As the coronavirus outbreak continues to develop, Google is releasing advanced features to Hangout Meets for all G Suite and G Suite for Education users free of charge.
New features include:
- Larger meetings, for up to 250 participants per call
- Live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers within a domain
- The ability to record meetings and save them to Google Drive
These features were previously only available through Google’s enterprise G Suite clients. All features will be free until July 1st, 2020.
Related:
In response to COVID-19, Cisco is handing out free 90-day Webex business licenses
Microsoft is also extending a free six-month premium trial for its Teams communications app. According to Business Insider, interested parties must set up the trial by contacting Microsoft sales or a Microsoft partner.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many employees are now working from home to minimize the potentials to get sick.
Both Google and Microsoft have cancelled upcoming events due to COVID-19. Yesterday, Google announced that it would be cancelling its Google I/O 2020 event originally planned for May 12th in California. Instead, it’s looking to replace the on-site conference with remote briefings. Similarly, Microsoft has also turned to remote coverage for its MVP Summit on March 15th.
As of March 3, 2020, there have been 33 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada. Of those, 20 were in Ontario, 12 in British Columbia, and one in Quebec.