Mattermost has the advantage of being bundled with GitLab, so organisations opting for GitLab might be tempted to use it as well.
Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
71–80 of 176 posts
Re: Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is kind of a frustrating answer, because Slack's UX sucks. Its desktop app is just a wrapped web page; the fonts and colors match nobody's operating system; the fffffffffffffffffriendly scroll bar; all the cutesy messages and iconography; "Reconnecting…"; etc, etc. Yes, I understand that it's still friendlier to use than IRC, but there's a middle ground between "easy to use" and "still looks and works like a pr…
None of your comments about Slack's UX are actually about UX; they're about the UI.
Fair enough. How's this: If the UI of a desktop application does not match the standard appearance and interface of the rest of the operating system, a bad UX is almost a certainty, in my experience.
Re: Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
#73The thing that keeps my company from switching to Slack or any of its alternatives is read notifications. Not having read notifications makes using the system a lot more painful. Any one know of a chat system (not Hangouts) that supports read notifications?
Re: Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
#74Can someone explain the attraction that nerds have for Slack/Hipchat over a well-tended IRC server?
Ad hominems aside, personally I like the multi-line block code pastes, the inline markdown, and the ability to post images from the clipboard.
I haven't frequented IRC much since the mid to late 90's so perhaps it has those features now.
Re: Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
#75The thing that keeps my company from switching to Slack or any of its alternatives is read notifications. Not having read notifications makes using the system a lot more painful. Any one know of a chat system (not Hangouts) that supports read notifications?
Slack says it's coming, but no idea when: https://twitter.com/slackhq/status/504407968150851585
Re: Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
#76I wasn't sure when I read the headline if it referred to Slack Linux or Slack the music service. Apparently there is a communications client called Slack, just FYI.
Re: Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
#77Can someone explain the attraction that nerds have for Slack/Hipchat over a well-tended IRC server?
> Can someone explain the attraction that nerds have for Slack/Hipchat over a well-tended IRC server?
1. Nerds (like me) have to talk to non-nerds.
2. Nerds (unlike me, but not unlike my wife) aren't interested in complex solutions to simple problems.
And frankly, who is the "tender" of the "well-tended" IRC server? I don't want to maintain it.
My wife and I used slack as the primary means with which we communicate for "couple stuff." We've used it to: Plan our Wedding Ceremony. Plan our Wedding Party. Plan our Honeymoon. Plan for our first child. Plan our next house purchase. Manage our Finances. Plan Dates. Plan our Meals. Archive Recipes.
There would be no way my wife (a nerd) and I (a different type of nerd) could do this on IRC.
Re: Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
#78Can someone explain the attraction that nerds have for Slack/Hipchat over a well-tended IRC server?
It's amazing to me that people still don't understand the importance of user experience (and low friction setup processes).
Do you remember having to hand write your Xorg.conf files to setup a Linux desktop back in the day? Wasn't that a colossal waste of time? Aren't you glad that's not a thing anymore?
Sure, I could try to set up an IRC server and the relevant bots and scripts to attempt to emulate what Slack provides natively, and then look for mobile apps that will connect to IRC and send me push notifications on relevant activity, or I could just use Slack.
Re: Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
As patio11 puts it: UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX UX See more: https://twitter.com/patio11/status/660931499680657409 https://twitter.com/patio11/status/660931665275916288 https://twitter.com/patio11/status/660931949645533184 https://twitter.com/patio11/statu…
Which is kind of a frustrating answer, because Slack's UX sucks. Its desktop app is just a wrapped web page; the fonts and colors match nobody's operating system; the fffffffffffffffffriendly scroll bar; all the cutesy messages and iconography; "Reconnecting…"; etc, etc. Yes, I understand that it's still friendlier to use than IRC, but there's a middle ground between "easy to use" and "still looks and works like a pr…
"Proper, professional.." And what does that exactly mean? Beige isn't necessary to be professional. There are plenty of 'proper, professional' applications that have a horrible UX and an ugly UI. Not sure who the arbiter of 'professionalism' is. Is there an ISO spec to which we can refer? Or do we just find the guy who is still using MS DOS and ask for his advice? I'm stumped on how to uglify Slack enough to have it beknighted as 'proper and professional.'
Re: Five Open-Source Slack Alternatives
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where I work, before Slack, we had Campfire and only us developers bothered to sign up for it, get the client, etc. We switched to Slack and suddenly everyone was on it. UX matters so much. We don't have time to tend an IRC server and act as support for it. Slack lets the whole company sign up ultra-easily and get on board – there's simply no contest. I lament the passing of the age of new open protocols too, trust m…
I'd argue there's little reason one of the chat clones couldn't be backed by an IRC server and give us a similar experience.
Sure, but getting there takes a lot of work, something that Slack already gives you out of the box.