Someday, I am sure there will be books written on just how Skype have utterly lost the video-conferencing market to Zoom. In this new coronavirus world, Zoom has become the de-facto standard for remote communication, the keyword that comes out of the tongue when we wish to contact a group of people simultaneously. Zoom is now to video-conferencing what Kleenex is to tissue, an astounding achievement given that just a decade ago, Skype was the verb for remote video calling.
How the tables have turned.
Working in the field of IT support, it’s thanks to Zoom that my coworkers and I were able to transition to telecommuting so easily. More than simply providing a medium for face-to-face contact, Zoom has support-focused features such as remote control of a user’s computer, allowing us to troubleshoot as if the particular laptop were physical right in front of us. It even allows a tech to prompt a user to restart their computer, and upon boot up, Zoom would automatically launch and rejoin the same meeting.
It’s all rather magical, and it just works. (Shoutout to Apple.)
Of course, Zoom has nearly singlehandedly keep education alive during this quarantine, enabling teachers and students to conduct virtual classrooms. It wasn’t without an adjustment period, but for the most part, at least from an IT support perspective, Zoom has been consistent and super reliable. I can remember some time ago when Zoom was announced as the official conferencing platform for our school. My initial thought was: why not Skype? What the heck is a Zoom? Little did I know that many years later, Zoom would play such a crucial part to campus functions during COVID-19.
Of course, having a paid Zoom account - due to work - allowed me to host meetings with my friends on weekends. No need to worry about the 40 minute time limit that free Zoom accounts are restricted to. To be able to remotely gather around each Saturday to chat and play some games was a much-needed distraction from the lockdown situation, a semblance of the human connection we dearly missed being thus confined to our respective homes.
Microsoft isn’t hurting financially by any means, but they’ve got be a little sour that Zoom has taken the crown from Skype, right?
Morning rays of orange.