Do you have an email address? Have you initiated remote
working amongst your employees? Or do you wish to talk to your loved one who
are far from you during this pandemic? Then you do not have to worry cause Google
meet is here.
Google has made its video conferencing software, Meet, free
of charge, joining other free-to-use video conference software such as Zoom and
Skype.
As reported by CNN business, the company said on Wednesday
that the “secure and reliable” software will become available over
the next few weeks to anyone with an email address, even if it’s not a Gmail
account.
Meet was previously only available to users of its G Suite
productivity tools, commonly used by larger companies and schools.
The work-from-home revolution brought on by the novel
coronavirus sparked a teleconferencing phenomenon over the past few months.
Zoom (ZM), which has been plagued with security issues,
announced last week it hosts 300 million meeting participants a day.
Facebook (FB) is adding its own entrant with a video
conference tool for its Messenger app called Messenger Rooms.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in its earnings call Tuesday
that Meet recently “surpassed a significant milestone” and is adding
3 million new users every day.
The Usage has increased 30-fold since January and Meet now
has more than 100 million daily meeting participants, according to Pichai.
Google emphasized Meet’s security features, writing in a
blog post that it’s “designed, built and operated to be secure at
scale.”
Some key features include admitting or denying users into
conferences and not allowing anonymous users — both problems that Zoom has attempted
to stamp out with software updates.
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan admitted that his company has
“fallen short” on privacy and security.
Google is limiting the time for a meeting to 60 minutes, but
that limit won’t be enforced until September.
One hundred people can be on a Meet call, the same number
allowed in a Zoom call, but Zoom limits meetings to 40 minutes on its free
tier.
Facebook’s upcoming video conferencing tool can host up to
50 people without a time limit. Microsoft’s (MSFT) Skype can also host up 50
people on conference call for up to 4 hours.
Like Skype and Zoom, Meet will retain some premium features
for G Suite customers, including dial-in phone numbers, larger meetings, and
meeting recording.
Source: CNN
