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Comment by philshem | Hacker News Reader

Zoom's dark pattern is to obscure that every online meeting can be joined from the browser. They really hide this in order to install software on the client machine, which has been susceptible to bugs in the past.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/214629443

I've had no problems from the browser, although I think on some platforms they suggest (or require?) Chrome over Firefox.

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https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/214629443

Has more information and browser support/feature tables.

Thanks a ton for posting this. I don't use Zoom as much as I used to but I know the browser client didn't use to exist. I can't vouch for how well it works to anyone reading this, but I prefer browser clients in general if possible and will try it out to anyone from Zoom. Your email QA was helpful years ago and sent a Linux build with more debugging[0] so you could fix some issue when that was still new!

[0] I don't remember the details now, I don't think they were anything particularly exciting then. I appreciated the "Yep, we've heard about it, can you run this version and email us the logs when it happens again?" That's all I remember so I think we can assume they fixed it.

Thanks, I updated my link.

old link: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005666383-Show-...

To give you an indication of how far their reach has been, the staff at our public library has an "all-hands" meeting on Thursday morning using Zoom.

I looked into the browser based version, but couldn't get it to load for some reason. Tried using Chrome and turned off Pi-Hole just in case they were blocking it.

Might have to do with my connection upstairs not being good enough - router is on the first floor on the opposite side of the house. Does anyone know what kind of bandwidth requirements there are for Zoom's clients? I don't see anything at that URL.

If all else fails, I'll probably do it from iOS, just so I can uninstall their client when we're done. No freaking way this comes anywhere near my laptop in any permanent fashion.

Update: Bandwidth reqs are here - https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-R...

I've found that you have to cancel the download and then the "join meeting in browser" link shows up. Daaaaaark pattern.

The Join by Browser feature was also discussed a bit in the other thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22657949

I've found that the call quality drops after about 20 minutes when using the Zoom web app on Chrome with participants from London/US. Also, the memory usage of the Chrome tab goes sky high. Doesn't happen with hangouts though - that actually feels quite smooth in comparison.

I have never had a Hangouts meeting that could be described as "smooth" other than 1:1

Conversely, most every multi-party hangout I have had has gone perfectly. And I have them multiple times every day.

I concur. I use them to have meetings from London with clients in the US (3-4 participant calls), and they're actually very smooth.

Anecdotally, that happened to me several times between London/US... Curious of an actual investigation into this.

I used to get mad about this too and always declined the desktop app to get the browser link. But now that I've been using Zoom constantly I realize that the native app is just a WAY better experience.

I don't like dark patterns either, I think they should have posted something really visible saying GUYS LOOK SERIOUSLY it works better in the app instead.

But I do have some sympathy. I wonder if anyone would have ever tried the app if they weren't pushed so hard to do it.

This is a good thing, this sort of functionality belongs on your desktop, not as a webpage. We need less "apps" in the browser, not more. This is part of the reason why we sit with a broken and fragmented web where browsers include everything under the sun because all these "apps" want to do stuff while being in the browser.

At least there's something resembling a review process when the browser sandbox might gain more attack surface.

At least there is a browser sandbox...

The client software never seems to work for me, and I've had to phone in before not knowing you could join from the browser

It can only be joined from Desktop, though. Not on mobile, unfortunately. :(

Most people prefer the desktop software for better UX.

Do you have data? Or is this anecdotal?

I had installed the Zoom client on my PC as a local non-admin user, and then had to go to IT to get an admin to uninstall it.

Zoom is not alone in doing this. (Or maybe it's a Windows "feature"?)

Your IT might have set up a group policy object that disables uninstalling software (https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-accidental-uninst...)

Yeah could be. I had a requested a Mac.

That's about removing a shortcut, not banning uninstalling user-installed apps, which would be ridiculous.

If that's what stopped parent poster from uninstaling, that's PEBCAK.

I DESPISE having to install or even run desktop applications for anything that can be done in a browser.

Agreed. Alibaba asks anyone who has meetings with them to install their proprietary meeting software which is only available on Mac/Win. No thanks.

Most non-tech people just blindly drink the poison and install it.

For simple tasks yes, but just because it can be done in a browser doesn't mean it should. Native applications can provide performance optimizations that you wouldn't get in a web app. Would you rather play a realistic flight sim natively or in your browser?

I'd rather play it in a browser, even if it's much worse.

With the browser version, I can just open my browser and point to the URL and run it. Easy.

With a native app, this usually means I'd have to go buy a new computer running Windows or MacOS just to run this one stupid application, because I don't have either of those OSes at home. Of course, I'm not going to do that, which means I just don't use the app at all.

support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/204206269-Installing-Zoom-on-Linux

Then you're not most people. The desktop apps are faster, more reliable and more convenient for the vast majority of business users who just want it to work.

Not when they’re just electron apps like what sadly most of these productivity apps end up being.

Sure, but that's not what Zoom is.

I completely disagree, and I mean for all desktop software vs. web software.

Web applications are generally better, because, as a Linux user, an in-browser application means I get to actually use the thing, instead of not using it at all.

"as a Linux user"

Then you're not most people. This isn't that controversial.

I may not be most people, but for various reasons, it does seem than web apps are taking over and native apps are dying, so this is only good for me. Maybe there's more of us than you think.

Sure, but this was only in context for Zoom, not all software.

And Zoom does have a Linux version in case you're not aware: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/204206269-Installi...

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