The first (and personally the only) requirement I have with any chat system is that it should _not_ modify the text I enter in any way - especially if I am pasting something.
Sometimes I have to paste a line or two of code, or a few lines of a stack trace. Sometimes I have to paste a string which contains some particular set of characters. Microsoft Lync absolutely destroys the pasted text. It subtly converts the double quotes into some unicode nonsense. Then it converts some common character sets into smilies. When you copy text from Lync it is almost always guaranteed to be different from what what entered originally. God, I hate Lync with a passion.
I'm with you with the Lync-hate. I've had problems with getting simple chat to work - in the middle of a chat session that seems to go well, Lync suddenly informs me some message wasn't delivered. And this happens often enough to be annoying. The web-integration (if you ping someone who is logged into Outlook web, the ping shows up in a popup window) is bad - if someone pings you within a gap of a few minutes, the original pop-up isn't re-used. There is a new pop-up, with no history. After using gmail chat, this feels regressive. And yes, there is the copy paste issue you mention. The screen-sharing is not robust - we've had so many sessions crash that we've moved to WebEx.
That the simple chat use-cases don't work well is, frankly, confounding to me.
Few years ago I've used few lines of code that I've copied from Skype. There was a hidden invisible chracter that was breaking everything, I've lost about 2 hours until I found it through a hex editor (I rewrote the pasted code and wasn't expecting for that character to be there). That character was not a part of the original message, but it was added by Skype.
I'm not sure about Lync but we got into the habit of pasting into a text file and attaching that when using Skype to send code / log snippets. Agreed that it is a major inconvenience at times.
I liked the part about Chime calling you at the scheduled start of meeting. So simple yet I had never thought of this since my org uses WebEx.
With a smart phone that would pretty well via a push notification or an actual call, but not sure how that would work when you want a join a meeting from a physical meeting room with its own AV system. I'm sure there is a way to get that set up.
Seemed like it was just a mobile join notification in the video similar to Skype for business or WebEx if you are using VoIP. No?
My company used WebEx and I could make it dial me and start up my conference line without having to go through all the regular pin entry stuff. Now we're using Lync (Skype for business) which is similar although tragically buggy. That can also dial me and sends notifications if you hook it up.
The key for these kind of apps is cost and reliability. Seems like they're advertising substantial cost reductions and better quality. If either one is true they'll likely make out really well.
Absolutely aggreed with this. We still have to pay a 5 to 10% task to get the conference call going.
Chime is the absolute good step in the right direction, however we will need need a layer on top to solve for all conference call systems.
There are three pieces that needs to be figured out to make this work well:
1. How do you deal with (non?) presence? Are you joining from the AV hardware?
2. How do you deal with PSTN?
3. How do you deal with other VoIP solutions out there.
I wonder how Chime callback will work with back-back meetings.
ie, I'm in someone's Chime/webex, and I need to join a different one. Also does it seamlessly join multiple connections - one benefit of Webex is that I can start my meeting on the iPhone while leaving a meeting room so that others can hop on, and then have my laptop join later so I can share my screen when I hit my desk.
> not sure how that would work when you want a join a meeting from a physical meeting room with its own AV system. I'm sure there is a way to get that set up.
As someone who works in video conferencing, this is often very broken. The are all kinds of compatibility issues and crappy UX. One of our core selling points is getting room systems into online meetings.
Enterprise conferencing software is so bad and so expensive I'm astonished it took this long for a decent competitor to come in. I'm really surprised Google didn't go all in with making Hangouts a decent competitor. I have a feeling this will make a lot of money.
Amazon acquired Biba[0], this is that product with the backend swapped out. It's currently being beta'd internally and they haven't yet added anything over Biba the product. There are some great features planned, from what I've heard.
I really do not like conference systems which do not work on Linux. Not everybody is using a Mac or Windows. Microsoft is also ignoring Skype and Skype for Business on Linux. This is all crap.
They tout security but I don't think it's open source and it looks like everything is stored on Amazon servers.
Minimally it is centralized, and you can't verify that there's no backdoor. In this day and age, that means we're both trusting their core intentions, and also trusting that some government won't step in and silently force their hand. I don't personally feel that is good enough to be considered secure anymore.
"With Amazon Chime, you can feel confident you’re communicating securely."
This wording has always struck me as being awful. People felt confident investing with Bernie Madoff as well. I'd rather have confidence from proven security instead of just feeling confident.
