Microsoft Teams Takes on Zoom With Free All-Day Video Calling on the Web (theverge.com) 22
An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft is making a big push to entice fans of Zoom over to Microsoft Teams with a new all-day video calling option that can be used for free. While the software giant launched Microsoft Teams for consumers on mobile earlier this year, it's now bringing Teams' friends and family features to the desktop and web allowing you to create a Microsoft Teams meeting for up to 300 friends and family that can run all day free of charge. You won't need a Microsoft Account or the Microsoft Teams app to join calls, as you can join free via a web browser. Microsoft Teams will also support seeing up to 49 friends or family members in a gallery view or through its Together Mode feature that puts you side by side in a virtual environment. With Thanksgiving just a week away, it's clear Microsoft is positioning Teams as a way for families to connect virtually during the pandemic.
"...fans of Zoom" (Score:2)
Re:"...fans of Zoom" (Score:5, Informative)
I'm a zoom fan. It works better for me than any other platform I've worked with over this pandemic. Zoom calls with many participants work better in terms of video quality than skype calls one-on-one. Screen sharing works well, control sharing works well. For me it was indispensable over the last months.
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Those are consumer options. I've never used one of those, other than gaming things like discord or teamspeak (both are generally awful IMO). The only video or presentation meetings I've had has always been Skype for Business (previously called linc) and Teams. Both have their problems, but MS has dump Skype for Business and rolled out Teams before it is really ready. Team works, ti does what it needs to do, but the UI is awful (it's very windows-10-ish, limited customization, difficult to discover capab
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I'm a zoom fan. It works better for me than any other platform I've worked with over this pandemic. Zoom calls with many participants work better in terms of video quality than skype calls one-on-one. Screen sharing works well, control sharing works well. For me it was indispensable over the last months.
Be honest; how many other competing products did you actually give a fair comparison to?
I only ask this not because I feel Zoom is necessarily superior or inferior, but simply because offering this kind of service isn't some kind of black magic. Video conferencing, whiteboarding, desktop sharing...all of this is 20+ year old technology at this point, with the most "innovative" feature of late being the multiple talking-head view. Big Fat Hairy Deal.
Yeah, I get that volume matters when managing platforms
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If Zoom is so grand they shouldn't be going direct to c-level execs or offering contract buyouts for incumbent solutions in order to get adoption. They also lie about offering a cloud solution which requires on-prem software to be running. But I guess lies are nothing new from them.
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Are there really Zoom fans
They're called "zoomers", aren't they?
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OK Zoomer.
Yo Grark
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"They're called "zoomers", aren't they?"
Are you crazy? They are obviously zoombies.
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Are there really Zoom fans
Yes, there really are Zoom fans. I've used GoToMeeting, WebEx, Teams, Skype, Google Meet, Amazon Chime, and many others through the years. Heck, Slack kind of counts now that I think about it. FaceTime. I've probably used more of these things than I'll ever remember. Zoom, early security faux pas aside is easily my favorite. Group video chat just works. By far the most superior background replacement app. So, yes, I think there are fans. I have free access to other solutions as well, but choose Zoom. And ye
I first read this as "Zune" (Score:2)
Same old same old from MS (Score:4, Insightful)
You may not need a MS account to join a meeting, but you sure as heck need one to set up a meeting. This is just an obvious ploy to sign up new suckers, I mean, subscribers, who will then be monetized up the yin-yang.
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Wow, you really cracked the case! You should call someone, maybe a national newspaper or hard-hitting investigative journalist with your findings.
"Boys, we found a source! This is gonna really make my career! Turns out Microsoft is actually a business and their activities, even altruistic seeming ones, are all to further the goals of that business! This is really gonna blow some minds!"
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Wow, you really cracked the case! You should call someone, maybe a national newspaper or hard-hitting investigative journalist with your findings.
"Boys, we found a source! This is gonna really make my career! Turns out Microsoft is actually a business and their activities, even altruistic seeming ones, are all to further the goals of that business! This is really gonna blow some minds!"
Well I sure hope you've signed up for your account. For that matter, why not just skip the formalities and send your complete bio and personal info to MS right away?
Re:Same old same old from MS (Score:4, Insightful)
I did long ago, MS has all my details as do Facebook and Google. So far nobody has showed up to do an anal probe yet.
I might have to actually call someone on my own to come do that. I've been misled.
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Tastes vary. You seem to like being probed more than I do.
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You may not need a MS account to join a meeting, but you sure as heck need one to set up a meeting. This is just an obvious ploy to sign up new suckers, I mean, subscribers, who will then be monetized up the yin-yang.
They're pimping a costly product. You're just the whore user lining up to get serviced for free.
People should at least know their role before they get suckered again.
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I fooled em! My "MS account" is a gmail address. Has been for years and years. I get the best of both worlds.
toilet (Score:1)
Client app is terrible (Score:2)
Dear MS, you can start by getting rid of your turd of an Electron app. Make Teams a lean and fast native app and you'll win back a lot of users.