But if family members have iPhones or other Apple products you can use Facetime (also free). Zoom has some recently discovered security issues so you use your computer to store banking or online shopping passwords, you might want to wait until they are patched.

And I apologize, since you claim to be a dinosaur, I just had to find an image of a dinosaur using a computer...



Good luck with the video chatting!

and I hate to say it, but Zoom doesn't do the frozen face thing that FT seems to do. But then, it could steal all your data, so maybe a frozen face once in a while isn't so bad.
(The fear of Zoom on top of everything else is beyond my fear capacity, I just realized.)

I think that Facetime is one on one while Zoom can have several?

At some point - perhaps downloaded an App which I do not use - I lost most of my addresses which were floating on the computer but not in the address book but instead found a Facetime link on each one which remained.

I think that the purpose of Zoom is to connect more than one while Facetime is only one on one?

Last edited Fri Apr 3, 2020, 03:35 PM - Edit history (1)

The cloud just means that you're in the same place on the internet at the same time, really. Oversimplification. It's the zone where we can all go together. Like the office filing room instead of the drawer in your desk.

I have read the Zoom stuff about being afraid, and I don't think I'm interesting enough to get their attention. Journalists and other people who are actually being watched are the ones at risk, from what I can tell.

Or is it iCloud? I think that many keep their finances there, I never will.

So when you hear "the cloud" it just means it's on the Internet.

Some places do sell private services, such as iCloud (Apple), so that's the difference. Just note whether something wants a fee to use their "cloud" service.

You have to pay for some subscriptions that live in the cloud--but Zoom is free unless you go pro. And you have to pay to store some things in the cloud instead of let's say, on your own hard drive, but Zoom--free.

Before there were iCloud and Google file storage accounts, our email was mostly in the cloud.

If fact, I would use my Yahoo mail account folders to store large attachments (in the cloud), so that I could be on any computer and go online to my Yahoo mail and find those large files.

Now it's been commercialized and more and more useful and widely used.

Yes, you can pay for larger storage with Google, iCloud, and others, but everyone gets to use the cloud.

Re: Zoom. I work with schools and it turns out to be by far the most common tool for online distance learning among the high school teachers I support.

Other options include Google Hangouts and Facetime. Both are good.

... "Shady" installation practices, and history of security flaws.

I've been a mac user since 1985... I wouldn't use that software... Use FaceTime or Skype instead.

https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/02/zoom-fixes-malware-like-macos-installer/

Never looked back.

On the video Zoom. My doctor and I used a Zoom video chat for an important followup. Worked very well on iPhone 7+, which he could visually examine my post-surgical incision, with the great clarity the phone provided. The security issue appears to only be able to be breached via who initiated the video conference, not the guest.

Installing the Zoom software on your Mac (or PC) probably exposes it to security issues. Last summer it was discovered that they were installing an insecure web server without telling users, which was allowing hackers to access the camera, among other things. Apple had to force a software update to remove the web server software because there were so many issues.

More: https://daringfireball.net/2020/03/regarding_zoom

If you want to use Zoom and you have an iPhone or an iPad, I would suggest installing it on that because applications are sandboxed and cannot introduce these sorts of security issues.

We on occasions use Skype which I like but, again, my PC brother considers this, well, a dinosaur.

If Zoom is required for you , but only occasionally , you might consider a 2nd user account.

FaceTime and WhatsApp have been fine for me if the call is not too international.

Zoom's encryption can travel thru China and its weak.

Zoom is banned from my computer.

https://www.yahoo.com/now/zoom-admits-calls-were-routed-001232785.html