Family meeting! Chocolate Factory makes its business-like video-chat service free to anyone with a Google account
- Reference: 1588161793
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/29/google_meet_free/
- Source link:
Perhaps with an eye on the soaraway success of Zoom, and conscious of the fact that, let's face it, Hangouts has its limitations, Meet (formerly a paid-for service aimed at businesses) will be free, albeit with a few provisos.
The first is that you'll need a Google account to use the thing; no flinging around links willy-nilly here. That account is "so it remains secure", according to a representative.
The second is that individuals will be limited to 60 minutes of on-screen yappery (although the Chocolate Factory won't be enforcing this until 30 September).
Like other video-conferencing services, Google said it has seen Meet's usage rocket in recent months. The company had reported a 30x increase in its peak daily usage since January. In April, Meet hosted three billion minutes of video meetings and added approximately three million new users every day, [2]up from two million a week or so ago .
Last week alone, the figure for daily meeting participants passed the 100 million mark.
With that 60-minute limit in the future, the freebie tier (which allows up to 100 people at a time, replete with screen-sharing and real-time captioning) will permit up to 24 hours of gabbing. Or roughly the amount of time needed to talk a relation through accessing The Crown on Netflix via a smart TV.
Naturally, Google is keen that at least some of those freebie customers might consider casting aside their LibreOffice or Microsoft 365 in favour of G Suite, and as such is also unveiling a free version of its line-up in the form of G Suite Essentials. This adds recording and dial-in numbers to Meet as well as access to tools such as Google Drive and Docs.
G Suite Essentials, however, is only free until 30 September so be careful what you sign up for.
Those who have already ponied up the cash for a G Suite sub have been tossed a bone through 30 September in the form of free access to some of Meet's more advanced features, such as the ability to live-stream to 100,000 viewers in the domain as well as additional free Meet licences without fiddling with contracts.
The rollout kicks off next week, and Google will be keeping a close eye on its systems to avoid any embarrassing outages as users are added. Rivals, including Microsoft, [3]have tottered under the sudden increases in demand during March and April.
The move is not altogether surprising, and comes after Google [4]plugged Meet into its Gmail service . It may, however, give the current darling of the video-chatting generation, Zoom, a few sleepless nights. ®
Sponsored: [5]Forrester Build a Digital Experience Portfolio
[1] https://www.blog.google/products/meet/bringing-google-meet-to-more-people/
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/17/gmail_inbox_meet/
[3] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/16/zoom_teams_outage/
[4] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/17/gmail_inbox_meet/
[5] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8554/forrester-build-a-digital-experience-portfolio?td=wptl1936
I wanted to highlight the opposite side to "just say no...."
I work for a company that's embraced Video Conferencing since video conferencing was a thing.... Firstly, it's not mandated. You can chose NOT to have video on, and if you do, it's never questioned. People very quickly discovered that "you should be careful with what you wish for" when requesting video.
Anyway... Right now I miss my colleagues. I work in a great office, with great people, and I genuinely miss them. So, being able to see who you're talking to, and seeing their micro reactions, is so incredibly powerful. In so many different ways. A text message is soulless. An email, inhuman. A phone call is social, and a video call is personal.
Zoom?
I don't understand this. I work in Europe, with people from different countries, different firms, and different philosophies. I do conf calls about five times a week, too. Yet, not once, not even once I encountered Zoom. It's Webex, GoToMeeting, or whatever MS decided to call their confcall solution that week.
free to anyone with a Google account
... and therein lies the crunch: "Here! Have some free stuff! Just click the 'I agree' box on the EULA, don't worry about scrolling to the bottom! Never mind that we're foremost an advertising business, and our business model is based on grabbing as much information about you as we possibly can..."
Yeah... not on my machine, thank you.
Re: free to anyone with a Google account
Are the other providers any different?
you'll need a Google account t... That account is "so it remains secure", according to a representative.
That always works.
How else do you secure it?
The first hit is always free...
I do realise why video conferencing has been a bit of a hit during the current epidemic (even my 83-year-old mum, a technophobe to the ends of her toes) has embraced her iPad and surprisingly(!) doesn't have any technical problems when she wants to use something, but I hate them.
Years ago, I got to use something called Halo in anger (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2008/halo/products.html) - it was brilliant, but being HP incredibly badly marketed! It was as close to a real meeting place as I have seen (and this is >10 years ago, not that I have looked hard since). Many of the social norms (who for god's sake looks straight into the eyes of a presenter?) were maintained, and the relative expense made sure that the meetings were tight - although the benefits of not having to attend meetings in Palo Alto from the UK more than made up for it.
Now I simply refuse to use or sanction video conferences for meetings unless absolutely necessary - and then it is only because a customer wants it - running a small company across three EU sites and one non (the UK although for how much longer?), we rely on shared documents and voice with a tight agenda - and it works. meetings are short enough and productive.
My mum carries on - although I always just use voice - but then she has grown tired of my face over 53 years!
Just say no for business.