system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do Zoom, Skype, Teams, etc all open via the browser first, then the client?

So using Zoom for work meetings and whatnot nowadays. When I click "Join Meeting" it opens a web browser first, which then asks me if it's ok to open Zoom. Why doesn't it just open Zoom directly?
gpt
The link you clicked on is an HTTP (hypertext) link...your computer is programmed to open those with a browser. All computers, basically, know how to handle an HTTP link. The browser then looks at your machine and says "Oh, you've got Zoom, let's open that." If you don't have Zoom (or whatever) it prompts you to download it. This means that the link will basically work for everyone, regardless of whether you've got the software installed or not.

It's possible to write a link that opens things other than a browser; the "mailto:" link is also very common and opens your email program. But nobody, so far, has standardized on a link type specifically for telecommuting apps and, even if they did, it would be a while before you could count on everybody's computer supporting them, and they'd be different for every app (we haven't standardized a videoconference protocol that's in wide use...yet). You'd message a link like that to a friend and your computer wouldn't know what to do with it...most computers will ask you how to open things they don't recognize, but if you don't already have the app installed you may not know what to pick or where to get it.

Basically, doing it via HTTP link makes it really user friendly for basically everyone, albeit at the cost of an extra click.