Teleconferencing, the whole Internet communications world for that matter, is changing so much, so quickly and so frequently, it is becoming very difficult to keep up.
ZOOM
ZOOM has been criticized for being insecure and vulnerable within months of its creation and validly so for at the beginning it lacked security features. Within just a few months, ZOOM added features to help make teleconferencing more secure. They were still criticized for its meeting room data transmission being unencrypted, unscrambled. Finally, ZOOM was also criticized for being a Chinese company with data linking to the government of China.
ZOOM has rectified all the security issues of which it has been criticized. The latest version of its application is ZOOM v5 available on the weekend of April 24th. Hence, our meeting of the 24th was cancelled to give us an opportunity to test the new software and confirm its security enhancements the best we can.
There are numerous other teleconferencing applications besides ZOOM. However, either they are not free or they lack the rich and robust features in ZOOM. As others have done, ZOOM has loosened is free version restrictions, removing its limits of participant numbers and meeting duration. Undoubtedly, ZOOM’s modifications will broaden its fan base.
Generally, the biggest problem with most other applications is cost. They are expensive particularly if one wants to have many participant meetings or long meeting durations. Some of the most popular alternatives are SKYPE, GOOGLE HANGOUT, MICROSOFT TEAM and CISCO WEBEX.
A freebie though very limited teleconferencing application is WHEREBY found easily on the web. It is extremely easy to use, has a basic set of useful and usable features and is limited to 4 persons. For a freebie which is very easy to use, it is worth exploring.
The bottom line, ZOOM is the crown jewel of teleconferencing and with its final layer of security features, the crown firmly sits on its head. The caveat, which should apply to all video conferencing is considered what you are discussing online. Better still, consider every meeting as if it were being heard by others.
Best,
Richard
