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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

#201

Post by douche »

yulaow wrote: post #184
kough wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was forced to use Lync (due to an acquisition) in 2014 it was absolutely fucking terrible. The OS X client failed to report online status correctly, couldn't participate in most group chats or video or audio calls, and crashed regularly. Also weirdly non-native UI. And, no linux client to speak of - for a startup like the one I worked for where many devs used linux, that was a nonstarter. Has the story improve…

You should see how much even people inside microsoft hate Lync.

Fix it then. I heard a lot of sound and fury after the Skype acquisition, but it seems to have signified nothing.

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

#202

Post by freyr »

Negative1 wrote: post #138
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…

"Unless Microsoft rebuilds Skype for the ground up" This. This exactly. Is it really unbelievable to assume Microsoft wouldn't attempt to build their own IRC+ clone and save a few billion while they are at it? I do agree with you, Slack is much better than Skype, but I would add that Lync is just as good. I went from Lync to Slack (after changing jobs) and I would say that Lync not only works just as well but has mor…

Lync? Oh, Skype for Business. I use Skype for Business on OS X (Oh wait, it's still called Lync on OS X, because they haven't bothered to update their client), and it's borderline unusable.

At the moment, Slack and Skype for Business have different feature sets. Skype for Business is geared towards voice and video conferencing, as you say. But now Slack is moving into Skype territory with video-conferencing services. Given their ability to deliver high-quality clients for multiple operating systems, they stand to make Lync (oops, Skype for Business) obsolete.

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

#203

Post by xd1936 »

Negative1 wrote: post #138
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…

"Unless Microsoft rebuilds Skype for the ground up" This. This exactly. Is it really unbelievable to assume Microsoft wouldn't attempt to build their own IRC+ clone and save a few billion while they are at it? I do agree with you, Slack is much better than Skype, but I would add that Lync is just as good. I went from Lync to Slack (after changing jobs) and I would say that Lync not only works just as well but has mor…

Multi-user voice and video chat with screensharing and presentation is coming soon to Slack.[1]

1. http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/2/11147778/slack-voice-callin...

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

#204

Post by douche »

riskable wrote: post #191
mawburn wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I couldn't copy a line of text on Lync without it randomly grabbing other random lines from earlier in the conversation. Not the line above it, or the last thing I said. Just completely random things that either person had said, that may have been 2 or 3 messages ago, or maybe 2 or 3 hundred messages ago. This was on Windows 7. The problem seems to have been solved when we upgraded to Skype for Business a few months…

This is still a problem with the latest version! I am forced to use Lync every day and the copy & paste issues make it completely unusable. It is the worst-in-class IM client, worst-in-class screen sharing tool, and worst-in-class, well, everything. Even basic stuff like keeping track of when you're actually in front of your computer or idle doesn't work properly in Lync. I'll be typing away for hours and it thinks I…

The automatic idle/away setting needs to go die in a fire. I write some bots that drive the Lync client through the trainwreck of a COM automation layer, and they are always going out to lunch because the client has silently overwritten the presence state that I'm explicitly publishing.

Subscriber limits are also a joke. Although I'd be happy to be able to add contacts to my list, or even at times, see the people that are already there. Turning off the integration with Outlook (because it does awful things, like locking your .pst/.ost files so you can't open Outlook and Lync at the same time...) seems to screw up all the contact list related stuff.

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

#205

Post by tempestn »

plamb wrote: post #144
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 wouldn't let me use the version of skype i had on win 8.1 anymore unless i upgraded it, then wouldn't let me upgrade it unless i upgraded to windows 10. I opted to try the skype web client and had to install some skype plugin. Chrome quite literally stopped working the next day, though I'm not sure if it's related to the skype plugin. At any rate, Slack's user experience has been head and shoulders above Sk…

Oh god, speaking of skype plugins, "Skype Click to Call" is a travesty. First of all it automatically installs itself into your browser whenever you install or update Skype, without prompting you. Second, it does some kind of horribly inefficient regex of every page you visit, looking for phone numbers, massively slowing everything down. With Click to Call enabled in Firefox, loading folders in gmail for me goes from sub-second to ~10 seconds.

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

#206

Post by chubot »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #158
chubot wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I agree, I think people routinely underestimate the level of quality and amount of time you have to put into a consumer product. A good example is Yahoo Mail... this product is used by so many people, and was supposedly overhauled a few years ago, yet it is mediocre in so many ways.

What email product isn't mediocre? This entire vertical needs an upgrade. Perhaps Email is Hard.

Gmail is good, but it got that good about 10 years ago, and hasn't gotten much better since. (Arguably it's worse in some respects.)

When Gmail came out it was a breath of fresh air... now it's just the bar you need to meet. It's sad that Yahoo hasn't been able to meet that bar in 10 years.

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

#207

Post by pavel_lishin »

Jordrok wrote: post #113
Klathmon wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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'

And it was a miserable nightmare trying to talk to my friend who would decide to use bright yellow Comic Sans on a bright pink background.

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

#208

Post by gisenberg »

pmlnr wrote: post #182
avtar wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mobile clients, persistent chat history when switching clients/devices, search, @mentions notify you when you're away from your desk, and easy integrations with lots of services. P.S. I mainly use IRC everyday :)

Which is IRC + ZNC + Andchat + bots...

This echoes the "couldn't you just replicate Dropbox with x + y + z ..." mindset of the past.

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

#210

Post by dreamfactory2 »

chishaku wrote: post #29
chollida1 wrote: post #7

I wonder if the outcome would have been different if Slack was incorporated outside of the US where Microsoft could use some of its non domiciled cash on the acquisition? http://www.ibtimes.com/microsoft-admits-keeping-92-billion-o... Also interesting to think that Slack could be worth so much. Look at ICQ, Microsoft instant messenger, etc. It seems as though slack like tools get eclipsed every 5-10 years as a new ge…

> ICQ, Microsoft instant messenger ... slack like tools... I think people too often overlook Slack's integrations. Yes, Slack is "just" chat or "just" a glorified IRC. Or is it? I don't know how long it would take me to integrate my Stripe, Github, Trello, and Zendesk streams into IRC to the point where I could set it and forget it. I think for business users at least, using this type of setup _effectively_ could mak…

Slack's core killer feature is a reasonably well executed omni-channel experience. I'm not talking about it as a central hub for comms via integrations (although that flows from this idea), but about seamless handoff creating a unified experience between desktop and mobile (and email/app/desktop notifications). That's interesting because it isn't chat related and could be applied to most applications
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