Great product idea. At work we use Skype for business and it's a disaster - especially bad is it seemingly randomly says 'your device is causing poor audio quality' and mutes you. The only way to recover is to dial out and in. Before that it was the AT&T solution - such an ugly application with poor usability. If Amazon really polish this product and provide a great user experience and quality they could pick up a lot of business.
Edit: there's a problem here. Skype for business allows up to 250 participants. The AT&T solution (webex maybe) allows, I think, an unlimited number. Amazon Chime has a limit of 250 people. This wouldn't cut it for presentations in large companies e.g. announcement of annual results or divisional virtual 'town hall'
Haven't looked but probably no Windows Mobile support either. I know I'm a infinitesimal user base, but the lack of support from services makes me not use them. This is one place Slack really excels and why I hate Hangouts.
I'm definitely going to try this (even though unusable for us because of missing Linux support). We have currently settled on Zoom and it's okay, they do have Linux support.
One problem I have with all video conferencing solutions we've tried (same for my colleagues, all Mac or Linux users, sadly no Windows users to compare) is high CPU usage. I have a 2015 MacBook Pro and when I share my screen CPU usage skyrockets to 150-200% basically pegging the whole CPU. Without sharing my screen CPU usage is at 80-100%.
I have similar problems with certain videos on the web (e.g. Ted.com and others).
Is this something everyone else here sees as well? I always assumed they must because we see it across devices and products.
I wonder if it's a function of what you're sharing? I use zoom with PowerPoint and Keynote all the time and have never had my fans spin up when sharing. Haven't noticed it sharing Safari or my whole desktop either...
As a test I'm currently on a video+computer audio+full screen sharing zoom, and my overall CPU load is at <20%, with Zoom accounting for about half of that.
Their claim of "a third of the cost of traditional solutions" is an apples and oranges comparison.
The basic and plus pricing options, while cheap, are practically useless with only 2 maximum attendees and the $15/user/month pro plan is hardly "a third of the cost...".
Looks like a great product with an average price point.
This is really cool but I wish they had more details on the Chat part of the solution. What does it look like? Can you theme it? Does it have any integrations (ala Slack)? Can you have inline pictures? Does it have a rich message API?
Everything else aside, I am surprised/impressed to see that Amazon has the '.aws' top level domain! Does that mean they will be now branding all their AWS infrastructure under this domain?
This pisses me off to no end. I hate how ICANN approved these product name, (mostly) single company TLDs! I think allowing this is terrible. I know it's just a DNS entry, but it's a fundamental change in the way we think of DNS and the Internet.
Amazon paid a lot for that .AWS TLD ($185,000 ICANN application fee alone plus other expenses). I would imagine that this is one of the first sites of many that they'll launch on their .AWS TLD.
Are they competing with WebEx, Skype, or Slack? Looks like a compelling B2B offering from Amazon. I bet they'll have an accompanying hardware to go with this in the coming months.
We use Zoom at Userify and love it. Fantastic Linux client, too. However, it automatically calling me (and saving me time auto-dialing auth codes) would be a pretty nice feature.
So, no video conferencing in basic/plus plan (1:1 doesn't count). It's funny how many attempts there are at making conferencing software that just have audio and some basic chat.
Entry level needs video, since you can get it for free elsewhere (i.e. hangouts).
[+] [-] niyazpk|9 years ago|reply
Sometimes I have to paste a line or two of code, or a few lines of a stack trace. Sometimes I have to paste a string which contains some particular set of characters. Microsoft Lync absolutely destroys the pasted text. It subtly converts the double quotes into some unicode nonsense. Then it converts some common character sets into smilies. When you copy text from Lync it is almost always guaranteed to be different from what what entered originally. God, I hate Lync with a passion.
[+] [-] tzakrajs|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ape4|9 years ago|reply
http://superuser.com/questions/427542/how-can-i-paste-text-w...
[+] [-] StreamBright|9 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Comic_Chat
[+] [-] abhgh|9 years ago|reply
That the simple chat use-cases don't work well is, frankly, confounding to me.
[+] [-] zuppy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SmellyGeekBoy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notyourwork|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ultimoo|9 years ago|reply
With a smart phone that would pretty well via a push notification or an actual call, but not sure how that would work when you want a join a meeting from a physical meeting room with its own AV system. I'm sure there is a way to get that set up.
[+] [-] baconner|9 years ago|reply
My company used WebEx and I could make it dial me and start up my conference line without having to go through all the regular pin entry stuff. Now we're using Lync (Skype for business) which is similar although tragically buggy. That can also dial me and sends notifications if you hook it up.
