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Video Conferencing Software: Skype, Hangouts, and Zoom Half-Blood

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Now it is important for everyone to stay at home - in Russia, the isolation regime was extended at least until mid-May. So you have to work and communicate with other people remotely. But where exactly we will call up is a big question. We made a small selection of services for video conferencing that are on the market, and briefly talked about each of them.

PlatformNumber of participantsPriceScreen castCall recordingTime limitSafety
ZoomWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android50 ( )$14,99/.40Nuff said.
DiscordWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android10— ;
$9,99/.  Nitro: HD-, GIF, ;
$4,99/.  Nitro Classic —		,
SkypeWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android50
HangoutsWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android25— ;
$5,40 $25/.		 — Zoom .
Google DuoAndroid, iOS12
FacetimeiOS, macOS32
Big Blue ButtonWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android2990 ₽
Webex100$21 000/.
Jitsi MeetWindows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android75

Zoom


Zoom Video Communications was founded in California in 2011 by Eric Yuan. Prior to that, he served as vice president of collaboration software development at Cisco Systems. Video conferencing service appeared in 2013 and was designed for the b2b-segment of the market.

In previous years, the Zoom audience grew gradually, but with the pandemic, it showed an unprecedented growth - last week, Yuan reported that the number of users by April was 300 million people daily, while in December this number was 10 million. With the advent of popularity, scandals related to the security of the service began: it turned out that Zoom sends the data of its users to Facebook, it does not use the kind of encryption that the developers claimIt has many vulnerabilities, provides personal data of its clients to other users due to the coincidence of email domains and much more. Zoom developers began to actively correct all these shortcomings - for example, Yuan said that the company for three months will refuse to add new features, focusing on fixing vulnerabilities.

In addition to security problems, Zoom has a number of other shortcomings: for example, the application has a time limit of 40 minutes for users with a free tariff, and the number of conference participants is limited to 50 people. A paid Zoom subscription costs $ 14.99 / month. But in the application, you can broadcast the screen and record audio and video calls.

Discord


Discord was developed by Hammer & Chisel from San Francisco in March 2015. The service is positioned as a free messenger with audio and video conferencing for gamers, but it can also be successfully used for everyday and working communication.

Compared to Zoom, Discord has fewer features - for example, there is no way to record calls, and the number of participants in video conferences is limited to ten. But Discord is still primarily intended for use in games, so it has such convenient things for the gamer as an overlay, hot keys and the ability to create your own servers, which other users can join by link to participate in audio and video communications. There are also questions regarding the safety of the service - in October last year, experts discoveredSpidey Bot malware that was used to spy and steal information. And in 2017, InSights analysts recognized Discord as the most popular messenger among cybercriminals.

Skype


The team of Skype’s creators in 2003 was multinational - the origin of the service was Swede Niklas Zennström, Danish Janus Friis and Estonian programmers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kazesalu and Jaan Tallinn. Initially, the application had only audio calls, and the video conferencing function was added in version 2.0. Skype Technologies remained independent until 2011, when it was acquired by Microsoft. It was in the first half of the 2010s that the service was most popular, and the comic video clip about the “best file sharing” uploaded to YouTube in 2015 became viral in RuNet. However, later popularity declined: by 2019, Skype was only fifth in the ranking of the most used instant messengers in Russia, behind WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram and Discord.

Skype has functions for recording calls and broadcasting the screen, and the maximum number of participants in a video conference is 50 people. The application has no paid tariffs, with the exception of calls to regular phones, and since 2018, Skype uses end-to-end encryption.

Google hangouts


Google developed Hangouts in 2013 - the app was released on May 15 during the Google I / O Developer Conference. The service was designed to replace just three systems for instant messaging: Google Talk, Google+ Chats and Google+ Hangouts.

Three tariff plans are available in the application: Basic ($ 5.40 / month), Business ($ 10.80 / month) and Enterprise ($ 25 / month). The most expensive of them enables the simultaneous participation of 25 people in a video conference; In addition, Hangouts has the function of conducting remote lectures in the tariffs G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education, which can watch and listen to up to 250 people.

Google duo


Duo was released in 2016, three years after the advent of Hangouts. The launch of another service for Google video chats was motivated by the fact that they perform different functions: while Hangouts is mainly designed for collaboration and business tasks, Duo was conceived as a service for everyday communication between people. At the same time, the company introduced the third product in the line - the Allo instant messaging service, which had no commercial success and was closed in 2019.

Unlike Hangouts, Duo does not have full versions for desktop operating systems - the application is available for Android and iOS. And on desktop PCs, only in the browser. After registration, Duo is tied to the user's phone number. The application does not have as many functions as in Hangouts, there is no way to record calls and broadcast the screen, and the number of participants in the video chat is limited to 12 people.

Facetime


Facetime is an integral part of the Apple ecosystem, which was introduced in 2010 at WWDC. The application is preinstalled on all iPhone, iPod (starting from the fourth generation of devices), iPad (starting from the second), iMac and Macbook. Facetime replaced its predecessor, iSight, which was used for video chat in iChat.

The application continues the trend towards minimalism established by Steve Jobs: it does not have an abundance of various functions and settings, but it is intended primarily for everyday communication with other people. You can record calls in Facetime only by installing a jailbreak on the device, which is now used by a vanishingly small percentage of users. Up to 32 people can participate in a video conference at the same time. Security problems did not go around Facetime - in 2019, an error was found in the application that allowed you to eavesdrop and spy on the owners of the iPhone even before the interlocutor picks up the phone. In fairness, this vulnerability was quickly closed.

Webex


Webex was created in 1995 by the Americans Sabra Iyar and Min Zhu. Then the product was known by the name VideoTouch. In 1998, rebranding was carried out, and in 2007, Cisco Technologies acquired the company - it was Eric Wean who worked at Webex, who later founded Zoom. The service is focused on organizing remote work and conducting webinars and joint brainstorming sessions. The application has a shared access to the desktop and MS Office documents, the ability to record web sessions and the voting function.

Jitsi meet


Jitsi Meet is a free, open source video communications software launched in 2003. The application supports up to 75 participants in the conference at the same time, has integration with Slack, Google Calendar and Office 365. In addition, like Zoom, the service has a “Raise your hand” function - participants can signal using a special button when they want something to tell. In Jitsi Meet, you can create your own server that users can connect to, and since the application code is published in the public domain, everyone can independently check it for possible security problems.

Big blue button


The Big Blue Button project began in 2007 at Carleton University in Canada. The service allows you to conduct web conferences and is primarily intended for distance learning. The application has advanced features of the "school board" - a pointer, scaling, drawing - and the number of viewers in one broadcast is not limited. Users can join conferences either as spectators or as moderators - the latter have the right to expel viewers or give them the floor to speak. In total, participants with moderator rights can be no more than 20. The components of the program are open source.
This material was prepared as part of the Remote Marathon at Habr Career . We started this soul-saving movement so as not to go crazy in isolation ourselves. And at the same time, we hope that this activity will help someone to pump up remote work skills and make home office more comfortable.

Topic of the week: Workflows
Curator of the week: Alexander Druzhkov, Deputy Director of Technology ivi

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