Don't use Zoom

gorfias

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As far as I know they're in the process of setting it up. Desk phones were supposed to disappear this June. Once they make the switch Teams should basically have a dialpad as a regular phone would to let you call any number you like, not just other people with Teams on their computer. My guess is there will be some initial hitches, but I'm not opposed to the idea otherwise. Especially since I'll probably just reroute my work number to my cell phone for simplicity's sake.
I dunno, this is a pretty standard setup for a VoIP system - plus from what I read Teams is just the next evolution of Skype for Business.
I acknowledge at a minimum you're going to need at least one analog phone per building. But an entire VoIP system when you can just have Zoom for the vast majority of your staff?
Ever since the lock down, I've been working remote. Everything on either Zoom or Teams. The only people that ever called my desk phone were people trying to sell me something. Course, what will sales calls look like once everyone knows they need to reach me through Teams? (Zoom I receive email invites with links: easier to junk and delete them than dealing with my phone ringing all the time!)
 

Saint of M

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I think its used because its free, and part of the Google line of programs, which has its own problem. The last couple months, most Organised Play games for Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, and Star Finder have been online. Outside of a couple of games I played on Roll20, they have mostly been a combination of Zoom and Google Docks. I think skype is still a paid program.

I think its also simple to use, which is another factor.

To use gaming as an excample again, plenty of GM's and PC's are having a big learning curve with Roll20, so they find using ZOOM combined with Google Docks is much easier on many a player.

I have also noticed congregations of my religion using it for firesides and and other talks in leu of meeting in person.
 

Gordon_4

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I think its used because its free, and part of the Google line of programs, which has its own problem. The last couple months, most Organised Play games for Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, and Star Finder have been online. Outside of a couple of games I played on Roll20, they have mostly been a combination of Zoom and Google Docks. I think skype is still a paid program.

I think its also simple to use, which is another factor.

To use gaming as an excample again, plenty of GM's and PC's are having a big learning curve with Roll20, so they find using ZOOM combined with Google Docks is much easier on many a player.

I have also noticed congregations of my religion using it for firesides and and other talks in leu of meeting in person.
Skype only costs money if you want the full telephony package with hand set and calls to other landlines or mobile phones. To use it as a video conferencing tool over the internet requires only a Microsoft account to sign into it with.
 

Shadyside

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Gotta use it for work and it just came out at the time when the plandemic happened, and people needed an easy to use program. No one cares about botnet and security when it gives you convenience.
 

DJShaddycat

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Seeing Zoom take off makes me very glad that I'm out of school now. It would drive me up the wall if I had to sacrifice my privacy just to attend my online class.
 

Gergar12

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If I don't use it, I don't get attendance points.
 

Iron

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Too late. My Uni is tangled with Chinese orgs so the semester is done through ZOOM entirely. feelsbadman
 

Crystal Violet

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I am so glad I got fired before Zoom meetings became a common thing.
 

Gordon_4

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I don’t understand why any corporate entity uses Zoom since Skype is built into Windows 10 and can use AD for single sign on AND integrate with MS Exchange/Outlook. And if you want externals, Cisco WebX also integrates with Exchange and can accept external voice only dial ins.

Why is anybody using this unsafe piece of shit?
 

SupahEwok

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I don’t understand why any corporate entity uses Zoom since Skype is built into Windows 10 and can use AD for single sign on AND integrate with MS Exchange/Outlook. And if you want externals, Cisco WebX also integrates with Exchange and can accept external voice only dial ins.

Why is anybody using this unsafe piece of shit?
Maybe because Skype burned their bridges by turning to absolute shit about 6 years ago?
 
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EvilRoy

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News to me, works fine for me at home and for thousands of people in our office
Edit: somehow I managed to quote Jojo instead of you, so uh. whoops.

What happened at my firm was that Microsoft told everybody that Skype was going out of circulation quite a while ago - probably about half a year before the start of the pandemic. Problem was, at that time Teams was still buggy as fuck and a higher cost tiered subscription service so when our IT looked at it they started digging around for alternatives. Zoom was the first functional alternate they found, and this was before all the security problems came to light. So us and a lot of other large firms just sort of came to the conclusion that Zoom would get phased in as Skype preps for termination.

And then the pandemic happened very close to the planned end of life for Skype at my company and holy shit now its mandatory. THEN all the security issues became obvious when everyone tried to use it all at once, and THEN Teams got so many new applicants and user setups that it was non-functional in North America for almost a week depending on how important MS decided your company was to make happy.

So now there's a weird tossup where the remaining services all kind of have their problems, but Teams being pricey to get all the toys plus having issues makes it tough to commit to. Groups I've worked with are trying to use google for everything but running up against the same bugs Teams have coupled with browser issues.

I think skype is dead for good in summer 2021.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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I don’t understand why any corporate entity uses Zoom since Skype is built into Windows 10 and can use AD for single sign on AND integrate with MS Exchange/Outlook. And if you want externals, Cisco WebX also integrates with Exchange and can accept external voice only dial ins.

Why is anybody using this unsafe piece of shit?
You think that makes no sense? My company uses Skype, Zoom, Webex, and Slack all at once.

Why? Hell if I know.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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Edit: somehow I managed to quote Jojo instead of you, so uh. whoops.

What happened at my firm was that Microsoft told everybody that Skype was going out of circulation quite a while ago - probably about half a year before the start of the pandemic. Problem was, at that time Teams was still buggy as fuck and a higher cost tiered subscription service so when our IT looked at it they started digging around for alternatives. Zoom was the first functional alternate they found, and this was before all the security problems came to light. So us and a lot of other large firms just sort of came to the conclusion that Zoom would get phased in as Skype preps for termination.

And then the pandemic happened very close to the planned end of life for Skype at my company and holy shit now its mandatory. THEN all the security issues became obvious when everyone tried to use it all at once, and THEN Teams got so many new applicants and user setups that it was non-functional in North America for almost a week depending on how important MS decided your company was to make happy.

So now there's a weird tossup where the remaining services all kind of have their problems, but Teams being pricey to get all the toys plus having issues makes it tough to commit to. Groups I've worked with are trying to use google for everything but running up against the same bugs Teams have coupled with browser issues.

I think skype is dead for good in summer 2021.
Have you tried recommending discord to your office? <_<
 

EvilRoy

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Have you tried recommending discord to your office? <_<
"Something something security, something something training". I leave the tech group to their own doings, although I have voiced many times how annoying it is to rotate through Teams, Zoom, and Google trying to get ahold of someone.
 

Agema

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I've been introducing computer game speak to my non-gaming colleagues remote working. Can you believe they didn't even know "afk"?
 

Asita

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I've been introducing computer game speak to my non-gaming colleagues remote working. Can you believe they didn't even know "afk"?
So, are you prepared to thoroughly confuse them with "afaik"?