Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead • Hacker News Board

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

#281

Post by JBlue42 » Sat, Mar 05, 2016, 11:30 PM UTC

douche wrote: post #255

click170 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious about how you found yourself in a position of both hating a piece of software and having to defend the decision to use it. Why did you have to defend something you hated? Where I work if something doesnt have an advocate, it stops being a product offering.

Just a guess, but probably the sunk cost fallacy. Lync licensing is not cheap, and once you've put in the time to buy it, provision the ridiculous amounts of hardware necessary to run it, deploy it, push the client to end-users, train up on how to use it, it represents a significant investment.

You also forgot "it's probably not his/her choice".

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

#282

Post by dasil003 » Sun, Mar 06, 2016, 6:39 AM UTC

area51org wrote: post #260

dasil003 wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a huge practical improvement over IRC. The integrations are turn-key for most things, very powerful, and deep search integration, so it can become your one-stop shop for things. It realistically has the possibility to replace Dropbox and email for internal collaboration. The channels, groups, and notifications preferences make it possible to structure your team for maximum signal to noise across both desktop and…

Every feature you mention was available in the '90s. I'm not saying Slack is bad, just that it's nothing impressive or innovative. The only surprising thing about it is that someone didn't make it sooner.

> Every feature you mention was available in the '90s.

The fact that you could log irc transcripts, index them, give them a web interface, and write bots to chain things together is not the same feature as Slack integrations. If that is your bar for a feature, then we might as well give up trying to write innovative software, because it all uses the same opcodes anyway.

> I'm not saying Slack is bad, just that it's nothing impressive or innovative.

The attitude that a new product is not innovative because its features resemble features from past products leads to no logical conclusion except that nothing is innovative. Everything is based on previous ideas.

If a product were merely the sum of its features, then Apple would not be alive today.

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

#283

Post by pmlnr » Sun, Mar 06, 2016, 11:36 PM UTC

st3v3r wrote: post #233

pmlnr wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Which takes time to set up, whereas it's already done for you in Slack.

Of course it does. But you get to keep your data for yourself.

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

#284

Post by lmm » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 3:56 PM UTC

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'

AIM is actually really nice these days. I wish I could get my friends to switch back to it.

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

#285

Post by lmm » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 3:58 PM UTC

pmlnr wrote: post #185

bluedino wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just a protocol. Like HTTP, FTP... It's not a client. It's not one companies servers. It's not anything like AOL IM, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, PowWow...

And that is exactly why it's still alive.

AIM/ICQ is still alive. Yahoo! Messenger is still alive. MSN Messenger has a migration path to Skype. Doesn't seem like that distinction makes a lot of difference.