Great, but would I trust Microsoft with my data? I don't think so.
Then you shouldn't trust Slack either. You're kidding yourself otherwise.
Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
71–80 of 247 posts
Re: Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
#72When Office 365 came out, I mostly compared the price to Google Apps and didn't really think Office 365 brought that much value. Now, you can have a Google Apps, Slack, Trello, and Evernote alternative for your business under one subscription. Even if you choose the plan for installed Office applications on your computer, the price is still much more attractive than having to get a subscription for every one of the c…
> Now, you can have a Google Apps, Slack, Trello, and Evernote alternative for your business under one subscription. Long term/philosophically this is is unwise, because you're locking your business' data into one company and then it dictates the direction in which your ideas can expand. Google Apps aside, all these apps are developed by highly creative and agile (fast) companies. MS is just an executive switch away…
Oh don't worry. I'm sure the first right of refusal agreements Microsoft has with their larger customers will ensure plenty of people will switch from whatever else they've been using, whether they like it or not.
Re: Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
#73Two really unique things I think this product does
1) The use of GIFs/memes. While this seems silly, it is actually a big deal because it lowers the formalization of communication. Having used this product, you just have much better free flowing conversation and many times these "fun" items help you get the message across significantly better (ex. asking for updates or bumping things can now be done in a funny way).
2) Creation of a horizontal matrix. Having tabs is awesome because it makes information more compartmentalized and helps keep the priority the same on each screen. This essentially adds an extra layer of depth into the product without overcomplicating things (and imagine one day having ability to live edit documents on a tab, while chatting and seeing metrics). Keeping a multi-dimensional communication design model is very scalable to mixed reality too.
Essentially I see MSFT Teams as "Slack meets Google Hangouts meets Email", and see it doing very well from a product sense. However, their business strategy of bundling with O365 will not help them hit SMB, which is a conscious decision I think they made. I would have actually used Teams as a trojan horse to capture stickiness and then upsell users to O365, but overall still excited to see where this goes.
Re: Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
From what I can tell, it's written in Electron. I assume they did this so that they could share the code base between desktop (win/mac), ios/android/winphone, and web -- keeping the features sets the same on all platforms. VS Code is the same way and that works beautifully on Mac. I expect that same for this. Disclaimer: I work for Microsoft (Azure) but have no relation to Office or Microsoft Teams.
It is not about the technology platform. You still have to dedicate resources to ensure feature parity across both OS systems. When MS starts selling Teams to huge enterprise customers (e.g., Walmart, Ford, GM etc.) that are on 99% Windows platform and the feature request and pressure starts building, where do you think the resources would go ? It is not MS fault, it is the nature of their business. Windows based ent…
I don't think you know how Electron apps work.
Re: Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
#75I don't understand how chat service can be so intertwined with printer-first applications (Word, Excel).
A lot of projects have multiple documents that need to be discussed. There could be a spreadsheet, a few word documents and a powerpoint presentation being discussed. These things are rarely created in a vacuum, so adding a communication facility that can pull up all these things seamlessly makes sharing and discussing that much easier.
Re: Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
From what I can tell, it's written in Electron. I assume they did this so that they could share the code base between desktop (win/mac), ios/android/winphone, and web -- keeping the features sets the same on all platforms. VS Code is the same way and that works beautifully on Mac. I expect that same for this. Disclaimer: I work for Microsoft (Azure) but have no relation to Office or Microsoft Teams.
It is not about the technology platform. You still have to dedicate resources to ensure feature parity across both OS systems. When MS starts selling Teams to huge enterprise customers (e.g., Walmart, Ford, GM etc.) that are on 99% Windows platform and the feature request and pressure starts building, where do you think the resources would go ? It is not MS fault, it is the nature of their business. Windows based ent…
> It is not about the technology platform. You still have to dedicate resources to ensure feature parity across both OS systems
It is about the technology platform, because the amount of resources necessary to ensure feature parity is a function of the platfrom. Word for Windows and Word for Mac are probably two separate giant monsters of early-90's C++ and keeping them in sync is agony. Assuming Teams is written in Electron, the amount of work is nowhere near the same; not having feature parity across operating systems is probably harder than having it.
Re: Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
#77As somebody working in the healthcare industry, this is the killer feature for me: >Q. What level of security and compliance does Microsoft Teams support? >A. Microsoft Teams is expected to be Office 365 Tier C compliant at launch. This broad set of global compliance and data protection requirements includes ISO 27001, ISO 27018, EUMC, SOC 1 Type I & II, SOC 2 Type I and II, HIPAA and FERPA. Microsoft Teams also enfo…
Adhering to industry compliance specs definitely opens the possibility of a captive audience.
Or serving unserved organizations, or both, depending on how one looks at it.
Re: Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
#78When Office 365 came out, I mostly compared the price to Google Apps and didn't really think Office 365 brought that much value. Now, you can have a Google Apps, Slack, Trello, and Evernote alternative for your business under one subscription. Even if you choose the plan for installed Office applications on your computer, the price is still much more attractive than having to get a subscription for every one of the c…
> When Office 365 came out, I mostly compared the price to Google Apps and didn't really think Office 365 brought that much value.
Opposite here. Forced to use Google Apps to write documents and it's a pain in the arse. Wish I had Office.
Re: Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
#79Two really unique things I think this product does 1) The use of GIFs/memes. While this seems silly, it is actually a big deal because it lowers the formalization of communication. Having used this product, you just have much better free flowing conversation and many times these "fun" items help you get the message across significantly better (ex. asking for updates or bumping things can now be done in a funny way).…
FWIW, Slack offers Giphy integration.
Re: Microsoft Teams, the new chat-based workspace in Office 365
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whats funny is that Google Wave was basically a direct predecessor to these types of apps and they killed it before the technology really had a chance to catch up to the vision.
Yes! I'm so glad somebody else remembers Wave, it seems to have disappeared into the dustbin of history. I loved Wave before it was killed, and while I know a lot of people still hold grudges over Reader, Wave is the axed Google product I miss most. The fact that you could have multiple threaded conversations in the same chat room was one of the best features for me, and Teams seems like the first descendant to have…
Ah, wave.
I wish instead of just throwing it at the world, hoping for people to figure out what to do with it, Google had used it as infrastructure to build a variety of applications.
The problem with Wave was that it was too open ended for most people to figure out. Those who did figure out, loved it, and were burnt when Google shut it down. I still don't think there is a good equivalent to wave at the moment.