Aug 31, 2020

We Need To Make Sure This Works For Everyone

      I posted yesterday that the Microsoft Teams app that Social Security plans to use to hold Administrative Law Judge hearings wasn't available for my desktop and therefore probably wasn't available for laptops either. I received responses saying that it certainly was available to desktops. Take a look at this screenshot and tell me that it's available to everyone at the moment:


     Perhaps it's included in recent versions of the Microsoft Office Suite but I don't think people should have to buy that to participate in these hearings. Maybe there's some other explanation but the page shown above says what it says and the fact that you haven't gotten such a message doesn't make what I'm seeing an illusion. We need to make sure this works for everyone.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yesterday's respondents missed the fact that you were referring to the new preview version of Teams, not the existing product; another name Microsoft seems to be referring to this feature under is "Teams for Home", and its first FAQ item confirms your concern:

"The new features are available on both iOS and Android. Additional platforms such as desktop and web browsers will become available later."

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/teams-for-home

Anonymous said...

You are not being serious are you? Honestly, this is a joke isnt it?

Anonymous said...

are you serious? It's a free program that has been around for a while:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/compare-microsoft-teams-options

You can download it now for free on any computer.

Anonymous said...

Incredible news for those who've gone to Linux for greater security. Definitely stuck with using a phone.

Anonymous said...

You're looking at for "personal life". In a large setting, you will get a link to open and it will connect you automatically to SSA. No need for nothing on you or your clients side. It will all happen seamlessly. What you are looking at is Microsoft developing a meeting system for everyone's personal everyday life.

Anonymous said...

Somehow you get the feeling that there are still a lot of VCRs out there flashing 12:00

Chris Rouse said...

Regardless of the initial bumps and hiccups, this sounds like after everyone adjusts it may very well be an improvement over telephone hearings.

Anonymous said...

@9:56 AM. From https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/get-clients "Aug 6, 2020 - Microsoft Teams has clients available for desktop (Windows, Mac, and Linux), web, and mobile (Android and iOS)." If they have a Linux client, why are you stuck using a phone?

Anonymous said...

Microsoft Teams absolutely works with Microsoft laptops and desktops. As other folks pointed out yesterday and today, you appear to be trying to download a version of "Teams for personal use" or "Teams for Home" which is not something you need to engage in an online video hearing/meeting as proposed by SSA. The process does not require any paid software or subscription, it is free to use. Basically, SSA would generate an email invitation for an online video hearing (via MS Teams software) and then you would just click that link in your email and the software would connect automatically. As others have mentioned, you can engage with computers, smartphones, tablets, the platform is very flexible and user friendly. Once this is up and running, it appears that it could provide great flexibility for many claimants and representatives to engage in a hearing with SSA from convenience of home, office, wherever they chose. Seems that many agencies, courts, businesses etc. are moving in this direction with Teams, Skype, Zoom, and similar software.