Because the ZC-D2 requires zero bandwidth and never sleeps, tech hobbyists use them as cheap motion detectors. Pair one with Motion or ZoneMinder on a Raspberry Pi, and you have a 24/7 surveillance system for your 3D printer or bird feeder for under $10.

But it is a survivor.

In a world where 4K streaming and AI-powered auto-framing dominate the marketing brochures, it is easy to forget that for nearly a decade, the majority of the planet video-chatted using a handful of generic, silver-and-black plastic boxes.

When Microsoft released Windows 10 in 2015, millions of ZC-D2 units became expensive paperweights. Microsoft dropped support for the legacy VFW (Video for Windows) drivers that the ZC-D2 relied on.