Atlassian buys 'asynchronous video' outfit Loom for almost $1 billion Atlassian has announced the acquisition of asynchronous video outfit Loom, for $975 million. Loom offers tools to create short videos that blend content captured by cameras and screen captures. The biz suggests its services as a way to add context to content – so that instead of emailing someone document, for instance, you …
He buys ridiculous numbers of very expensive houses as well - but I guess he can afford it. To his credit, he has also purchased a significant shareholding in AGL, gotten rid of the board, and is accelerating the shut-down of their coal fired power stations. Also building a cable to pipe solar power to Singapore from a vast solar farm. Pretty impressive in my view.
... Enhanced "Death by PowerPoint."
If there's anything I do not want, it's pointless, unscripted, rambling video narration of a likely-faulty document. Most people, including myself, can read a hell of a lot faster than they can hear words and process them. That's why I want my info-dumps as readable docs, not as "talking and moving pictures."
My feelings exactly. Granted some people have no ability to put things into words, but that's what L1 and L2 people are for. If only they would do their jobs instead of just "the needful".
How many times have I sat there steaming while some bozo Ummed and Erred their way through what should have been a simple speech? I want to grab them by the throat and say "Talk as if it was important for people to understand you!".
Once I overheard a cubicle drone trying to contact somebody in Mexico without knowing Spanish. I offered the services of a bilingual friend, who got him through to his contact who actually spoke English. The drone then proceeded to talk in circles, wasting the effort and everybody's time.
That's fine if what your being described is an error response, try working out what a QA means in a defect that is UI based. A video of what they were doing and what happened speaks a thousand words.
What I find most odd, you can just attach those as recorded content already.
I'm not entirely opposed to the idea but I'm wondering if this is really anything more than what millions of YouTubers seem to have mastered in a myriad of How-To videos? Some of these can be very useful but the tools are far less important than the ability of the person to create a coherent narrative.
Oh god, "How To" videos on youtube. You've triggered me there good and proper.
Do a google search for anything along the lines of "how do I X" and the top several results are always some jumped-up wannabe "influencer" using a 10-minute video to explain something in the most roundabout and irritating fashion possible.
"Hi gang, welcome to my channel, don't forget to subscribe, here's a word from my sponsor..." ...minutes of loud jingle music and sub-Windows-Movie-Maker effects later... "...and in a little while I'll show you how to use the registry to disable this Windows feature, but first..." etc, etc, etc.
Or, you know, a simple web page or even PDF document could have answered the same question with only 20 seconds' reading effort required.
Pint because it's Friday now and I need one after getting that off my chest.
Tell me.....
I need to fix a sound base. I found a page / article that covers the capacitors you need to replace - bit techie, but there is a moderate round up a bit later.
I found a youtube video for the same, thought I'd check it so see if shows tips for moving these little ceramic capacitors.... nope, just 10 minutes of rambling waffle by some plonker and showing the same images from the techie doc I have already seen.
While little videos of a thing going wrong is handy, I don't need someone's face explaining it. Some people have enough trouble giving steps to reproduce in text as it is without video waffling.
I imagine they are chasing the golden ticket of "total business tool" like Microsoft has with teams.
So someone has cloned the video recording functionality that comes free with the camera app on Windows, and many other free tools on other platforms, including phone cameras, called it 'hip' name and sold it to the stupid for lots-a-dosh!
Either I'm missing the point, or the person in charge is a great salesman - to sell you something you already have!
I just had one of these horrible videos in an email (client said its easier than writing a long email)
I then have to sit through a 20 minute video (played at 1.2x as recommended by loom) where said client rambles on about absolutely nothing.
I then have to send an email back with a summary of the video (5 short bullet points) to confirm this was what they were asking!
I can see it being useful for bug reporting or difficult to explain concepts where a phone call isn't enough but I hope "video emails" doesn't become a thing. They are a nightmare to "read" completely unsearchable and extremely time consuming!
> I can see it being useful for bug reporting
ONLY, and I stress, *ONLY*, in the second or later comment, to prove that, yes, it really *is* reproducible on the client's system and/or "this is what we mean by 'the screen goes wobbly all over".
Not, by the Mercy of all the Gods of Egypt[1], used instead of a written description in the initial report!
[1] especially that crocodile-headed one, although being chewed by him would be more merciful than getting video-only bug reports.
"Hyped"? Well, that is an unusual word for it.
Getting a video, instead of the User being forced to type in a description of what they did, the commands and all the options. This is going to make bug triage so much more - interesting.
"Yes, I can see your screen shot[1], but you need to take it *before* pressing Return - I need to see the exact command you used, not just the last twenty rows of the 'bad output'."
"Can you *please* go through that process again, but please, please, don't type ahead of the dialogue boxes, you have to let them appear on screen so I can read the *exact* message and follow what your inputting. Yes, I know that is how you always do it and it is so much faster that way. Yes, I *know* this is the sixth time you've made a video of this[2]"
"Yes, that is a 'fun' font to use in the console, but, once more, is that an el or a one or a pipe character? Pipe, you know, shift-backslash; no, I don't know which key it is on your borrowed Norwegian keyboard."
Then That Important Person realises they can now just copy the hour long video meeting into the ticket "you can see the bug somewhere just after Fred points at Bert's bit of the presentation" - and who the bleep is Fred? Or Bert? You were the only one from our company at that meeting!
[1] tucked away in one corner, as clearly seeing your face is so much more important
[2] trust me, I *know*; and you snarling out your narration louder each time is making it such a joy
... that failed to implement a feature customers were actually asking for for more than a decade?
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