how did zoom become so popular?

Soldato
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We used to have webex at work and it was awful! It's like going back to the nineties isn't it?
I think the issue with WebEx is that most are on an old version. The actual, up to date version looks a lot more modern than Zoom.

But it's a bit more flaker to use, not as easy and more resource intensive.
 
Soldato
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Teams wasn't particularly mature and is often 'over complicated' to do basic things. Microsoft Accounts have become so convoluted now with schools, Hotmail, work etc. all using Microsoft accounts. Very easy to get muddled - I do myself on my own OneDrive as its neither my 'hotmail' nor my work email - but my connected Gmail account :rolleyes:

Skype got dragged down in the above, IMO.

Zoom was dead simple to create an account, you didn't really need the App IIRC, and worked across all platforms seamlessly.

It isn't well integrated to the Office suite so not ideal for a work environment IMO. No idea why it would trump Teams in that instance.

Edit: Zooms had breakout rooms way before the competition as well, which made it very useful for lots of use cases Teams had never even considered.
 
Soldato
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maybe it's just me then, but i can all but guarantee it'll crash within an hour of launching.

Yeah, it does seem to be a major resource hog. I have my PC mining during the day when I'm working, I can sit all day on Discord with my team, have RDP open working, watching Youtube and browsing the web at lunch with no issues. As soon as I open Zoom, my whole PC will grind to a halt, stop responding etc. until I stop mining.
 
Soldato
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I question why businesses use it but i'm absolutely baffled why it was even considered for government use as i'm sure most governments have other vetted, and arguably far better secured, systems they could use :confused:
Most home office contracts used to be on-site working only. There was a knee jerk reaction to implementing collaboration tools through COVID which saw lots of odd things happening. Some got it right - see, NHS. Some got it wrong - see, Mi5 (apparently).
 
Man of Honour
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Teams is better for corporate stuff (assuming you are using the MS ecosystem) because of all the simple integration with 0ffice365.
The reason Zoom is popular with the public is because it was very simple to get going with, due to having no signup, support for mobile devices etc

There was a knee jerk reaction to implementing collaboration tools through COVID which saw lots of odd things happening. Some got it right - see, NHS
My wife works for the NHS and I wouldn't say they got it right, in her area they use a mish-mash of VC tools including Skype, Zoom and Visionable. They also use Teams, but not for video.
To be fair, in an organisation that size with all the federated offshoots it's perhaps unsurprising as it would be hard to get consistent adoption across the whole org with all the different trusts and contracts etc.
 
Soldato
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maybe it's just me then, but i can all but guarantee it'll crash within an hour of launching.

Rock solid here. Used it for a training course, connected for day long sessions no worries. That was on an Intel Mac.

Also referencing the OP, Zoom was feature rich, cross-platform and easy enough for my Mum to use out of the box. Teams etc were playing catchup for most of 2019 when home working suddenly became the default, although MS made progress very quickly.
 
Soldato
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We've moved to Teams in a big way at work, actually quite a good business tool. Never had an issue with Zoom, not seen anyone having issues either. Well, actually, people trying to join from browser and old Macs etc. Camera issues, clicking on Deny and wondering why it's not working etc. That's just the people though.
 
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