Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#231

Post by OrderlyTiamat » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:24 AM UTC

On linux, Microsoft teams will change your system sound settings to match its preference. This includes Bluetooth headphones no longer being available to the system. Then, it decides the system settings are beneath it and will only use its own device settings. And it will decide now that your fancy Bluetooth headset is gone, there is also no need for that crappy internal microphone either, so enjoy not having any microphone. Once you get all this working through however many steps it requires of you, teams will happily forget your settings and will require you to do it all over again.

Teams binds to the previous account, so if you want to login to another account (say, if you're both a student and have a job) you have to log back in to the last account, totp and all, before you can logout and log back in to the account you want. There are no back buttons.

Teams is shit. I use it because I have to, but its ridiculous how bad the UX is and its a shame, because I think microsoft can do better.

I've heard the interoperability with teams and office365 is phenomenal though. Multiple people editing the same document, while in a call presenting that document, security of the files all settled in the cloud with easy to use interfaces. It sounds great, I don't really use any of that. To me, teams will always be a crappy voip tool.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#232

Post by maxbond » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:26 AM UTC

krauses wrote: post #217

I’ve used Teams every day all day for the past 4+ years and I have had minor issues with it ~5 times. Hundreds of my fellow co-workers use it and I’ve not heard anyone run into the consistent issues you’ve described. We use it for 100% of our conference calls, sales calls, 1:1 working sessions, all-hands (hundreds of attendees), virtual trainings, new-hire onboarding, etc… I’d say it’s the most useful software we use…

This is the most minor of nitpicks but I think most NFT projects are organized over Discord.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#233

Post by nikau » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:27 AM UTC

krauses wrote: post #217

I’ve used Teams every day all day for the past 4+ years and I have had minor issues with it ~5 times. Hundreds of my fellow co-workers use it and I’ve not heard anyone run into the consistent issues you’ve described. We use it for 100% of our conference calls, sales calls, 1:1 working sessions, all-hands (hundreds of attendees), virtual trainings, new-hire onboarding, etc… I’d say it’s the most useful software we use…

Maybe its regional, but for the last 4 weeks me and every coworker has a 50% call connect failure rate. Join a meeting or call, it sits there for about 15 seconds then throws an error. Second connect works OK.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#234

Post by imron » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:28 AM UTC

krauses wrote: post #217

I’ve used Teams every day all day for the past 4+ years and I have had minor issues with it ~5 times. Hundreds of my fellow co-workers use it and I’ve not heard anyone run into the consistent issues you’ve described. We use it for 100% of our conference calls, sales calls, 1:1 working sessions, all-hands (hundreds of attendees), virtual trainings, new-hire onboarding, etc… I’d say it’s the most useful software we use…

Ever tried searching for a conversation you had with someone, and you search for something you remember saying, and click ‘go to message’ and rather than take you to the conversation with all the important context you were actually looking for, it just shows that single message on the center of the screen all by itself with no way to see the rest of the conversation?

That’s the best.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#235

Post by airtonix » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:29 AM UTC

OrderlyTiamat wrote: post #231

On linux, Microsoft teams will change your system sound settings to match its preference. This includes Bluetooth headphones no longer being available to the system. Then, it decides the system settings are beneath it and will only use its own device settings. And it will decide now that your fancy Bluetooth headset is gone, there is also no need for that crappy internal microphone either, so enjoy not having any mic…

google does all that "edit documents while on a call" too, and it's not shit.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#236

Post by perryizgr8 » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:30 AM UTC

It's all incentives. By bundling it with their Office offering, they've removed any incentive for themselves to put too much effort into one app.

Their customers are locked in for life. They won't leave. They tolerated Skype (Lync) for years, Teams is way better than that.

It's the same story with Google Chat and Meet. They can simply ignore it and what are you gonna do? Move your entire company off Gmail/Outlook? Even if you get irritated and start paying Slack or Zoom, you are still paying full price for Teams/Meet.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#237

Post by airtonix » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:33 AM UTC

hn92726819 wrote: post #191

analog31 wrote: post #30

It's the iPhone effect: If you use Teams, and something goes wrong, everybody is patient and sympathetic. If you use something else, then it's your fault for being "weird" or "cheap." In my case, my computer came from IT, pre-loaded with Teams, and it runs nearly flawlessly. But I've noticed something else about computers and software. You can have two people with similar jobs, similar computers, similar software, et…

I don't think that's the full story. On Mac, which is way harder to break than linux, teams is atrocious. I don't know the teams experience on Linux or Windows but just using it on Mac is terrible enough.

lol... harder to break.

k

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#238

Post by ragebol » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:34 AM UTC

analog31 wrote: post #178

Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Nobody likes it. We use it because we have to. We have to because it was already paid for.

Also, most users haven't ever experienced software that's any better, with a few rare exceptions such as Excel. We programmers have it so good. "How can people put up with such bad software" is a recurring theme, and not unique to Teams or even Microsoft.

The managers that force this horseshit on they employees never used anything else before the pandemic. Suddenly they also had to use something with that function, already had Teams and now forced everyone to use it as a lowest common denominator.

At least, that's my hypothesis. It's the preinstalled browser debacle all over again.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#239

Post by pipeline_peak » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:34 AM UTC

> God forbid you try to change the audio device from speakers to headphones in the middle of a call. And then if you try to just call back on your phone, and they want to share their screen, and you go back to your PC and try to join the call from your PC so you can see the screenshare (it's not going to work).

What voice/video client handles this much fiddling? When my friend and I get steam voice chat running, it’s a good day. We don’t touch anything after because these services notoriously suck.

Teams cloud based file sharing and overall UI/UX are nice. I don’t like how you can’t copy messages without a time stamp, or that black bar appearing on top when you screen share that obstructs any tabs or the rdp bar. But overall it’s a nice client in Windows as long as you don’t hop around too much which I don’t because I do my work on one machine idk what OP is doing lol.

Maybe Zoom and Slack are better, as a Windows developer, the integration is nice.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

#240

Post by krauses » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 4:35 AM UTC

maxbond wrote: post #232

krauses wrote: post #217

I’ve used Teams every day all day for the past 4+ years and I have had minor issues with it ~5 times. Hundreds of my fellow co-workers use it and I’ve not heard anyone run into the consistent issues you’ve described. We use it for 100% of our conference calls, sales calls, 1:1 working sessions, all-hands (hundreds of attendees), virtual trainings, new-hire onboarding, etc… I’d say it’s the most useful software we use…

This is the most minor of nitpicks but I think most NFT projects are organized over Discord.

Not nitpicking. I’m just a n00b. I haven’t even lost my v-card in the Metaverse yet!