I just tried, for the first time, to make Zoom work. I wanted to hear what was said in a virtual meeting I had been invited to “attend”. But, I could hear nothing. I have no microphone, but I just wanted to hear what the others were saying. I could see various familiar faces yapping away, but could hear nothing. My speakers are working fine. (I now have music playing.)
Like all computer programmes, and there are no exceptions whatsoever to this rule – none, Zoom is trivially easy to make work if you know how to work it, and impossible if you do not.
Fucking computers. Trouble is, they know how to do a million things, so you have to be able tell them exactly which of those million things you want. If you fail to do this, which you often do because computers have zero common sense, you’re screwed.
There must a lot of this sort of crap going on just now.
LATER: There must be a lot of this sort of crap going on now because the time-honoured way to solve a problem like this is for a Zoom-savvy person to drop by and show me how to work it. Clunky, but the way to sort it. Except, that can’t now happen. The very problem Zoom was going to solve, not being able to have a proper meeting, is undeployable by me, because I can’t have a proper meeting to make Zoom work.
See what I said yesterday about how cities will never go away. Physical proximity is never going to stop being useful. Never.
Brian, I managed to talk my 86 year old dad through how to get Zoom working via a phone call. Happy to try and do that with you if it would be useful.
Alastair
Why thank you young man, that’s a very kind offer, and I might yet get back to you on that. Meanwhile, a small microphone+video camera is on its way from another young friend, and once Zoom is introduced to this device, it might oblige me by working.