The key for these kind of apps is cost and reliability. Seems like they're advertising substantial cost reductions and better quality. If either one is true they'll likely make out really well.
[+] [-] m12r|9 years ago|reply
Chime is the absolute good step in the right direction, however we will need need a layer on top to solve for all conference call systems.
There are three pieces that needs to be figured out to make this work well:
1. How do you deal with (non?) presence? Are you joining from the AV hardware? 2. How do you deal with PSTN? 3. How do you deal with other VoIP solutions out there.
I have a few ideas on this, especially on #2.
[+] [-] r00fus|9 years ago|reply
ie, I'm in someone's Chime/webex, and I need to join a different one. Also does it seamlessly join multiple connections - one benefit of Webex is that I can start my meeting on the iPhone while leaving a meeting room so that others can hop on, and then have my laptop join later so I can share my screen when I hit my desk.
[+] [-] macspoofing|9 years ago|reply
WebEx has (sort of) that capability. There is an option for it to call you when you join a meeting.
[+] [-] TorKlingberg|9 years ago|reply
As someone who works in video conferencing, this is often very broken. The are all kinds of compatibility issues and crappy UX. One of our core selling points is getting room systems into online meetings.
[+] [-] iamdave|9 years ago|reply
Hrm, SIP URIs maybe? https://www.wikiwand.com/en/SIP_URI_scheme
[+] [-] krashidov|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] greyskull|9 years ago|reply
[0] http://www.biba.com/
[+] [-] therealmarv|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Taek|9 years ago|reply
Minimally it is centralized, and you can't verify that there's no backdoor. In this day and age, that means we're both trusting their core intentions, and also trusting that some government won't step in and silently force their hand. I don't personally feel that is good enough to be considered secure anymore.
[+] [-] biot|9 years ago|reply
This wording has always struck me as being awful. People felt confident investing with Bernie Madoff as well. I'd rather have confidence from proven security instead of just feeling confident.
[+] [-] notatoad|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] planetjones|9 years ago|reply
Edit: there's a problem here. Skype for business allows up to 250 participants. The AT&T solution (webex maybe) allows, I think, an unlimited number. Amazon Chime has a limit of 250 people. This wouldn't cut it for presentations in large companies e.g. announcement of annual results or divisional virtual 'town hall'
[+] [-] kupiakos|9 years ago|reply
> No Linux support
[+] [-] partiallypro|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dajohnson89|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lars_francke|9 years ago|reply
One problem I have with all video conferencing solutions we've tried (same for my colleagues, all Mac or Linux users, sadly no Windows users to compare) is high CPU usage. I have a 2015 MacBook Pro and when I share my screen CPU usage skyrockets to 150-200% basically pegging the whole CPU. Without sharing my screen CPU usage is at 80-100%.
I have similar problems with certain videos on the web (e.g. Ted.com and others).
Is this something everyone else here sees as well? I always assumed they must because we see it across devices and products.
[+] [-] djrogers|9 years ago|reply
As a test I'm currently on a video+computer audio+full screen sharing zoom, and my overall CPU load is at <20%, with Zoom accounting for about half of that.
[+] [-] tagawa|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hmottestad|9 years ago|reply
Can't use my built in microphone because the fans as blasting full power due to the CPU usage.
[+] [-] Narkov|9 years ago|reply
The basic and plus pricing options, while cheap, are practically useless with only 2 maximum attendees and the $15/user/month pro plan is hardly "a third of the cost...".
Looks like a great product with an average price point.
[+] [-] Corrado|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thatwebdude|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] benevol|9 years ago|reply
- Amazon, PRISM partner
[+] [-] bobmagoo|9 years ago|reply
In case you hadn't seen it, this is basically the anti-marketing video for how conference calls actually work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYu_bGbZiiQ
[+] [-] cyberferret|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] djsumdog|9 years ago|reply
DNS should not degrade into AOL keywords!
[+] [-] bhartzer|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hrayr|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] m-app|9 years ago|reply
https://www.ciscospark.com/products/overview.html
D: I work at Cisco and use Spark daily.
[+] [-] jedisct1|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattnewton|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamiesonbecker|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] algesten|9 years ago|reply
Entry level needs video, since you can get it for free elsewhere (i.e. hangouts).
[+] [-] fourstar|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] krackers|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] manishsharan|9 years ago|reply
Why not Linux?
[+] [-] dsacco|9 years ago|reply