Re:How Zoom works [slides]
by shwoopdiwoop on Thursday June 25, 2020 @08:36AM
(#23639938)
On the surface, it doesn’t sound like a big difference. In reality, I find using the native /call command in slack a game changer. It opens up a call immediately, no links, copy/pasting, changing applications etc. It just feels right.
That's not entirely true. Zoom does have tabs called 'Chat' and 'Contacts' where you can find all your contacts & initiate a 'Call' with them without ever having to share a URL / ID
Discoverability is everything!
Zoom could easily subsume this though, just add a contact list and a call UI. I guess that actually isn’t entirely trivial but certainly doable.
That's already in Zoom.
That's all you do: click Contacts, click the person, click Meet, and they answer the call. It also shows you if they're available, on another call, etc.
None of that is necessary with Zoom. You have two easier options:
Call them:
1. Click Contacts.
2. Click the person.
3. Click Meet.
Or use your personal meeting room:
1. Click New Meeting.
2. Click Participants.
3. Click the person.
4. Click Invite.
Zoom weirds me out in that in order to chat with someone you need to "create a meeting", then copy the meeting url/id, and send it via a different channel to the person you want to chat with.