4 ms·

Given, that unlike many advertising supported services, you can pay Zoom and remove ads, I fail to see a problem with this.

crate_barre 5y ago
It’s the same as seeing ads on a chat platform. Why bother? There are plenty of alternatives with no ads. Developers won’t fall for this, but I guess your local church group won’t know any better.
- ryanianian 5y ago
  Are there actually viable alternatives with similar quality and latency factors to Zoom? Last I checked, the competitors, whether free or not, all had meaningful downsides (quality, latency, self-hosted, inextricably bundled to another system, etc) with the only upside being “it’s not Zoom.” Honest question. I’m sure the land has changed a lot in the last 6-12 months.
  - crate_barre 5y ago
    I haven’t had too many issues with Google Meet, for example.
  - IggleSniggle 5y ago
    I've had positive experiences with both Microsoft Teams (Skype) video and with Google Meet in the last 6 months. In terms of "stands alone easily," Google Meet has a pretty great experience for the casual user, although it does have some confusingly implemented UX (for screen-sharing, admitting-users, etc). The UX is easy for tech-oriented folks but your grandma might need some training. The one I was kinda surprised wasn't any good, even for audio-only, was Discord. Not that it fits your criteria anyway. n of 1 and all that, I don't have any supporting data.
    - lukeschlather 5y ago
      I don't believe anyone is a casual user of video chat anymore. It's like calling someone a casual telephone user or a casual car user. It's fundamental to daily life.
      - IggleSniggle 5y ago
        I disagree, on video chat, telephone, AND car usage. Some folks (often (although certainly not always) older with a lower tolerance for UI changes) just don't use them very often. My mother, for example, still prefers correspondence via snail mail. She has learned to tolerate FaceTime, but Zoom is always a bit of a hassle and requires a separate phone-call to her landline to help her walk through the steps to get connected. I don't think she's unusual. It's a big world, with lots of kinds of people in it.
        lukeschlather 5y ago
        "Infrequent" is not the same as "casual." If anything it's the reverse because you avoid using it unless it is literally a matter of life or death.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - ausername42027 5y ago
        You are majorly in a tech (a.k.a HN) bubble if you think that. People whose jobs have been 100% in person the entire pandemic are not using video chat for work, so that leaves family and friends. Many people just talk on the phone or see people in person.
      - QuarterReptile 5y ago
        I'm in my 20s, work full time, and have attended fewer than a dozen zoom meetings ever, none of them for work.
  - JoshTriplett 5y ago
    > Are there actually viable alternatives with similar quality and latency factors to Zoom? Yes. Google Meet is just as easy to use, and Jitsi is even easier with zero signup required.
    - stevenicr 5y ago
      Does Google record video or audio or keep transcriptions or anything of what's said? I've always felt like a differentiating factor is privacy, not just comparing free / easy / quality etc.
  - johnsoft 5y ago
    I'm a happy Discord user. I'm sure now someone will list all the downsides of Discord (proprietary, target demographic, etc) but I'm just answering the question as asked.
mschuster91 5y ago
> Given, that unlike many advertising supported services, you can pay Zoom and remove ads If you are an enterprise, yes. For individual usage - like, for example, hosting a virtual beer night with friends - you have to go for a subscription that you have to take care to cancel afterwards.
- akudha 5y ago
  It would be nice to have some laws around subscription services. Something along the lines of 1. Services have to inform the user (text, email...) every time they charge their card. Even better would be to inform 48 hours before, so users have a chance to cancel. 2. Any subscription service should provide the user to choose the duration, when they sign up. If I need LinkedIn subscription for 3 months, then I should be able to choose at the time of subscription, and it should be canceled automatically after three monthly payments. And so on. These are all trivial to implement tech wise. But hey, who am I kidding. These are never going to happen
  - ls65536 5y ago
    And cancelling any such service should be required to be no more difficult than signing up for it was. For example, if you can sign up online with a simple form and a button click, you should be able to cancel online with a simple form and a button click.
  - lupire 5y ago
    You can cancel Zoom whenever you want (effective end of current term, do you can cancel 5 minutes after signup), and get a refund for unused past subscription https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203634215-Canceling-your-subscription?mobile_site=true#h_744f9428-f8dc-45a9-80f6-8f6690f893d6 https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203634215-Cancelin...
  - searchableguy 5y ago
    That is the case in India enforced by RBI guidelines. https://rbi.org.in//Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=11668 https://rbi.org.in//Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=11668

crate_barre 5y ago

It’s the same as seeing ads on a chat platform. Why bother? There are plenty of alternatives with no ads. Developers won’t fall for this, but I guess your local church group won’t know any better.

