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Ask HN: Why is Microsoft Teams still so bad?

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

#521

Post by redbell »

hangonhn wrote: post #72

Because it doesn't need to improve. It just needs to check some checkboxes. It's "free" as part of Microsoft Office 365. It allows the IT department to check a checkbox and de-incentivize them from looking at Slack. With Slack you have to pay for and is yet another app to administer. Many IT departments who are already Microsoft customers will have an easier time rolling that out than a new app. No new purchase order…

That's why, I believe, Slack had filed an antitrust claim against Microsoft [1] claiming that Teams has an unfair advantage by being bundled in the O365 package which make the chance to pick Slack over Teams for companies already purchased O365 near to zero.

The claim is two years old now and I haven't heard any news regarding the matter and whether Slack proceeded to the end like Epic Vs. Apple or not

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53503710

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

#522

Post by i_am_jl »

k_sze wrote: post #449
zmmmmm wrote: post #402

Teams doesn't have to be good to succeed. It just has to exist. It's not even very important how good it is. Given it exists, IT will make everyone use it on Microsoft's behalf regardless of how bad it is. Or another way to look at it is that the real customers for Teams are IT departments. It makes their lives easier because they don't have to do anything and it meets all the compliance requirements they are suppose…

This. Can we use anti-trust laws to break it up?

It'd be hard to argue that MS has a monopoly on real time collaboration software when Slack exists.

It'd be similarly difficult to argue they're acting anti-competitively when Slack is thriving.

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

#523

Post by nullcontext »

Once upon a time we had Lotus Sametime in office for IM communication and we liked it. It was good. It worked and didn't have dealbeaking quirks or fails. I miss Sametime, always have.

Lync was not perfect, and Skype for Business even less so, but they at least had a UI that wasn't a chainsaw massacre to use or to stare at. Every time I have to use Teams because it's the de-facto standard I always come away from the conference call feeling dirty - like I just used a nasty shopping cart at a disgusting filthy walmart to get groceries - and makes me pine for SfB or Sametime.

Better days.

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

#524

Post by hnbad »

birger wrote: post #307

I have a different experience. 5-10 calls/day on Windows or iPhone. Seamless transition if I want to switch the conversation to another device. Use multiple webcams and headsets. Screen-share a lot. Both Teams App and browser version. Never had any problems with it. I really like Teams and what it brings to my team. But reading the comments here I'm the minority.

It feels like a bit of hyperfixation going on. Teams is terrible but so are Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, Discord, etc. They're all also amazing, including Teams. Turns out different people have different experiences and different usage patterns (and hardware) that work differently well with different applications.

Personally I prefer Teams over Slack but I haven't used Teams in a large company. Formatting is nicer in Slack but I can't imagine why anyone would claim Slack is good for sharing code beyond basic one-liners. Teams allows me to carry over a video call from one device to another while Slack doesn't even allow me to queue a message when I'm on spotty WiFi. Threading on Teams is a bit unusual but Slack's multiple ways of viewing threads (only one of which shows new replies in real time) can also be annoying.

But I'm not representative of most of the people commenting here. I run stock Windows 11 with an Azure AD domain account on a Surface Studio Laptop, I do my development in WSL and my browsing in Edge. And for the most part, everything just works.

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

#525

Post by b0afc375b5 »

jupp0r wrote: post #516
dustedcodes wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone should make job board where people can filter out companies that use Teams instead of Slack or Discord.

Throw JIRA into the mix while you're on it.

Wait, what's wrong with JIRA?

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

#526

Post by Kye »

ekianjo wrote: post #488
k_sze wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Can we use anti-trust laws to break it up?

Do calculator software devs ask for anti trust laws when someone includes a calculator in their software suite?

Considering Microsoft got hit by the DOJ for this kind of bundling, yes. They've had to be very careful about including things in Windows.

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

#527

Post by nullcontext »

agumonkey wrote: post #166
philippejara wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kind of crazy to look back and see just how much worse we are today than some years ago with regards to this stuff. I remember an old social media named Orkut, had pretty much everything facebook had and more, also had a huge userbase in brazil and india(?) iirc, but just goot overtaken by facebook. Original skype would probably work better than zoom does today with a few tweaks(I assume, could be wrong there wh…

It's interesting to understand why facebook got so much wind.

And why Friendster didn't and how FB kneecapped and murdered MySpace in a back alley and got away with it.

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

#528

Post by tut-urut-utut »

dustedcodes wrote: post #513
zmmmmm wrote: post #402

Teams doesn't have to be good to succeed. It just has to exist. It's not even very important how good it is. Given it exists, IT will make everyone use it on Microsoft's behalf regardless of how bad it is. Or another way to look at it is that the real customers for Teams are IT departments. It makes their lives easier because they don't have to do anything and it meets all the compliance requirements they are suppose…

Someone should make job board where people can filter out companies that use Teams instead of Slack or Discord.

I'd rather have Team that Slack or Discord.

After my company switched to Teams, my IT department became much more productive because the amount of needless interaction with other people decreased.

And we were not affected by that shit, since we share the same office anyways. Who needs a messenger when you can shout ;)

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

#530

Post by schnulller »

Neil44 wrote: post #506
bartread wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll add more: - Fries CPU and GPU on video calls, making it difficult to use other applications or demo when screensharing - Interacts unfavourably with at least some WiFi drivers leading to unidirectional and bidirectional losses of connectivity - Copy and paste randomly break so you can't copy content from Teams or paste anything into it; applies to both text and images - Doesn't honour setting not to automaticall…

Don't forget the massive memory use, oh and now there's TWO versions of teams - one for 'work or school' accounts and one for other Microsoft accounts. What a great idea said nobody ever.

upvote for the two different teams, like wtf...

also, there is no version that installs in a system directory (bad for deployment), and the deployment version is terrible (it downloads and installs teams every time a user logs in).

requires tracking protection to be cut for microsoft websites on linux

super buggy and unusable on linux

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