6 votes

Google Meet premium video meetings—free for everyone

5 comments

  1. [4]
    kfwyre
    Link
    This is great to see. Our school has been using Google Meet since closure, and it's very good. It's easy, seamless, and works right in the browser. They've also, as mentioned in the article,...

    This is great to see. Our school has been using Google Meet since closure, and it's very good. It's easy, seamless, and works right in the browser. They've also, as mentioned in the article, rushed to add features which has been greatly appreciated. When we first started using it, teachers complained because it didn't have a good tile view like Zoom did, and they added that almost immediately. It also handled a recent ~100 person call flawlessly. I fully expect that in the coming weeks we'll continue to see things improve, especially with features that enhance the "online classroom" experience.

    I don't think it'll pull me away from using Jitsi Meet with my friends and family, as that works well and has, from what I've found, the lowest friction for getting it to work with people who aren't tech savvy, but I'm always happy to have additional options. I'm normally pretty critical of Google, but I think providing this free right now is a great thing that's going to benefit a lot of people.

    3 votes
    1. [3]
      AugustusFerdinand
      Link Parent
      This might end up being a "too late" scenario though. They are, rightfully, metering out access over the next few weeks for stability/load assurances and while some companies are not jumping the...

      This might end up being a "too late" scenario though. They are, rightfully, metering out access over the next few weeks for stability/load assurances and while some companies are not jumping the gun on getting people back in the office, it's unlikely to be the norm as (in the states anyway) stay-at-home orders are lifted.

      Add to it while it's free for now, there's a low liklihood that companies will jump over from Zoom to try it out and if they don't like it jump back. I'm sure many are in the "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" camp and most of the issues with Zoom aren't all that high a priority with the companies.

      5 votes
      1. [2]
        skybrian
        Link Parent
        Apparently they're at 100 million daily users and adding 3 million users a day. They haven't caught up with Zoom yet but that counts as a hit, even by Google standards. I wonder if Duo will last,...

        Apparently they're at 100 million daily users and adding 3 million users a day. They haven't caught up with Zoom yet but that counts as a hit, even by Google standards.

        I wonder if Duo will last, or will they roll it into Google Meet and that will be the end of Google's video chat fragmentation? Then again, Hangouts seemed like a hit at the time, so who knows.

        3 votes
        1. AugustusFerdinand
          Link Parent
          Good point! Quick google says Zoom had twice that at the start of April, but that they don't publish official numbers. If Google's history is to be believed, this will somehow create the death of...

          Good point! Quick google says Zoom had twice that at the start of April, but that they don't publish official numbers.

          If Google's history is to be believed, this will somehow create the death of Duo and some other half related product and the creation of twice as many more.

          1 vote
  2. skybrian
    Link
    Not quite everyone yet, since they are doing a slow launch. Here is the sign up form for the waiting list.

    Not quite everyone yet, since they are doing a slow launch. Here is the sign up form for the waiting list.

    2 votes