It really shouldn't be hard. There are endless amounts of guides on how to set up OBS and stream to YouTube. You can even get live support by volunteers within a few minutes of asking for help.
Most of the time you don't even need to really set up much. You just take the key and plug it into OBS.
My wife streams using OBS to Twitch. She set it up and it worked for her. Until it didn't suddenly. Then came the very long googling and debugging sessions.
Why, when I can spend $380 and have a setup that is easy to use and doesn't require me to train on. They watch a nice video and we don't have to do a deploy of OBS to a bunch of laptops.
I'm all for free or open source software, but I'm still dealing with a commercial entity either way. Plus, I don't have to worry about YouTube's algorithm flagging some content.
YouTube's algorithm will demonetize you, but it's very rare that they will make your content inaccessible.
Also, the probability is very high that if you would have run into problems with OBS, then you're going to run into problems with whatever commercial solution you go with. Most of the problems people have with video capture and streaming don't stem from the specific recording software you use. It stems from how your drivers, OS, and settings work together on your hardware.
YouTube's algorithm will demonetize you, but it's very rare that they will make your content inaccessible.
We deal with Native American history and YouTube is a true pain in the butt where the brutality of the truth is concerned. Plus, the instructors have many more tools available on GoToMeeting, and would also like things we put on YouTube to be a bit more polished then a broadcast from their dining room table. Also, both YouTube and GoToMeeting are commericial, non-open source solutions.
Also, the probability is very high that if you would have run into problems with OBS, then you're going to run into problems with whatever commercial solution you go with.
OBS is a very fine, professional solution to streaming. Its capabilities bring complications and is not specifically designed for facilitating meetings. GoToMeeting has a paid professional support staff to answer any questions and provides tools to help.
Most of the problems people have with video capture and streaming don't stem from the specific recording software you use.
I would need to see proof of this statement. GoToMeeting seems very easy for our instructors to start and work with.
I love open source, but we are dealing with something here that requires a solution now which mean spending $380/month on GoToMeeting is a very good idea. We cannot do face-to-face training and deploying OBS and a working setup to 20 laptops at homes, just doesn't seem like a good use of time and way more costly than the $380/mo for a couple of months. Plus, its an easy recommend to other institutions that don't have full IT departments.
Here's how setting up OBS goes for most users: you install the application and copy paste the stream key into the right box. Then you add what you want captured into a scene and you're done.
Most of the fiddling that happens happens because of your specific hardware and encoders you have. A commercial solution faces the same problem.
On OBS? There are hundreds, likely thousands of them, but most of them are about optimizing it for bitrate. That's not really needed for a stream for teaching.
Most of the time you don't even need to really set up much. You just take the key and plug it into OBS.