Ask HN: What videoconferencing / telepresence / screensharing services or apps do you use?

3 points

17 years ago

A couple of weeks ago I watched a talk that Cisco's CEO gave at MIT (http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/619). He was really fired up about their telepresence / videoconferencing technology. It seems that when you get beyond a certain threshold of quality, the meeting feels real enough to actually be a "good enough" substitute for a meaningful fraction of in-person meetings -- and that can be game-changing.

Having spent more than my fair share of time collaborating across oceans and now living 6 hours from my major client, I would theoretically be the ideal beneficiary of a really great real-time video collab tool -- but for some reason it's never become a regular part of my workflow, even though I do feel more connected with people I video chat with.

So the question I'm asking myself is whether this is the fault of the technology (Skype video sucks compared to a Cisco telepresence room), human interface (we don't have an app that "just feels natural" enough to make a call with), or slow adaptation (maybe if we spent 3 weeks forcing ourselves to try virtual meetings, we'd get hooked)?

If it's the tech & interface holding me back, then I'm content to wait for something better. On the other hand, if there are people out there seeing great benefits from existing apps/services, then I'd suspect that I'm missing out purely due to the rigidity of my own habits.

Is anyone here doing work in this space?

1 comment