Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
1–10 of 397 posts
Re: Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
#2If only there was a well supported, standard, open and interoperable text messaging protocol (with multiple implementations) that companies could host themselves...
Oh wait, IRC.
Re: Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
#3If only there was a well supported, standard, open and interoperable text messaging protocol (with multiple implementations) that companies could host themselves... Oh wait, IRC.
Slack is IRC, it just is a really nice interface that makes it easy to automate and makes it easy to share files/code/etc.
Re: Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
#4I work in consultancy, and the client I currently work for has us working on-premise using air-gapped computers. No internet, only intranet, meant finding new ways to communicate. So far Mattermost works well. We have it integrated with Jenkins, Stash etc. and do the typical "chat-ops" things.
Re: Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
#5It's good to see a bit of a variety – we all know that monoculture ends up being a bad thing, and there are obvious downsides to applications hosted by third parties (though of course in some cases it's not a problem!). Of course, there's no real network effect with applications like this either (beyond integrations support) so there's a relatively low bar to switching when compared to something like Facebook.
I do hope to see some work on better user interfaces. Our team recently switched to Slack from Hipchat - many features are better, but the desktop UI is really unpleasantly sluggish. It seems unreasonable for a chat application to stutter and freeze on even small amounts of data. The trend for wrapping web UIs in desktop apps is not a good one, in my experience. Hopefully open equivalents will encourage the development of native clients.
Re: Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
#6If only there was a well supported, standard, open and interoperable text messaging protocol (with multiple implementations) that companies could host themselves... Oh wait, IRC.
Slack is IRC, it just is a really nice interface that makes it easy to automate and makes it easy to share files/code/etc.
I mean, it's not actually IRC, even though it could've been. It's a custom server that speaks a custom protocol, as far as I know.
Re: Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
#7If only there was a well supported, standard, open and interoperable text messaging protocol (with multiple implementations) that companies could host themselves... Oh wait, IRC.
if only getting external collaborators or non-technical users into IRC didn't involve sending them a 15-step howto on configuring screen and ssh and could be as simple as "check your email and click the link you get"
and, if only there was push button per channel access control set up out of the box so that some users can join some channels but not others! no, not channel keys, those are busted (what do we do when someone stops being involved in a channel? rotate the channel key?)
there's way more in slack than IRC, so there needs to be way more in a slack killer than IRC...
Re: Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
#8If only there was a well supported, standard, open and interoperable text messaging protocol (with multiple implementations) that companies could host themselves... Oh wait, IRC.
Slack is IRC, it just is a really nice interface that makes it easy to automate and makes it easy to share files/code/etc.
Slack is not IRC. The gap between them is so huge that they are distinct. Push notifications and message sync are key features.
Re: Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
#9If only there was a well supported, standard, open and interoperable text messaging protocol (with multiple implementations) that companies could host themselves... Oh wait, IRC.
Slack is IRC, it just is a really nice interface that makes it easy to automate and makes it easy to share files/code/etc.
Oh, TIL.
So I can point my run-off-the-mill IRC client to a slack server and partake in cat pictures exchanging and almost-NSFW-but-not-quite with my fellow coworkers, yes?
Otherwise whatever it uses inside its walled garden is completely irrelevant I'm afraid.
Re: Open Sourcers Race to Build Better Versions of Slack
#10If only there was a well supported, standard, open and interoperable text messaging protocol (with multiple implementations) that companies could host themselves... Oh wait, IRC.
if only IRC was sufficient for the needs of modern workplaces. We use it, but it requires you do things like write a bot just to send a message to someone who is offline or store history so you can refer to it later.