To compete with the success of the Zoom videoconferencing service, Google is going on the attack and is offering its videoconferencing service, Google Meet premium, free of charge from 4 May until 30 September.
Google is counting on the security of its platform and its ease of use to compete with Zoom.
Source: Google. The “mosaic” display allows you to see 16 people at a time.
Google Meet, which had been made easier to access since the beginning of the containment for G Suite users (more than 100 million worldwide), goes further: it will now be accessible to the general public free of charge. Its deployment starting May 4 will be spread out country by country over several weeks.
In concrete terms, with Google Meet, everyone will have access from a computer, but also from a smartphone (ios or android) or a tablet:
- To videoconferences that can accommodate up to 100 participants for the general public (250 for companies);
- A mosaic display to show 16 people at a time;
- Sessions of unlimited duration during the Covid crisis (which will be limited to one hour after September 30);
- The possibility to share your screen to make a group presentation;
- Real-time subtitling.
Google is committed to security and transparency.
To use Google Meet, you just need to own or create a Gmail account, the objective being thus – according to Google – to avoid “Meet bombing”, i.e. the risk that a person joins an assignment without having been invited, as was observed with Zoom.
Other measures have been put in place by Google to ensure security and privacy:
- Complex session names to prevent hacking;
- Rights management by the creator of the meeting who can accept or exclude participants, activate or deactivate their microphone;
- End-to-end data encryption as well as encryption of their recordings on Google Drive;
- The non-use of the data for advertising or commercial purposes as assured by Javier Soltero, Vice President of G Suite.
Videoconferences can be organized in two clicks.
Google Meet works directly in Chrome, as well as other browsers. To organize a videoconference it’s very simple, just send an email to the people you want to invite, or add them to a meeting from Google Calendar. Your attendees will receive a URL link that they can click on to accept and join the meeting (they will even receive a reminder by email and/or a notification on their smartphone). You can read more about this in this blog post.
Done sàrl is an official reseller of G Suite, do not hesitate to contact us for a complete presentation of its services.
