4 ms·

Seriously why are Google video calls SO confusing and why do they change every year?

by yhoneycomb 5y ago

derwiki 5y ago
Google video engineers gotta justify that promo to Senior Staff
- gambiting 5y ago
  I honestly 100% feel like this is the main justification for all changes happening with Google products. I swear to god Google Photos changes the entire layout every year for no reason whatsoever. Whatever they change it to isn't better, just different. But the entire website has to be remodelled and your users have to learn the entire website again because.....someone on the UI team has to justify their 6 digit salary?
  - afavour 5y ago
    The transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music has been insane. They rebuilt apps seemingly from the ground up, only without a bunch of features. Meanwhile the actual product has, at best, stood still for about two years now. Meanwhile Spotify are running rings around them.
    - 377rurudhh 5y ago
      Are they though? I'm actually curious since I don't know the numbers but wouldn't use Spotify if you paid me. I've got nothing against the app, but YouTube Premium gets me ad-free youtube everywhere including casting devices as well as a solid music streaming app. If it weren't for the value of the bundle I'd likely not care as much though.
      - afavour 5y ago
        I’m the same. While I get ad-free YouTube into the bargain I’m not going to switch away. But friends of mine love the highlights, smart playlist stuff Spotify has (to be honest I don’t know the full details). Not to mention that Spotify has an entire API people make apps with, not having that has left me on the outside of some stuff before now.
      - paublyrne 5y ago
        > If it weren't for the value of the bundle I'd likely not care as much though. Surely being paid to use Spotify would represent even better value.
    - briankelly 5y ago
      Spotify has atrocious quality, their apps frequently are unresponsive and crash or won't play music often. Just about everyone I know who uses it complains about it from time to time. I haven't tried YT music so I can't compare, just saying.
      - gambiting 5y ago
        I have both and really have no issues, just saying. Spotify has the crazy advantage of being on literally every device I own, my car has a Spotify app built-in directly into the dash which makes it crazy convenient, I also have it directly on my TV, on my speaker.....they have built an ecosystem and the ecosystem works great(in my case). One complaint I have about them is that shuffle is broken. Completely broken. And I know they explained multiple times that it's not, that people are imagining things, but I just don't believe that - it's impossible that in a playlist with 300 songs I keep hearing the same 5 songs over and over and over again!
    - cauthon 5y ago
      RIP google play music. They had the _best_ recommendations - my suggested new releases would often include a fantastic album by a band I’d never heard of. Since switching to Spotify, i get suggestions for new music by artists I already know I like, but I haven’t found any new artists I love in the same way. I miss what for the same reason
    - gtyras2mrs 5y ago
      I have Youtube Music (through Premium) and it's still annoying. Especially when it decides some cover version on Youtube is "for Kids" and then refuses to play in the background. Which is one of the few features actually essential for a music player.
ThomPete 5y ago
Google Meet is a pretty solid solution and I have never had a problem with it, been using it for years.
- gogopuppygogo 5y ago
  Years? https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/04/08/google-meet-rebrand/ https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/04/08/google-meet-rebrand/ Google rebrands or changes entire apps at a whim. I’m shocked they haven’t ruined Google Apps (Workspace) with their changes.
  - xenomachina 5y ago
    Yes, it was originally named "Hangouts Meet", and was renamed about a year ago to remove "Hangouts" from the name. It's still the same app, though.
    - JCharante 5y ago
      On the subject of hangouts, I miss Hangouts Dialer which was killed earlier this year. Used it to call international phone numbers.
- CameronNemo 5y ago
  Do you use it in Chrome? I have tried chrome and Firefox but they both make my fans spin for one video stream and four audio streams. Zoom's native app OTOH seems to handle multiple video streams with ease. This is on macOS.
  - vetinari 5y ago
    Google apps use VP9 for video, and Apple didn't expose VP9 decoding acceleration via Video Toolbox up until Big Sur (on models capable doing so, so for Intel chips Kaby Lake and newer). So if you don't run Big Sur on KBL+, it falls back to software.
cacarr 5y ago
Duo is solid, extremely simple, and not going anywhere. But, yeah, it's been a mess.
- dkonofalski 5y ago
  >and not going anywhere What is this certainty based on? Google's history shows the exact opposite likelihood.

