You can hate the Big Tech as much as you want, but when they do the right thing – we gotta show them some love.
Google and Microsoft are giving away enterprise conferencing tools due to coronavirus. In the case of Google, that would be Hangouts Meet, which will be available for free until July 1st. The offer is available for all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally including larger meetings, for up to 250 participants per call; live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers within a domain; as well as the ability to record meetings and save them to Google Drive.
On its end, Microsoft is offering a free six-month trial globally for a premium tier of Microsoft Teams — which was originally designed to enable hospitals, schools, and businesses in China to get up and running quickly on Microsoft Teams. You will have to work with a Microsoft partner or a member of Microsoft’s sales team to get it set up, though.
Furthermore, Microsoft said it will also roll out an update to the free version of Teams that will lift restrictions on how many users can be part of a team and allow users to schedule video calls and conferences.
Meanwhile, Facebook announced a partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), providing them with unlimited free ads to battle coronavirus disinformation. The social network is also considering handing out free ad credits to other organizations fighting the pandemic, while searching for additional ways to support these efforts.
Google, Microsoft and Facebook have all canceled their developer conferences in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Finally, Amazon removed more than 1 million products for violating its policies related to price gouging and coronavirus claims. Similar moves came from other major retailers — including Walmart, Ebay and Etsy.
No word from Apple though, except the ongoing news on the disturbance of their supply chain…