Zoom in the time of virus

[Ginger Yellow]

I don't think it has it formally, but you can replicate what has been described manually by creating multiple chats.

Demonstration here. Seems like you're limited to four rooms though.

[Various Artist]

I don't really understand about 78% of what's been written in this thread so far, but then again I'd never heard of Zoom a week ago. Last Saturday though about 13 of my extended family were all trying to 'get together' online to see how everyone was, and after half an hour of some people trying to get FaceTime working at once and the rest of us on Android trying to get Skype working, one of my cousins introduced Zoom to the conversation and we promptly all downloaded it and were able to see each other at once pretty soon after that. He dropped a link into our WhatsApp group chat and we just followed that, which was a nice surprise to find that we didn't need to actually all sign up and login to anything.

Anyone else get a Fat Larrys Band earworm when Zoom is mentioned?

Yeah, me. I even dropped a link to the official YouTube video into that family chat last weekend.

Weirdly, although it's not one of the first 500 songs I'd think of in the grand scheme of things, it's the one song I've ever actually submitted to the "Songs that make you properly happy" thread – I thought sometime last year, so am rather startled to look that up now and find it's just over three years ago.

For the uninitiated, here it is, and it's glorious:

[Bored Of Education]

Last Thursday, I did different meetings for different purposes on Zoom, Webex and Skype. Zoom and Skype are probably both much of a muchness but, where Zoom wins on the amount of participants, it loses on that 40 minute thing. As Lenin said, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen" and, after a decade, I am proficient(ish) on Zoom. I only heard about the shonky security after Johnson had and now am slightly worried about cross pollination between my class' session and the football lads' one where some of the salty memes that seem to frequent our lockdown were shared.

[jwdd27]

I'd never heard of it until a few days ago, and it's suddenly everywhere.

Password protection seems obvious but one of the Zoombombings I read of was at a virtual AA meeting (someone played pornography during somebody's "share").
The nature of that fellowship is that it's open to everyone, so it would have gone against the grain for them to protect it. So I guess they just have to hope it doesn't happen again - are the Zoombombers able to search for open rooms, is that the problem?

[Satchmo Distel]

Another institution sent me this link:

https://newsone.com/3921852/prevent-...eeting-trolls/

[Jah Womble]

There speaks a man who has never listened to local radio.

...or watched any TV commercials for the past thirty years.

Which obviously wouldn’t be such an undesirable state of affairs.

[hobbes]

Last Saturday though about 13 of my extended family were all trying to 'get together' online to see how everyone was,

That’s sounds both kinda nice and baffling to me.
It’s possible that I could name 13 of my extended family at a push, if I sat and thought about it for long enough. I can’t imagine us all getting together for a chat, mind.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Gosh no. I mean, 13, yeah maybe like you say if I sat and thought about it. In one place? Maybe at a funeral I suppose.

I've not spoken live audio words to more than...four, I guess, this year. Maybe three.

[Snake Plissken]

Teams, Skype, SfB and WebEx are all more secure and probably overall better.

But Zoom seems to have hit that point for ease of use and practicality. The security issues I've seen have been more unintended consequences than actual security flaws and a result of unprecedented demand. When something hits like that you are always going to find problems, whether through technical issues or just people finding ways to troll the system. From a security POV, I wouldn't bother with the apps, but just view meetings through a web browser. I assume that you can turn cameras and microphones off from in the browser. And use InPrivate mode to actually operate the browser window and job done.

[Fussbudget]

My sister is organising one of those big family meetings next week and has made it clear that everyone will think I'm a dick if I don't join in, so I'm trying to decide how much I care about that. About half the dozen people invited I haven't spoken to in at least ten years, including one I've never met and know nothing about, and conveniently they've also picked a time where I'll still be at work (but that's no excuse apparently.)

My brother, who I'm beginning to think is actually a genius, has managed to dodge this particular bullet by not having a mobile phone/WhatsApp and not replying to anyone's emails.

[Various Artist]

That’s sounds both kinda nice and baffling to me.
It’s possible that I could name 13 of my extended family at a push, if I sat and thought about it for long enough. I can’t imagine us all getting together for a chat, mind.

Gosh no. I mean, 13, yeah maybe like you say if I sat and thought about it. In one place? Maybe at a funeral I suppose.

I've not spoken live audio words to more than...four, I guess, this year. Maybe three.

Point taken, both, though it's not as big a deal as it sounds perhaps. My mum is one of four, so it's quite easy when you add up her siblings and my four cousins. Was her, my dad and my brother, my uncle and his wife and three sons, my two aunties, the daughter of the younger of those and her partner. Oh, and me. All my life we've tended to get together at my grandad's house in the east of England around Christmas/New Year and at other times like Easter, late August, etc., and we all get along very well.

That said, they're arranging another session for tomorrow and I'm not sure I actually have anything left to say to anybody at this point, so I may duck in and out a bit.

[ad hoc]

My wife's extended family are currently enjoying an Easter Saturday egg painting and pálinka drinking via Zoom. It's excellent.

Tomorrow my extended family are having a similar gathering (minus egg painting) using the same platform (it'll be a bit early for too much pálinka as there is one participant in Sydney)

[Satchmo Distel]

I have started using Zoom to record lectures. This guide is useful:

https://kb.siue.edu/page.php?id=61721