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Comment by gottorf | Hacker News Reader

> with modern, fast, Internet speeds, it's like you're in the same room as the other person.

I've been working remotely for nearly as long, and like anything else, it has its advantages and disadvantages. But this assertion is patently false, at least for me. I have a symmetric gigabit fiber connection at home, with 10GbE hardwired everything in my LAN. No tool I use, be it Zoom, Meet, Teams, whatever, comes even close to being in the same room as another person. The combination of latency (however slight) and imperfect duplex sound transmission between different equipment means that people are constantly inadvertently cutting each other off.

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> The combination of latency (however slight) and imperfect duplex sound transmission between different equipment means that people are constantly inadvertently cutting each other off.

This is trivial compared to people purposefully cutting each other off or willfully misunderstanding the project or issue being worked on.

Minor inconveniences introduced by working virtually are just that: minor. It's not a good enough reason to force workers back into the office just so the c-levels can feel they're doing better at their jobs.

As much as I loathe Discord for it replacing forums, I will say that Discord’s audio mixing for multiple speaking members is literally perfect. Or at least closer to perfect than any other competitor. You can actually talk over each other to some extent.

Part of it I think is discord users wear headphones more. If you are using a mic and your laptop loud speaker, the app will kill your mic every time someone else is talking, otherwise you get a feedback loop.

If that is the case that’s a smart move on their part, not a month goes by without someone doing that on teams.

> people are constantly inadvertently cutting each other off

It's more an effect of not seeing faces / missing some very subtle social cues that help in having "rounds" in a conversation. But you get used to it and learn to counter it, and besides I know a handful of people who cut others off in real life as well.

I started working remotely from my team in 2011. By 2014 the people remaining in Hq had closed most meeting rooms and people were expected to dial in from their hot desks - nowhere near each other. It was all the downsides of being in the office with the downsides of video conferencing.

That sounds like a hilariously bad decision.

Now, just imagine it being done so they can:

- Have more space for their open office plan.

- Allow managers to have their own offices.

Morale? Who needs that.

Partly because most meetings waste time (moving around a large building, waiting for peoppe to get there from the previous meeting, etc), but generally to reduce the floor space used and reduce the property portfolio

The opportunity of covid to get rid of more desks was great, and we’ve closed two more buildings in central london thanks to it.

Zoom has a “studio/live audio” setting which can actually work decently well at removing latency. Give it a try! (Everyone will have to turn it on).

We've been using Teams for 3 years and I haven't seen really any problems with latency. I've only seen problems with the standard conference call issue if you have 6+ people on the call all trying to talk.

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