4 ms·

I'm amazed at the extent to which Google Meet's user interface remains at a preliminary technology demonstration or undergraduate project level of user interfac

I'm amazed at the extent to which Google Meet's user interface remains at a preliminary technology demonstration or undergraduate project level of user interface design. The grid/gallery view is barely functional: - you have to pick a number of tiles to fit on the screen, it cannot deduce the right number automatically - the selection for this is buried in an options dialogue - there is no facility to hide participants that don't have video from the tile grid, wasting screen space with useless squares containing an enlarged initial - there is no way to flip to a second page of tiles if there are too many people to fit on the screen together, you just get a random sampling of call members - there is apparently no way to drag to resize the space dedicated to the screen sharing display versus the video tiles There are also other ridiculous limitations and rough edges, like the chat box silently truncating messages at about 500 characters. It is as if nobody who works on the product is forced to use the thing.

the_snooze 3y ago
>I'm amazed at the extent to which Google Meet's user interface remains at a preliminary technology demonstration or undergraduate project level of user interface design. Google specializes in starting projects, not refining or maintaining them as part of some strategic vision. Expect to see Meet in the Google Graveyard in a few years when some enterprising L4 decides he needs a promotion and creates Google Meetings (not to be confused with Meet).
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  > not to be confused with Meet Or Meet (original) https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/google-meet-original/id1013231476 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/google-meet-original/id1013231...
  - j5155 3y ago
    Or Duo, or Hangouts…
    - ruined 3y ago
      duo was renamed to meet. the original meet was originally named hangouts meet, which was distinct from hangouts the consumer product, but not from hangouts the business product, which hangouts meet (later "meet" and now "meet original") was part of along with hangouts chat (different from "classic" hangouts which continued the discontinued google+ hangouts) which is now google chat (not gchat aka gtalk, which got merged into hangouts). in 2019, google announced gsuite hangouts users would be migrated to google chat and google meet (that's meet original) and consumer hangouts would be discontinued. in 2020 for obvious reasons the original hangouts cancellation and the other hangouts cancellation were both cancelled. eventually google launched google chat (for consumers) and google meet, and finally discontinued the last consumer hangouts. at this point i think all users of all of google's hangoutses have been migrated to one of the google chats or meets, or back to the google voice app (for voice customers). but if you're still using meet original you're supposed to migrate to meet (originally duo).
  - isoprophlex 3y ago
    Let's hope someone will one day try to conquer dating, google style, with Google Meat.
- jvm___ 3y ago
  I mean, if you want to always be on the cutting edge, then a new technology rewrite every few years keeps you from sinking into the corporate pit that caught blockbuster. You always stay relevant at the cost of annoying non-paying customers (who won't have any meaningful recourse to complain or to stop paying you). It kind of makes sense, as long as you don't care about your customers.
  - the_snooze 3y ago
    I don't entirely agree with your assessment, because Google still got caught flatfooted on LLMs despite years of fits and starts on various voice assistants and Gmail/Docs writing suggestions.
shmde 3y ago
Don't forget Google meet had mute/unmute and leave call button side by side for years.
spiderice 3y ago
Yet I still somehow vastly prefer it to Zoom, who seemingly randomly chooses where to place 5 different windows, all with important controls, each time anyone on the call shares or unshares their screen.
- bitsandboots 3y ago
  Yeah, the great Zoom UI, where it pins itself to the top during a login process so I can't get to my password manager under it, or when it prompts for MFA and you can't paste in so you have to go type it by hand.

the_snooze 3y ago

>I'm amazed at the extent to which Google Meet's user interface remains at a preliminary technology demonstration or undergraduate project level of user interface design. Google specializes in starting projects, not refining or maintaining them as part of some strategic vision. Expect to see Meet in the Google Graveyard in a few years when some enterprising L4 decides he needs a promotion and creates Google Meetings (not to be confused with Meet).

madeofpalk 3y ago
> not to be confused with Meet Or Meet (original) https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/google-meet-original/id1013231476 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/google-meet-original/id1013231...
- j5155 3y ago
  Or Duo, or Hangouts…
  - ruined 3y ago
    duo was renamed to meet. the original meet was originally named hangouts meet, which was distinct from hangouts the consumer product, but not from hangouts the business product, which hangouts meet (later "meet" and now "meet original") was part of along with hangouts chat (different from "classic" hangouts which continued the discontinued google+ hangouts) which is now google chat (not gchat aka gtalk, which got merged into hangouts). in 2019, google announced gsuite hangouts users would be migrated to google chat and google meet (that's meet original) and consumer hangouts would be discontinued. in 2020 for obvious reasons the original hangouts cancellation and the other hangouts cancellation were both cancelled. eventually google launched google chat (for consumers) and google meet, and finally discontinued the last consumer hangouts. at this point i think all users of all of google's hangoutses have been migrated to one of the google chats or meets, or back to the google voice app (for voice customers). but if you're still using meet original you're supposed to migrate to meet (originally duo).
- isoprophlex 3y ago
  Let's hope someone will one day try to conquer dating, google style, with Google Meat.
jvm___ 3y ago
I mean, if you want to always be on the cutting edge, then a new technology rewrite every few years keeps you from sinking into the corporate pit that caught blockbuster. You always stay relevant at the cost of annoying non-paying customers (who won't have any meaningful recourse to complain or to stop paying you). It kind of makes sense, as long as you don't care about your customers.
- the_snooze 3y ago
  I don't entirely agree with your assessment, because Google still got caught flatfooted on LLMs despite years of fits and starts on various voice assistants and Gmail/Docs writing suggestions.

shmde 3y ago

Don't forget Google meet had mute/unmute and leave call button side by side for years.

spiderice 3y ago

Yet I still somehow vastly prefer it to Zoom, who seemingly randomly chooses where to place 5 different windows, all with important controls, each time anyone on the call shares or unshares their screen.

bitsandboots 3y ago
Yeah, the great Zoom UI, where it pins itself to the top during a login process so I can't get to my password manager under it, or when it prompts for MFA and you can't paste in so you have to go type it by hand.