FaceTime will only run on MacOS / iOS devices, so even if it was a superior video chat product the exclusivity of the app is what kills it. Zoom, however, works on just about all devices.
- obmelvin 7y ago
  Just had some coworkers complaining the other day in slack about use of RingCentral since its rebranded zoom but software won't run well on their linux dev machines! Zoom itself they have no issues with, unless other people join using the RingCentral client apparently. tl;dr - yes, a compelling video chat software must run well on all employee devices for real success
gargs 7y ago
It doesn't have to be, though. Just like iMessage is hugely successful despite being limited to Apple devices, and even then widely differing in features and reliability, for example, between iOS and macOS. A wonderful collaborative experience could just be a USP for the platform. FWIW, the now obsoleted iChat was way ahead of the curve compared to the current iteration of FaceTime in group settings, anyway.
miles 7y ago
FaceTime doesn't necessarily have to support only Apple devices: Petition: Keep your promise to make FaceTime open source https://www.change.org/p/apple-inc-keep-your-promise-to-make-facetime-open-source https://www.change.org/p/apple-inc-keep-your-promise-to-make... Legal battle may be to blame for Apple breaking Steve Jobs’ FaceTime promise https://macdailynews.com/2018/06/07/legal-battle-may-be-to-blame-for-apple-breaking-steve-jobs-facetime-promise/ https://macdailynews.com/2018/06/07/legal-battle-may-be-to-b...

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

mcphage 7y ago

> when they notice that there are many engineers that wanted to get help, but they couldn’t afford the travel to California I think the restriction for a lot of these bigger conferences (WWDC, Google's big Android conference) is how many people the physical space can hold. The tickets always either sell out really fast, or they have to hold a raffle for them. So they're definitely aware that there are lots of people who want to attend but are unable.

SalimoS 7y ago
You shouldn’t forget the people who want to go but can’t afford it (in my country I have to work 3 full months juste for the 1500$ ticket)
- mcphage 7y ago
  I didn't forget about you (well, us)—it's just that, even if they made it more affordable, they still couldn't increase attendance, since their space was pretty maxed out.

PHGamer 7y ago

zoom works on multiple systems. facetime is apple only. Remember they are a hardware company not software, they use the software ecosystem to force you to buy their hardware

ksec 7y ago
>Remember they are a hardware company not software, they use the software ecosystem to force you to buy their hardware This is what a lot of people thought and it is actually the other way round, and as Steve Jobs put it himself [1], Apple is a software company, you just have to buy its hardware to use it. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEeyaAUCyZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEeyaAUCyZs

echelon 7y ago

Hangouts/Meet already works on all devices and OSes. This is a bit like Swift - it's really only attractive to those in the Apple ecosystem and doesn't acknowledge the world outside of it.

lostlogin 7y ago
The OP is discussing it in regard to Apple’s developer conference. If there is ever a situation where the audience can be assumed to be Apple centric, this is probably it.
cvwright 7y ago
Hangouts/Meet hardly works for me at all, and definitely not in Firefox. It's like the old days when "DOS isn't done til Lotus doesn't run". It's too bad, too, Hangouts used to be a nice platform.
- RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 7y ago
  I use Hangouts Meet on a daily basis with Firefox, and AFAIK everything works. Screen / window sharing, live transcripts, recording, etc. all work fine. There was a period a few months (over a year?) ago where Hangouts Meet would reject Firefox and tell you to use Chrome, but certainly not anymore.
  - cvwright 7y ago
    Hmm, sounds like I need to give it another shot. It’s definitely failed for me during the current school year (2019-20). Usually the audio fails to come through, or one side of the call gets booted off as soon as the other side joins. It worked great on Mac in late 2017 and early 2018.
    - RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 7y ago
      I'm also using a Mac, as are most of my co-workers, and it's fine for us 99% of the time. If you're on Catalina, be sure to grant the appropriate permissions to FF. You should only have to do this once -- the first time -- but this could explain why audio's not working for you.