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Comment by vinay_ys | Hacker News Reader

For years, I have refused to install zoom, webex etc clients for exactly this reason. Their installer wants admin user access for no apparent reason. They could have given a simple drag and drop installation app. Instead they want to run an installer with root user permissions to do whatever. Also, I hate apps that installs a helper background program, and doesn't let me disable it via preferences. I refuse to use those too.

Besides, for what zoom does, why do they need an app? Browser has all the capabilities they need.

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I like Google Meet and Skype in large part because they have decent web clients with instant meetings without sign in [1] [2].

[1]: https://meet.google.com/

[2]: https://www.skype.com/en/free-conference-call/

The same goes for teams.

Just a little snippet from the Teams installer page: "Windows Firewall configuration will be altered even when the prompt is dismissed by selecting “Cancel”. Two inbound rules for teams.exe will be created with Allow action for both TCP and UDP protocols."

If you’re using windows then arguably the battle is already lost in that regard.

Notifications for incoming "calls"?

Does zoom have such a thing as an unsolicited incoming meeting/join request? You don't have to answer, idk and don't care, just guessing at possible theoretical legit uses just to be complete.

I just know there's all kinds of use cases I have no use for, or actively hate, that most other people seem to love, not even just businesses inflicting things on employees but normal people using voluntarily.

Zoom lets you draw on screen or allow remote control which is not possible with a webapp.

I don't buy that argument. Browser is plenty capable. Check out https://excalidraw.com

Discovered this during pandemic WFH. Since then, this is THE collaborative drawing tool for any design discussions, interviews etc.

That's drawing on a canvas, not on the desktop that's currently being shared.

There is a web api for this:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Screen_Capt...

There is also a proper macOS API for this, which they are skirting using by using this hack.

Where on that page does it say anything about drawing on the screen or remote control? To me, those are the two major features Zoom provides that differentiate it from e.g. Google Meet or Jitsi.

Agree totally, only problem is, imo, the browser experience, even for well built web apps, is 'usually' subpar or more problematic or poor performing than a desktop app.

Google Meet is a great example of an app that uses AV and works well, running in a browser. Even with a large number of participants - and no client required.

On the other hand, Zoom web client is an afterthought, to put it nicely.

Are you talking about Google Meet or Google Meet (nee Duo)? It’s hard to keep track, when they both have the same name https://www.pcworld.com/article/707997/google-pledges-to-mak...

I think they're referring to this one: https://meet.google.com/

Than a well-written desktop app, maybe. Electron apps set the bar lower - for example, Microsoft sat on shipping ARM builds for Teams until this month so for a couple of years a browser was faster and used far less RAM.

How do you do screen sharing, or sharing a specific window belonging to another program, from a browser app?

With the Screen Capture API: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Screen_Capt...

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