[_-___________-_]

Maybe I've been sensitised by all the security flaws, privacy leaks and outright lies on Zoom's part, but I'm starting to really notice how much a lot of public figures are pushing Zoom.

Does anyone else find it really weird? Late-night TV hosts, I can understand - maybe they just get paid for it, or have Zoom shares. But for example UK government leaders repeatedly mentioning it by name, e.g. Matt Hancock saying that despite being unwell, Boris Johnson is still having "Zoom videoconferences", or saying Johnson addressed his "Zoom cabinet", just feels... weird.

Edited to add: thinking about it more, I remember "FaceTime" being used pretty similarly when it was new. So I guess all the bad news is just sensitising me.

[viraptor]

Zoom is popular. Enough that it's both the default for many people and the tech that gets brought up in discussions. My dance school uses zoom. My work uses zoom. Online courses use zoom. Maybe it's more noticeable when famous people mention it, but really - it's a default now. Even if there was some shady push for it, it's also organically massively popular.

[fock]

trying to download the (self-installing) app twice _every_ time, whilst you're (actively) trying to join a meeting in your browser is the kind of organic popularity the yahoo toolbar had...

[chatmasta]

Most people install the app and leave it installed.

[fock]

you don't say. That way (and autostarting and nagging) you easily get a lot of popularity compared to a web-service (with most people being unaware of bookmarking features in their browser). That was the operating principle of a lot of crappy ad/malware companies back then this was still considered an ethical businessmodel. Seems we are seeing time repeat itself.

[MobileVet]

Zoom is now ‘Kleenex’ or ‘Coke’ for video conferencing. Skype was the same when it came out... but they had far less competition at the time.

This is a huge win for Zoom on a marketing front.

[kerng]

Yep, showing up to uninvited random meetings by guessing IDs is now called Zoombombing apparently

[complex1314]

Maybe they tried Skype first, which works horrible (tried twice, never managed connect all the participants at the same time), and finally relief over something that actually works. I have used Zoom successfully with 70 participants, and then breakout groups. The only alternative I can see that recently came to my attention is Jitsi Meet (https://jitsi.org/), which I will try next time I have the opportunity. But seems like it has at least one of the same weaknesses as zoom, with no end to end encryption (https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/7syt0s/jitsi_meet_...)

[folmar]

You can also try BigBlueButton (https://bigbluebutton.org). Open source, and a lot of nice things done better than the usual online meeting standards (e.g. included whiteboard and slides are real slides and watchers have a lot of flexibility in watching them).

[1over137]

But Jitsi is open source and you can self-host it. Then there's no third party in a hostile country controlling anything.

[_-___________-_]

As far as I can find out, FaceTime is currently the only solution for "just works" (in the sense that your grandma could use it) videoconferencing that is e2e encrypted.

[notechback]

But it only works if everyone has Apple devices, so it absolutely does not "just work" if even one family member doesn't have it.

Most video chat apps are straightforward once set up on the phone.

[_-___________-_]

Are you aware of other video chat apps that support e2e-encrypted multi-party videoconference?

[zeveb]

If there are no cross-platform apps which support e2e-encrypted multi-party videoconferences, then there simply is currently no solution at all for 'just works' secure videoconferencing, because part of just working is not requiring users to switch to a platform they otherwise would not.

[tzm]

It's becoming a verb (vs brand) which reflects rising popularity and use.

[kossTKR]

It is curious, and post revelations in the recent decade nothing is too weird to suspect - but don't underestimate the immense social value of jumping on the technological bandwagon and the free "hip" PR that it produces in media. And when more people do it, more people do it, i.e the bandwagon effect.

People then look at the articles written in the media and say "hey i use that app too, cool, we are part of the same tribe".

Showing of knowledge of the tech-zeitgeist is an easy way for a politician or anyone for that matter to appear being both with the times", "tech-savvy" and just the same as regular folk.

[mrich]

Isn't it amazing how video conferencing gets reinvented time and time again?

[bryanrasmussen]

well another thing is that zoom is a great name, on a marketing level.

It implies speed, and thus implies power.

Since you zoom in on things to see them better it implies attention to detail.

The productivity of the prime minister is in no way hampered, people, he Zooms!

[dvfjsdhgfv]

> It implies speed

on far too many lenses I've owned it's simply not true

[bryanrasmussen]

https://cdn3.vectorstock.com/i/1000x1000/55/37/comic-book-zo...