Lakmini • Science and Technology

Zoom; In or Out?

November 23, 2020
by Sandali Lakmini

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The word ‘Zoom’ is usually used to describe a sudden, quick movement or simply it says about a smooth change in a camera, from a long shot to a close-up or vice versa. But since the recent past, we are familiar with this term because we meet, we talk, we learn, and do much more with it.

It is one of the most popular web-based video conferencing tools with a local, desktop client and a mobile app that allows users to meet online, with or without video; “ZOOM”. This helps us to zoom in and zoom out our lives as in a camera and to move rapidly through our threatened lives during the most hazardous pandemic situation of the decade, Covid-19. Did you ever wonder how it was discovered and developed?

Though it was most welcomed recently, it was discovered 9 years ago, on April 21, 2011, by Eric Yuan; a Chinese-American billionaire businessman. Upon arriving in the US from China, Yuan joined WebEx, a web conferencing startup that was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2007. Later, Yuan rose to the rank of Vice President and pitched a new smartphone-friendly video conferencing system to Cisco management. But his idea was rejected and Yuan left Cisco WebEx to establish his own company, Zoom Video Communications.

Eric Yuan got the idea of launching ‘Zoom’ during college in China, when he was on a 10-hour train ride away from his girlfriend, according to Forbes.

“ I was only able to see her twice a year and it took more than 10 hours to get there by train. I was young then,18 or 19 years old, and I thought it would be fantastic if in the future there was a device where I could just click a button and see her and talk to her”, he told Forbes in 2017.

However, this amazing discovery brought him fortune where his wealth has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Zoom has benefited from the shift to online work, meetings, learning, and teaching. By September 1, 2020, his net worth was estimated to be US$16.4 billion.

By now, this platform is compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, meaning nearly anyone in the world can access it and get done day-to-day work. A quick download of the ‘zoom’ app will accommodate your needs, meeting people online, from every nook and corner of the globe, and is further facilitated by allowing in- meeting chats, recording facility, screen sharing facility, and breakout rooms.

Because of the many advantages that ‘ZOOM’ offers, it is a widely approved choice for team communications. But still, there are certain cons to it. There are difficulties in using white-boarding, polling, and remote control features, expensive for larger teams with too many subscriptions, lack of comment control,  inconsistent cloud file sizes, poor HD video quality where the video is blurry and pixelated in most cases and even the audio quality is not perfect. A new circumstance that results in unwanted individuals crashing a meeting known as ‘Zoombombing’, is a threatening behavior that has mainly been a result of COVID-19. However, by using protected passwords, this can be prevented.

Overall, Zoom is a great platform that offers a lot of features that businesses and individuals find useful. It is one of the best video conference platforms available now. True, it is not without its flaws. But who knows. Technology grows at an unexpected rate and this app will conquer us and sometimes it will be conquered by something else. The world goes on and hence we should adapt to the upcoming digital transformation of life.

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