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Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

flow.microsoft.com

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Re: Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

#31
post #27

Seems like IFTTT will end up being a niche for IoT-specific integrations while this will be used for enterprise integration. What is the value here for Microsoft when you can create integrations between only competitors like Google services?

>What is the value here for Microsoft when you can create integrations between only competitors like Google services?

https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/

Re: Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

#32
I recommend digging into the available actions, this looks more flexible than anything else in this space (eg IFTTT, Zapier). There's control flow (if and while), and some actions aren't tied to any service: there's a "Recurrence" action that allows to trigger actions at specific intervals, an "HTTP" action that can send a request with any URL+method+headers+body+auth, there's a "Delay" action, FTP and SMTP output actions...

edit: "HTTP" can also be a trigger.

edit:

List of service agnostic triggers:

- Recurrence (RecurrenceTrigger an event to run at regular, customized time intervals)

- HTTP (Trigger an event based on a select REST API)

- HTTP + Swagger (Trigger an event based on a select Swagger-enabled API)

- Button (Manually trigger a flow)

- Request (This is an incoming API call that could use actions in a Logic App or other API to trigger this flow)

- RSS - When a feed item is published (Triggers a workflow when a new feed item is published)

edit:

List of service agnostic actions:

- S/FTP - Create file (This operation creates a file)

- S/FTP - List files in folder (This operation gets the list of files and subfolders in a folder)

- Delay (Set how long an action should be delayed once the flow is triggered)

- Delay until (Delay an action until a specific date. For shorter time periods, use the Delay action instead)

- HTTP (Choose a REST API to invoke)

- HTTP + Swagger (Choose a Swagger-enabled API to invoke)

- Response (This is an incoming API call that could use the results of an action to trigger this flow)

- Compose ?

- Filter Array

- Mail (Sends an email)

- Push notification - Send a push notification (Sends a push notification to the Flow app)

- RSS - List all RSS feed items (Get all RSS feed items)

- SMTP - Send Email (This operation sends an email to one or more recipients)

Re: Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

#33
post #19
post #6

So like Zapier?

Should Zapier be worried ? Probably not, unless Microsoft suddenly forms a large division out of this and manages to get a 100 - 200 integrations going.

Zapier has a built in lock in in their business. Once you get workflows running why move them over to a new service.

Re: Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

#34

I miss Mayhem. Mayhem was an open source IFTTT-like application that ran on your own PC that Microsoft made a few years back.

You can follow us at http://www.nodecode.io. It is a flow based programming platform written almost entirely in c++ that runs completely on your local network but you can connect to it using a secure websocket from outside your NAT. It is still early for us and we are still working on adding micro-services but the Raspberry Pi GPIO, Insteon, Twitter and basic remote command line services seem to be working well.

Re: Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

#35
post #2

This seems like a IFTTT + pipes mashup? With multiple steps, simple logic blocks, and enterprise integration.

I don't know if IFTTT should be worried –or happy– about this.

Maybe worried. I looked at IFTTT a few times and came back with "I'd like to use that, but I need a filter / processor in between". I suspect there are more people like that.

Re: Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

#37

Given Microsoft's increasing emphasis on businesses, it makes sense that this is more enterprise-focused. The product itself doesn't seem much different from Apple's Automator. Microsoft's marketing of Flow, however, is better at demonstrating the product's power. Apple never quite did that.

Hopefully its UI isn't as inscrutable as Automator's.

Re: Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

#38
Side note - Is anyone else's CPU going mad on that page? Chrome PC just goes flat out sitting on that page.

UPDATE: it's my adblocker. It blocks a part of the page and the javascript tries to constantly load it if it fails, resulting in about 1000 errors/second in the console :)

Re: Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

#39
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and that's probably why it'll be successful. There is a lot of money to be made in taking and adding enterprise integration. I mean, look at Slack. It's "merely" IRC + enterprise integration, right?

shit, my company had a "when a user is created or deleted in AD, do X" type of functionality, we could save so much freaking money money its ridiculous. Im still. planning on sitting down and building it.

They have that. Check out Quest/Dell/whatever ActiveRoles and other Identity Management type competitors. I think any big enterprise vendor has an offering. The problem with a lot of them is the price-they're pretty spicy. But they are going after enterprise players with deep pockets.

Re: Flow – Create automated workflows between your favorite apps

#40

Given Microsoft's increasing emphasis on businesses, it makes sense that this is more enterprise-focused. The product itself doesn't seem much different from Apple's Automator. Microsoft's marketing of Flow, however, is better at demonstrating the product's power. Apple never quite did that.

Hopefully its UI isn't as inscrutable as Automator's.

I agree. I've opened Automator with a naive optimism that I can learn it and become more productive. I've been wrong each and every time!
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