zlacker

>>chrono+(OP)
Zoom was proved as being dishonest and untrustworthy years ago (https://citizenlab.ca/2020/04/move-fast-roll-your-own-crypto...) but companies never cared about the privacy of the people they forced to use the software and all the security problems and leaks that followed still didn't discourage people from using it. I doubt their mining of personal data for AI will stop people from using it either.

Although there are a ton of alternatives out there they are all "too hard" or something, so since Zoom mostly works OK most of the time and is dead simple to use it will continue to win out over everything else.

My position on Zoom hasn't changed since 2020: Anyone using Zoom will continue to get exactly what they deserve.

>>autoex+N11
Well, there's a couple of reasons that people use it:

1) Until recently, Zoom's video/audio quality knocked everyone else's into a cocked hat. I don't think that's the case, anymore. Looks like a lot of folks got off their butts, and improved their quality, but I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, by anyone.

2) Everyone else is using it.

#2 is a biggie. Monopoly inertia is pretty hard to overcome, for people not in the tech industry (we'll change on a whim).

Zoom is not easy to use. Its settings are a mess, but everyone is used to dealing with the Zoom pain, and don't want to switch.

We can be remarkably cavalier in dismissing non-tech folks, but I learned to stop doing that, many years ago. We're not the only smart people in the world.

People (in general) don't like getting sidetracked by their tools. They want to get a job done, and how they get it done is not irrelevant, but not that important to them. They develop and refine a workflow, which is usually heavily informed by their choice of tools, and that "wears a groove." They don't want to switch grooves; even if they are not enjoying their tool.

Most tech folks, on the other hand love tools. I had an employee that would stop his main project, and design a massive subsystem, just to make a simple command-line process a few seconds shorter. I had to keep on my toes. He was the best engineer I've ever worked with, but it was a chore to keep him focused.

Non-tech types are seldom like that, and we can sometimes miss it.

These are the folks that use our products, and we don't actually gain anything by disrespecting them, even when they really piss us off.

TL;DR: Want people to stop using Zoom? Produce something better, and make it something that non-tech folks will love.

That means easy to use, forget-about-it UX, and extremely high quality.