In recent days, Google has been making substantial changes to its new Meet video conferencing tool. Until now, it was only accessible through the G Suite service for business or education .
But now, the integration of the tool with Gmail is already reaching some users. We have been able to verify it ourselves through our own account .
But why this sudden move by Google? Is it due to some strategic move by the Californian company to face the rise of other services such as Zoom? We will tell you about it below.
Hunting for Zoom
Google has decided to stand up to the explosive rise of Zoom, the fashionable application for video calls that has reached record numbers of downloads during this quarantine . The truth is that the success of this new tool seemed unstoppable, with millions of new registered users in recent weeks, and that despite the recent scandals about its security that have been discovered.
Be that as it may, what is clear is that we have all had to resort to video calling services to be in contact with ours or for work issues . And if there is a clear beneficiary of this whole situation, that has been Zoom ... at least until now.
In this contest there are two new protagonists who are after the success of Zoom. Google and Microsoft have put the batteries to increase their share in the world of video conferencing services, and it seems that they are on the right track .
Microsoft has reached the level of 75 million daily active users at the end of last April, while Meet adds 3 million new users every day , as reported by Google, reaching 100 million participants up to date.
In this race for the podium that it wants to challenge Zoom, Google has taken a step forward so that all users who have a Gmail account can take advantage of Google Meet for free .
What is Google Meet and how to test it?
Google Meet is Google's videoconferencing application, focused on the world of work and the education sector , and that comes to replace Google Hangouts, within the Google applications pack for professionals, G-Suite.
Its main difference from Hangouts lies in the number of participants. In Meet, depending on the package you choose (G Suite Basic, G Suite for Education Centers, G Suite Business or G Suite Enterprise), from 100 to 250 users can participate . In Google Hangouts, however, only meetings of up to 25 people are supported.
As we anticipated above, the integration of this application is already reaching some Gmail users, who have been able to enjoy it for a few days. If you are one of those lucky ones and want to start using it, all you have to do is log in with your username .
To do this, we simply click on one of the two new buttons located on the left sidebar , as shown in the image above: “Start a meeting” and “Join a meeting”. Simpler impossible, and without the need to configure anything.
So now you know, check your Gmail tray daily to see if Meet is already available. The service is expected to gradually roll out over the next few weeks .