Seriously why are Google video calls SO confusing and why do they change every year?

derwiki 5y ago

Google video engineers gotta justify that promo to Senior Staff

gambiting 5y ago
I honestly 100% feel like this is the main justification for all changes happening with Google products. I swear to god Google Photos changes the entire layout every year for no reason whatsoever. Whatever they change it to isn't better, just different. But the entire website has to be remodelled and your users have to learn the entire website again because.....someone on the UI team has to justify their 6 digit salary?
- afavour 5y ago
  The transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music has been insane. They rebuilt apps seemingly from the ground up, only without a bunch of features. Meanwhile the actual product has, at best, stood still for about two years now. Meanwhile Spotify are running rings around them.
  - 377rurudhh 5y ago
    Are they though? I'm actually curious since I don't know the numbers but wouldn't use Spotify if you paid me. I've got nothing against the app, but YouTube Premium gets me ad-free youtube everywhere including casting devices as well as a solid music streaming app. If it weren't for the value of the bundle I'd likely not care as much though.
    - afavour 5y ago
      I’m the same. While I get ad-free YouTube into the bargain I’m not going to switch away. But friends of mine love the highlights, smart playlist stuff Spotify has (to be honest I don’t know the full details). Not to mention that Spotify has an entire API people make apps with, not having that has left me on the outside of some stuff before now.
    - paublyrne 5y ago
      > If it weren't for the value of the bundle I'd likely not care as much though. Surely being paid to use Spotify would represent even better value.
  - briankelly 5y ago
    Spotify has atrocious quality, their apps frequently are unresponsive and crash or won't play music often. Just about everyone I know who uses it complains about it from time to time. I haven't tried YT music so I can't compare, just saying.
    - gambiting 5y ago
      I have both and really have no issues, just saying. Spotify has the crazy advantage of being on literally every device I own, my car has a Spotify app built-in directly into the dash which makes it crazy convenient, I also have it directly on my TV, on my speaker.....they have built an ecosystem and the ecosystem works great(in my case). One complaint I have about them is that shuffle is broken. Completely broken. And I know they explained multiple times that it's not, that people are imagining things, but I just don't believe that - it's impossible that in a playlist with 300 songs I keep hearing the same 5 songs over and over and over again!
  - cauthon 5y ago
    RIP google play music. They had the _best_ recommendations - my suggested new releases would often include a fantastic album by a band I’d never heard of. Since switching to Spotify, i get suggestions for new music by artists I already know I like, but I haven’t found any new artists I love in the same way. I miss what for the same reason
  - gtyras2mrs 5y ago
    I have Youtube Music (through Premium) and it's still annoying. Especially when it decides some cover version on Youtube is "for Kids" and then refuses to play in the background. Which is one of the few features actually essential for a music player.

ThomPete 5y ago

Google Meet is a pretty solid solution and I have never had a problem with it, been using it for years.

gogopuppygogo 5y ago
Years? https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/04/08/google-meet-rebrand/ https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/04/08/google-meet-rebrand/ Google rebrands or changes entire apps at a whim. I’m shocked they haven’t ruined Google Apps (Workspace) with their changes.
- xenomachina 5y ago
  Yes, it was originally named "Hangouts Meet", and was renamed about a year ago to remove "Hangouts" from the name. It's still the same app, though.
  - JCharante 5y ago
    On the subject of hangouts, I miss Hangouts Dialer which was killed earlier this year. Used it to call international phone numbers.
CameronNemo 5y ago
Do you use it in Chrome? I have tried chrome and Firefox but they both make my fans spin for one video stream and four audio streams. Zoom's native app OTOH seems to handle multiple video streams with ease. This is on macOS.
- vetinari 5y ago
  Google apps use VP9 for video, and Apple didn't expose VP9 decoding acceleration via Video Toolbox up until Big Sur (on models capable doing so, so for Intel chips Kaby Lake and newer). So if you don't run Big Sur on KBL+, it falls back to software.

cacarr 5y ago

Duo is solid, extremely simple, and not going anywhere. But, yeah, it's been a mess.

dkonofalski 5y ago
>and not going anywhere What is this certainty based on? Google's history shows the exact opposite likelihood.