Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020) | Hacker News Reader

Always use Zoom in a browser. Avoid the app (2020)

forbes.com

80 pointsbehnamoh41 comments

I normally prefer browser to app. Why would I want to install yet more junk software, which might be doing who-knows-what, if I can get the same result without adding extra weird, untrustworthy stuff to my systems? This applies to PCs and much more so to phones - on phones standard of "trusted" is rather lower, and increasing the number apps has real downsides (battery, performance, etc)

> This applies to PCs and much more so to phones - on phones standard of "trusted" is rather lower, and increasing the number apps has real downsides (battery, performance, etc)

I'd argue this applies more to PCs and less to phones, since the security model for most desktop OSs gives all applications access to all user data, so you need to completely trust everything you install. On Android (and I believe ios) all applications are sandboxed. You can also prevent them from running in the background to limit impact on battery/performance.

Although I still agree that I still don't like installing junk on either, and phones still aren't completely immune.

I just realized this has been mysterious to me forever. Why is software on phones so bad?

I'm betting it's somewhat dumber target audience which is then taken as a permission for abuse.

Touch screens were a mistake

I'm not sure if it was the keyboard, or the OS, or both, but I found the software on my Palm Pre so much better for doing what I actually want, and in less time, instead of the mindless scrolling it feels like phones now are optimized for.

Agreed. I actually bring a full-size mechanical keyboard with me everywhere I go so I can fire up vim and respond to SMS messages in the most ergonomic way possible, as God intended.

You are laughing and I'm crying. I don't know what is the vim thing but if I needed a phone for a lot of typing 10 years ago, I used to have a rich choice of Qwerty communicators. If I need a phone for a lot of typing today, I use to have a choice of:

a 10+ y.o. Qwerty communicator whose software is able at least to reach my email,

a laptop,

and a touchscreen as an only way to have all the bleeding edge technologies but with stupid restrictions on an OS level.

Zoom does a pretty good job of hiding the link to join a meeting with your browser, only showing it (quickly) after you download their installer, and more often after a delay of several seconds. I poked around briefly and couldn’t find any hidden links that I could expose by a quick console script, though I haven’t looked through their client-side JavaScript yet. Anyone have any shortcuts or bookmarklets to make it easier to launch a meeting directly in the web client?

Check out https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/xoom-redirector/oc...

Not sure if you can easily automate this, but changing user agent to ChromeOS based Chrime used to surface that link.

Was thinking this was something new. But is two year old article.

I do this anyway, as it simply works better for me on GNU/Linux. Weirdly, I've found audio configuration and performance to be more reliable through my _web browser_ than the Zoom desktop client.

Additionally, and this may just be my rather old laptop, I've had my whole system freeze when trying to load the Zoom client. Even if that's a fixed problem now, using the web version makes me worry less. The #1 thing I need my meeting solution to be is dependable.

If it wasn't already heavy, desktop client launches many background processes electrolysis style. I suppose web client has to fit in one process.

The web client has some minor limitations. The ones regarding screen sharing forced me to install the native client.

A feature comparison table can be found over here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360027397692-Zoom-...

This has only gotten worse. Zoom has always been a stack of dark patterns, but now if you want to join a meeting for the browser, if you click the meeting link it takes you to a page that starts an unrequested download of the app, requires you to click another link ti get to the meeting. There, it will tell you you must be logged in (if accounts are a requirement, which they should be for most orgs). However, you can’t log in from that page. You need to navigate backward, to the original unwanted download page, where it will start the download again, and then click the “create account” link (there is no sign in link), click “existing account”, sign in, and then start the whole process over because they take you to your “dashboard” where the meeting tied to your account isn’t visible. Once in the meeting, most features are disabled and getting sound to work is a crapshoot.

It’s somewhat telling how bad they make the browser experience. I would never install it to any device.

Title needs (2020)

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/2/21204648/zoom-macos-instal...

If an organization has E2EE enabled (which may be sketchy implementation but still not a bad idea?), AFAIK, it’s impossible to access Zoom meetings from a browser at all.

That's what WebRTC was supposed to enable but Zoom chose to go the Skype route of native primarily with dark patterns & sweeping system access on PC & mobile

Same goes for Teams.

Or Notion.app or any electron app to be honest.

I just wish that the browser-based Teams video conference version would let me blur the video background. I don’t always have a nice, presentable space for these calls.

Xsplit Vcam https://www.xsplit.com/vcam

The only other easy tools I know with bokeh as good are a DSLR w/ UVC, Lumina webcam's software (maybe licenses Vcam, it shares features?), Reincubate Camo, and now Apple's Continuity Camera in portrait mode.

All of those give bokeh that feels extremely natural. Camo lets old phones and Android phones be used as webcams, so you can use the bokeh mode in the phone. But Xsplit Vcam and Lumina's driver work with any webcam and have both a fully adjustable blur, and a "cameraman" mode that keeps you centered in the frame when you move around or sit differently.

The blur in Zoom and Teams are embarrassingly terrible. Given these tools exist, one wonders why.

FWIW Camo also works with any webcam now, also.

You could probably do something using OBS with the virtual webcam feature and some plugins

Don’t do that. Those blur effects always look so bad.

strong disagree. If someone's in their home office, I'd rather have it blurred for both of our sakes

Why? In my office, you'd see me (of course), and some bookcases behind me with a bunch of very SFW books. What's so offensive about that?

The space can be messy and I don’t want that as a distraction.

No need for a video camera to have conference call. It's for work.

To be an equal participant in a call it is better to be on video, otherwise you tend to be seen as not a full participant. You words tend to have more impact when you are visible. It’s also better for human relationships to see each other when you are talking.

0. (2020)

1. Or use Session, the phone numberless fork of Signal

i wish i could but they restrict certain features on browser and is exclusively available only on app. same for slack

Which features would a privacy-conscious person be missing in the webapp?

not privacy conscious. but in slack, during the huddle call, when someone shares their screen, slack app gives an option to separate the huddle and the screenshare in 2 different windows. it is very helpful since the screenshare window is a floating window so i can also multi task. Whereas on browser, the whole huddle is a single window and i feel restricted. I used to stick with slack on browser slack but often times its very buggy and i had to force switch to slack app.

The features required by the people they’re meeting online.

Say you manage to secure the client this way, how would you ensure that the server is?

Just saying, article is from 2020.

According to a random Forbes blogspam site from three years ago with no specific reason or sources cited..

How does this low effort drivel even get voted to the front page here?

I had always used the browser for any zoom request...until last week. Out of no where, Zoom would not connect any audio on my MBP. I normally use Firefox, but it just would not work. I tried Safari as well, still no joy. I refuse to use Chrome, so did not try there. So I ultimately had to use the app, and I'm furious over it. I don't know where the change happened if it was a browser update (but did not work in second browser), or if I'm being too cynical in suggesting Zoom deliberately broke something to encourage app use.

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