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Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

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Re: Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

#111

Post by junto »

atmosx wrote: post #101
cheez wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft had their chance and dropped the ball on a lot of things, but they always figure it out. Skype on OSX looks much better now and I suspect if they're focusing on Skype instead of spending $8B, then you're looking at serious competition.

I have a different experience. It was bad before MS came in and got way worst after - except the icon. The icon now is way more slick! But that won't cut it... Plus, I would never use it professionally since Skype (and MS in general) are the extreme low in regards to privacy.

The one thing that really bugs me about Skype recently is that it refuses to remember my login. Every time I want to login to the Windows app after a restart or update it doesn't log me in automatically.

There isn't even a "remember me" option on the login page, which I swear used to be there. Since my password is a 1Password generated secure password, I have to go look it up every time.

Re: Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

#113

Post by Jordrok »

Klathmon wrote: post #88
baddox wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slack seems to have mostly eclipsed Hipchat, at least among Silicon Valley startups, but integrations probably weren't a huge factor in that. Slack does have a nicer flow for integrations, but Hipchat worked quite well (and actually had much-missed features like customizing the background color of messages; it's unfathomable how Slack could still not have this feature).

>it's unfathomable how Slack could still not have this feature I hear this saying a lot, and every time I just can't take it seriously. This is the first time I've ever heard of someone wanting customizable background colors for messages on a messaging platform. It's just not something I or anyone I know about cares about. I just can't see how that would be considered a high importance feature by anyone.

I seem to remember AIM allowing customized fonts and background colors around 15 years ago... Just sayin'

Re: Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

#114

Post by shostack »

debaserab2 wrote: post #96
ForHackernews wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does a tool display clickable hyperlinks? That's all the integration I (and I suspect many other people) care about. I can't even imagine what it might mean for " Stripe, Github, Trello, and Zendesk streams" to be integrated into Slack, or why I might want them to be. Want to share a gist with somebody? Just send a link to the gist to the chat channel, and people can click it.

I'd say slack/hipchat has become the repository of alerts/notifications/etc that I would normally receive through e-mail. A lot of times these notifications aren't super mission critical and don't require immediate attention, but it's nice to have the history of them so I can investigate when necessary. Having this outside of e-mail keeps my e-mail inbox less cluttered. That's my reason anyways.

Same, except the only issue (similar to email) is that when I initially check something, the little alert thing disappears. So it can easily fall off my radar if I get distracted. Hence my need to keep my Trello todo list current.

Re: Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

#115

Post by douche »

Klathmon wrote: post #88
baddox wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slack seems to have mostly eclipsed Hipchat, at least among Silicon Valley startups, but integrations probably weren't a huge factor in that. Slack does have a nicer flow for integrations, but Hipchat worked quite well (and actually had much-missed features like customizing the background color of messages; it's unfathomable how Slack could still not have this feature).

>it's unfathomable how Slack could still not have this feature I hear this saying a lot, and every time I just can't take it seriously. This is the first time I've ever heard of someone wanting customizable background colors for messages on a messaging platform. It's just not something I or anyone I know about cares about. I just can't see how that would be considered a high importance feature by anyone.

People go ape-shit about silly features in IM clients all the time. Case in point, emoticons

Re: Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

#116

Post by qw »

Klathmon wrote: post #91
nuggien wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand. Why would you have to have a github tab open and refresh? There have always been email notifications for all these events. Also, why is getting these notifications in chat preferred over email?

Chat is just nicer to work with. Emails are in their own isolated packages. If i get an email saying the build broke, there is no easy way to check the last time it happened. I wouldn't be able to glance at the last few messages and see that the build breaks every time "X" commits or the tests fail every monday. I can't easily get context on what someone was doing when it broke. With something like slack it's all rig…

I would just create a folder and a mail rule that moves the mail automatically. You would actually be able to filter your mail with more granularity than what a simple Slack channel can provide

Re: Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

#117

Post by [deleted] »

Klathmon wrote: post #91
nuggien wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand. Why would you have to have a github tab open and refresh? There have always been email notifications for all these events. Also, why is getting these notifications in chat preferred over email?

Chat is just nicer to work with. Emails are in their own isolated packages. If i get an email saying the build broke, there is no easy way to check the last time it happened. I wouldn't be able to glance at the last few messages and see that the build breaks every time "X" commits or the tests fail every monday. I can't easily get context on what someone was doing when it broke. With something like slack it's all rig…

[deleted]

Re: Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

#118

Post by modoc »

bliti wrote: post #94
Ensorceled wrote: post #90

Please focus on Skype, it's a mess. Now that we are no longer using HipChat, the buggiest application I use on a regular basis is Skype.

Would mind commenting on why you do not use HipChat anymore? Curious...

I still really like HipChat but the latest versions have been unbelievably bad. Connection issues, message delivery issues, users showing up as offline who are actually online, etc... If they don't fix things soon we're going to have switch to Slack.

Re: Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

#119

Post by shostack »

harryh wrote: post #95
pcmaffey wrote: post #44

The real question is, would Stewart B. take the offer? Anyone who cares about their product knows a sale to MS is a death knell for innovation. Becoming a hit like Slack is such a rare opportunity. I mean, why are you in this business if not for a chance to build a transformative platform? Which is what Slack has right now, a chance.

My gut says that Stewart doesn't take an 8B offer. But that, of course, raises the question of what number he does take. It's very hard to know.

It also raises the question of how much ownership he retains of the company and how much of this would actually be his decision (vs. his investors looking for an exit) given that they've raised a Series E round and have taken ~$340M in funding [1].

[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/slack#/entity

Re: Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

#120

Post by r00fus »

cheez wrote: post #97
cdnsteve wrote: post #93

We initially used Skype on our team to communicate with others. However, the software was horribly buggy on OSX. Slack has become part of our main toolchain. It works, has the basic features you need and doesn't get in our way. The integrations are great and we'll continue to use them. Unless Microsoft rebuilds Skype for the ground up, I don't see us leaving Slack for it. They had their chance, and they dropped the b…

Microsoft had their chance and dropped the ball on a lot of things, but they always figure it out. Skype on OSX looks much better now and I suspect if they're focusing on Skype instead of spending $8B, then you're looking at serious competition.

I agree - my Skype on OSX has no ads, the windows version does. So it works good for me.
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