Google Meet is enjoying a meteoric rise in popularity after people are forced into lockdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic.
When countries started to impose lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus, people start to use video conferencing. Some of the most popular platforms are Zoom and Skype. Seeing the potential to this market, the tech titan joins the fray with Google Meet.
The tool is part of the G Suite, a set of tools for cloud computing, productivity, and collaboration. Google has a number of video chatting tools, but Meet targets huge collaboration. It is capable of handling video conferences of up to 100 people.
Video conferencing surges
There is an exponential surge of demands for video conferencing. As people flock these platforms to continue with their work, tech companies are answering the call.
However, huge waves of users can also cause the platform to bottleneck. These bottlenecks can result in deterioration of service. While Zoom does have adequate infrastructure to handle the ever increasing traffic, some tech experts are wondering if it can handle more.
On the other hand, Google Meet runs on the mighty infrastructure of its parent company. Google promises that its platform will continue to scale, and it is making upgrades to it regularly.
Coming soon ????: We'll be offering #GoogleMeet for free to anyone with an email address to help people, businesses, & schools stay connected. Availability for our premium video conferencing product will be rolling out in the coming weeks → https://t.co/Km6EfP7nHl #MeetOurTeam pic.twitter.com/eLn0PV0Sci
— G Suite (@gsuite) April 29, 2020
Google is not the only tech giant that is capitalizing on the surge of demand for video conferencing. Facebook is also throwing its hat into the game with the release of Messenger Rooms. Basically, it is an upgrade to its current Messenger app that allows users to video chat multiple people.
Microsoft is also working on its own video conferencing tool. The company simply call its tool Teams. It sports the standard features common in many video conferencing platforms.
Google Meet is now free
At first, Google Meet is only available to subscribers of G Suite. Essentially, anyone with a Meet account can join a conference. However, only a user with G Suite subscription can create a meeting.
The free version of the tool allows up to 100 participants. It also supports real-time captions and screen sharing.
Usually, video call is capped at 60 minutes, but Google says that it will suspend this limit until Sept. 30. This is clearly a great boost since Zoom calls are limited to just 40 minutes. On the other hand, Skype and Messenger Rooms do not have this limitation.
A premium subscription will remove these limitations on Google Meet.
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