[jamesbelchamber]

> At one point Zoom was the only one that could figure out how to video conference well.

I may be misremembering but wasn't it _Google_ who worked it out first (Hangouts was free and easy to use) and then fumbled it so badly that Zoom entered much later with a sorta-okay alternative at just the right point in time?

I truly don't understand how Google keep breaking good products but I remember Hangouts being kind-of amazing for a moment there.

(This is tangential and I don't think it undermines the article)

[IshKebab]

Zoom one in the business market because it had features that businesses need. For example screen sharing with remote control (something that Google still can't do, and Teams can't do on Linux). I believe it also had all the features like muting everyone first.

Hangouts was just like "call your mum" level of video conferencing.

[jamesbelchamber]

You might be thinking of the second "Hangouts", whereas what I'm referring to was apparently "Google+ Hangouts" and was the original. You could get 25 people on there, and for a bigger audience you could go "on Air" (which streamed the Hangout). Looks very similar to Zoom (in fact I suspect Zoom was heavily inspired by it) and I remember using it (and it's descents) before COVID and the rise of Zoom.

This video demonstrates an early version of it (from 2011!): https://youtu.be/KLf9jzFvkTA