4 ms·

Yes, the technology behind zoom can be repicated in less than 2 years and for less than 100m.

asdff 6y ago
Zoom feels like a pied piper-eskque app to me. Awkward and clunky to use, lag and issues are expected. Doesn't help that we've been given no guidance from higher ups on how to use the software, so we've been discovering features as we go. Today I finally learned how to let someone else share a screen, and that button was not where you would expect.
- djrogers 6y ago
  You don’t have to ‘let’ someone else share a screen with Zoom - any attendee in a regular meeting can do so. Unless your IT dept went out of their way to really screw up your default preferences, you might be thinking of another web meeting client.
  - asdff 6y ago
    Nah we have zoom premium accounts. Kinda. You have to register it in this strange way, so half of us don't have these accounts. What this means is that if you start a zoom meeting with the premium account, you are a host and everyone else with the organizational premium account is a cohost. If you haven't enabled premium on your zoom, or you are a collegue from outside the org, the host of the meeting has to open screen sharing privileges for all guests. That button is found next to the share screen button, a small carrot revealing a menu with advanced screen sharing options. Within that settings menu is the toggle to allow guest to share screens. This is in contrast to most other host/guest controls that are found in the participants pane. These aren't the default settings, but we had to adopt these due to zoom bombings throughout the org a few weeks ago. Of course it's zoom I'm talking about, come on dude.
partiallypro 6y ago
Probably less than that. The reason it's so popular is that it's easy to install, requires no sign up...and you can record the meeting. Skype, Teams, Hangouts, Slack, etc all have difficult processes to join a meeting (or signup/signin/install programs to get to it.) I honestly think that is why Zoom has succeeded. Then of course there are the caps on meeting space, but I don't think that is the main reason for its success. Almost all boils down to the amount of friction to actually get into something. Microsoft, IMO is the one that really bungled this. They should be dominating the space. They should just roll out something called "Teams Meet" that is effectively Zoom, where people can join from Teams (you're signed in) or a small program that requires no signup/sign in. Doesn't take a genius to figure out the appeal.
- lsaferite 6y ago
  We used Zoom over Meet for 2 reasons. One, it had a big board where you could see all or most participants at once. Two, you could have larger meetings for free or a low cost vs. Meet. Recording ease was a big motivator but not a final deal breaker. Since then, Hangouts has added a big board style view that I've yet to test fully. On our next company meeting I will try out Hangouts and see.
- Spooky23 6y ago
  Microsoft is the most disappointing. Skype for Business is literally the worst product of this type ever. I’d rather use ICQ from 1997. Teams is much better, but is the weirdest product ever. AFAIK, it consists of two voip products, bundled with a thickish client for SharePoint.
landryraccoon 6y ago
The marketing spend would cost way more than to catch up in mindshare though. The brand name "Zoom" is easily worth $100M on it's own now.

Zoom feels like a pied piper-eskque app to me. Awkward and clunky to use, lag and issues are expected. Doesn't help that we've been given no guidance from higher ups on how to use the software, so we've been discovering features as we go. Today I finally learned how to let someone else share a screen, and that button was not where you would expect.

djrogers 6y ago
You don’t have to ‘let’ someone else share a screen with Zoom - any attendee in a regular meeting can do so. Unless your IT dept went out of their way to really screw up your default preferences, you might be thinking of another web meeting client.
- asdff 6y ago
  Nah we have zoom premium accounts. Kinda. You have to register it in this strange way, so half of us don't have these accounts. What this means is that if you start a zoom meeting with the premium account, you are a host and everyone else with the organizational premium account is a cohost. If you haven't enabled premium on your zoom, or you are a collegue from outside the org, the host of the meeting has to open screen sharing privileges for all guests. That button is found next to the share screen button, a small carrot revealing a menu with advanced screen sharing options. Within that settings menu is the toggle to allow guest to share screens. This is in contrast to most other host/guest controls that are found in the participants pane. These aren't the default settings, but we had to adopt these due to zoom bombings throughout the org a few weeks ago. Of course it's zoom I'm talking about, come on dude.

partiallypro 6y ago

Probably less than that. The reason it's so popular is that it's easy to install, requires no sign up...and you can record the meeting. Skype, Teams, Hangouts, Slack, etc all have difficult processes to join a meeting (or signup/signin/install programs to get to it.) I honestly think that is why Zoom has succeeded. Then of course there are the caps on meeting space, but I don't think that is the main reason for its success. Almost all boils down to the amount of friction to actually get into something. Microsoft, IMO is the one that really bungled this. They should be dominating the space. They should just roll out something called "Teams Meet" that is effectively Zoom, where people can join from Teams (you're signed in) or a small program that requires no signup/sign in. Doesn't take a genius to figure out the appeal.

lsaferite 6y ago
We used Zoom over Meet for 2 reasons. One, it had a big board where you could see all or most participants at once. Two, you could have larger meetings for free or a low cost vs. Meet. Recording ease was a big motivator but not a final deal breaker. Since then, Hangouts has added a big board style view that I've yet to test fully. On our next company meeting I will try out Hangouts and see.
Spooky23 6y ago
Microsoft is the most disappointing. Skype for Business is literally the worst product of this type ever. I’d rather use ICQ from 1997. Teams is much better, but is the weirdest product ever. AFAIK, it consists of two voip products, bundled with a thickish client for SharePoint.

landryraccoon 6y ago

The marketing spend would cost way more than to catch up in mindshare though. The brand name "Zoom" is easily worth $100M on it's own now.