ryanianian 5y ago
Are there actually viable alternatives with similar quality and latency factors to Zoom? Last I checked, the competitors, whether free or not, all had meaningful downsides (quality, latency, self-hosted, inextricably bundled to another system, etc) with the only upside being “it’s not Zoom.” Honest question. I’m sure the land has changed a lot in the last 6-12 months.
- crate_barre 5y ago
  I haven’t had too many issues with Google Meet, for example.
- IggleSniggle 5y ago
  I've had positive experiences with both Microsoft Teams (Skype) video and with Google Meet in the last 6 months. In terms of "stands alone easily," Google Meet has a pretty great experience for the casual user, although it does have some confusingly implemented UX (for screen-sharing, admitting-users, etc). The UX is easy for tech-oriented folks but your grandma might need some training. The one I was kinda surprised wasn't any good, even for audio-only, was Discord. Not that it fits your criteria anyway. n of 1 and all that, I don't have any supporting data.
  - lukeschlather 5y ago
    I don't believe anyone is a casual user of video chat anymore. It's like calling someone a casual telephone user or a casual car user. It's fundamental to daily life.
    - IggleSniggle 5y ago
      I disagree, on video chat, telephone, AND car usage. Some folks (often (although certainly not always) older with a lower tolerance for UI changes) just don't use them very often. My mother, for example, still prefers correspondence via snail mail. She has learned to tolerate FaceTime, but Zoom is always a bit of a hassle and requires a separate phone-call to her landline to help her walk through the steps to get connected. I don't think she's unusual. It's a big world, with lots of kinds of people in it.
      - lukeschlather 5y ago
        "Infrequent" is not the same as "casual." If anything it's the reverse because you avoid using it unless it is literally a matter of life or death.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - ausername42027 5y ago
      You are majorly in a tech (a.k.a HN) bubble if you think that. People whose jobs have been 100% in person the entire pandemic are not using video chat for work, so that leaves family and friends. Many people just talk on the phone or see people in person.
    - QuarterReptile 5y ago
      I'm in my 20s, work full time, and have attended fewer than a dozen zoom meetings ever, none of them for work.
- JoshTriplett 5y ago
  > Are there actually viable alternatives with similar quality and latency factors to Zoom? Yes. Google Meet is just as easy to use, and Jitsi is even easier with zero signup required.
  - stevenicr 5y ago
    Does Google record video or audio or keep transcriptions or anything of what's said? I've always felt like a differentiating factor is privacy, not just comparing free / easy / quality etc.
- johnsoft 5y ago
  I'm a happy Discord user. I'm sure now someone will list all the downsides of Discord (proprietary, target demographic, etc) but I'm just answering the question as asked.

mschuster91 5y ago

> Given, that unlike many advertising supported services, you can pay Zoom and remove ads If you are an enterprise, yes. For individual usage - like, for example, hosting a virtual beer night with friends - you have to go for a subscription that you have to take care to cancel afterwards.

akudha 5y ago
It would be nice to have some laws around subscription services. Something along the lines of 1. Services have to inform the user (text, email...) every time they charge their card. Even better would be to inform 48 hours before, so users have a chance to cancel. 2. Any subscription service should provide the user to choose the duration, when they sign up. If I need LinkedIn subscription for 3 months, then I should be able to choose at the time of subscription, and it should be canceled automatically after three monthly payments. And so on. These are all trivial to implement tech wise. But hey, who am I kidding. These are never going to happen
- ls65536 5y ago
  And cancelling any such service should be required to be no more difficult than signing up for it was. For example, if you can sign up online with a simple form and a button click, you should be able to cancel online with a simple form and a button click.
- lupire 5y ago
  You can cancel Zoom whenever you want (effective end of current term, do you can cancel 5 minutes after signup), and get a refund for unused past subscription https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203634215-Canceling-your-subscription?mobile_site=true#h_744f9428-f8dc-45a9-80f6-8f6690f893d6 https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203634215-Cancelin...
- searchableguy 5y ago
  That is the case in India enforced by RBI guidelines. https://rbi.org.in//Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=11668 https://rbi.org.in//Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=11668