Video calls are finally getting better for virtual machine users

Virtual machine (VM) users rejoice, for your video calling experience is about to get a whole lot better according to a post on the Google Workspace blog.

The entry reads: “If you use a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) such as Citrix or VMWare to join Google Meet calls, you’ll notice an increase in video and audio quality.”

Google Meet on VMs

Going forward, the platform will detect whether a user is joining from a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) like Citrix or VMWare, and then automatically adjust for better performance. 

It’s not just video and audio quality that are getting a handy boost, but the stress placed on your VM should also notably drop. The summary continues:

“This optimization will also help cut down on the demand put on your VDIs, such as CPU, GPU, and memory usage, helping improve meeting quality and overall performance.”

To benefit from the new optimization, admins will need to complete some setup steps, including enabling the Enterprise Hardware Platform API policy in Chrome, which will allow Meet to detect that it’s running inside a VM. Once set up, end users won’t need to do anything extra.

Rollout started on November 30, but it takes the form of a gradual rollout that may see some users waiting up to 15 days to get access. Virtually all enterprise users with a VM will be able to notice a difference, because every Google Workspace customer (including legacy G Suite accounts) are included in this update.

This is just one update that joins a number of improvements to the Meet video conferencing platform aimed at improving the experience for business users. The company recently announced a cooperation with Zoom that would see Meet users able to join Zoom calls from within the Meet interface, and vice versa.