how did zoom become so popular?

adolf hamster · 20 Oct 2021 at 12:02

this is seriously confusing me.

it doesn't seem to offer anything that it's already mainstream competitors (skype, teams, discord etc) didn't already offer, and yet for some reason people have become obsessed with it.

as far as i can see it's a broken mess with a frankly annoying ui.

does anyone know why people seem to like it?

adolf hamster · 20 Oct 2021 at 12:16

Scam said:
In my experience..

Skype = generally sucks all round
Teams = fine for corporate environment/internal meetings
Zoom = is easy for everyone else, it just works

for me it's:
skype- clunky/dated, but works
teams- better if imperfect, but least it works
zoom- no better than teams, but crashes/lags out constantly

Scam said:
Not to mention Skype, Teams and even Google Meet need accounts. Zoom doesn't (as an attendee) so that was a massive reason.

can't really see that logic, even assuming people somehow don't have microsoft/google accounts, it's not like it's difficult to sign up.

adolf hamster · 20 Oct 2021 at 12:22

Terminal_Boy said:
Very, very reliable, even over fairly poor internet links

maybe it's just me then, but i can all but guarantee it'll crash within an hour of launching.

adolf hamster · 20 Oct 2021 at 14:24

Housey said:
I have used it daily for 2 plus years now (as well as Google/Teams/WebEx/Slack) and I can't think of a single time Zoom has crashed. I find it friendly to use and it just works (OSX and Windows).

on my third crash of the day now.....

edit: fourth if you count the minor crash rejoining......

adolf hamster · 20 Oct 2021 at 16:11

SideWinder said:
Never heard of this before. I assume you've uninstalled and reinstalled? Downloaded the right version for your computer?

tried reinstalling a couple of times, it's just the basic standard client (non arm version)

the browser version works ok-ish, just runs in poor quality as opposed to crashing.

adolf hamster · 20 Oct 2021 at 16:28

SideWinder said:
Hm very odd. Got to be something not working well with your Zoom or internet connection.

on a pretty solid 100 down 20 up wired connection, hence my conclusion (ie the thread) that zoom is bad.

adolf hamster · 20 Oct 2021 at 17:22

dLockers said:
I can assure you that what you are experiencing isn't widespread.

it seems so.

still, annoying given it's what so many folk seem to want to use these days.