Amazon shuts down Chime, its Zoom alternative | Hacker News Reader

Amazon shuts down Chime, its Zoom alternative

techcrunch.com

29 pointsbookofjoe13 comments

Chime was pretty basic, but it worked, and it had a few killer features that are not available in the primary alternatives like Teams or Zoom.

Chime can autodial you when the meeting starts, which is life-changing if you haven't experienced it. We all know we have a meeting at 2pm, Outlook reminds you 15min before, but then at 1:58pm you get nerd-sniped and suddenly at 2:11pm you realize you're late! With Chime the the meeting launches automatically with Accept/Decline options, usually 1min before the meeting actually starts.

Chime also allows a meeting to start before (or even without) the host attending. How often have you had a meeting scheduled by senior leader, then they get pulled away and everyone is stuck in the virtual waiting room and end up coordinating/meeting in Slack instead? With Chime, the meeting starts anyway and the host can join when (if) they become available.

>Chime also allows a meeting to start before (or even without) the host attending. How often have you had a meeting scheduled by senior leader, then they get pulled away and everyone is stuck in the virtual waiting room and end up coordinating/meeting in Slack instead? With Chime, the meeting starts anyway and the host can join when (if) they become available.

Not sure about other videoconferencing services but I never had this issue with zoom.

I'm almost sure this is a pretty common Zoom feature, I have run into this at least once a month the last 6-7 years.

IMO, it's less a Zoom problem, and more a setting on the host's side problem. Same category as "guest cannot move a meeting invite unless explicitly allowed to" on google calendar.

Yes, it's a config option in Zoom meetings.

My favorite feature is that the little mic next to someone's name on the roster goes red when their internet is spotty. No ambiguity on who's internet is spotty ;)

> Chime can autodial you when the meeting starts

There is an older gentleman on TikTok that does programmer humor. He has an ongoing gag this reminded me of. Microsoft PowerInterrupt. Be forced to join meetings basically. Funny it’s almost an actual real life product.

> Chime can autodial you when the meeting starts, which is life-changing if you haven't experienced it.

I wished Zoom could do this too, it's a great feature to build in to a videoconferencing product. I use a free companion app, called MeetingBar, which syncs with your calendar and has an option to join the meeting's waiting room for you.

Speed of acceptance of mission failure 2017 -> 2025.

Thatsenough time to circulate all personal , if you fire 10% every year.

Ah, I remember Chime from back in my Amazon days.

When they launched it and started migrating it internally, they didn’t have a Linux or web version. Back then, I was still using a Windows Phone (as much as the lack of available apps sucked, it had nice UI and worked well), so that wasn’t an option either.

I managed to get by by using the Android APK with a translation layer, I believe? Nevertheless, it was unstable and awful.

Eventually I caved in and switched back to Android and Mac, the Linux dev env was just unusable most of the time.

Ah, that old pattern of AAA companies that proves they have grown past the point of innovation. All copy each other, badly, as a strategy.

Relevant song to say goodbye to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJEAcYVAh7E

Hats off to whomever named Amazon Chime. Always made me smile.

In unrelated news, I just found out Amazon had a zoom alternative called Chime…

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