Slashdot Mirror


Microsoft Teams is Replacing Skype for Business To Put More Pressure on Slack (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft Teams isn't even a year old, but it's about to replace Skype for Business. At Microsoft's Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida today, the software giant is revealing that it plans to kill off Skype for Business in favor of Microsoft Teams. Skype for Business took over from Lync, Microsoft's previous business chat app, back in 2015. Microsoft's original Teams launch made it look obvious that Skype for Business would eventually disappear, given the fact that Teams integrates most of Skype's functionality already. Microsoft says it has been building a new Skype infrastructure that has been "evolving rapidly," and it will serve as the enterprise-grade service for voice, video, and meetings in Microsoft Teams. A new Skype for Business server will be available in the second half of 2018 for customers not ready to move to Teams, but Microsoft is pushing Office 365 users will to move over to Teams as the key communications client instead of relying on Skype for Business.

135 comments

  1. This is the exact opposite of what they should do. by Lordpidey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Replacing a fully functional product that a company probably spent a lot of money hiring people to implement and integrate with the company network with another product just seems moronic.

    If I were a buisness that used Skype, I'd be pissed off and probably change to Slack, rather than change to Microsoft Teams.

    --
    Some people encrypt by using rot-13 twice. I prefer the more secure method of using rot-1 a total of twenty six times.
  2. Russians pressure on SLACK! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember folks, DHS and msmash want you to believe Russians will "hack into" Slack and change your mind and make you go to the election places (which are probably filled with schoolchildren this time of year) and demand to have your vote changed to Hillary Clinton. "Hillarity" will ensue.

  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  4. They used to buy products like Slack.. by bjdevil66 · · Score: 1

    ...rebrand it "Microsoft Slack", and call it innovation. I guess that model doesn't work anymore, or they just don't have the cash/prestige/fear-factor to buy whatever they want anymore?

    1. Re:They used to buy products like Slack.. by orlanz · · Score: 1

      Well... they did buy Skype 6 years ago so probably the model doesn't work anymore. But I don't think it ever really did thou.

    2. Re:They used to buy products like Slack.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I remember when they bought AdSense, AdWords, Maps, YouTube, Android, Doubleclick and just called it innovation.

  5. Pick an identity. PICK. ONE. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Communicator, Lync, Skype for Business...and, now, Teams.

    Do you want to build on brand recognition within Office? Because this isn't how you build brand recognition within Office.

  6. Anything is better! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since Skype for Business is crap I will accept this change without even looking at the Teams product. It has been completely obvious that MS didn't intend to keep Skype going since Lync. It's biggest drawback is the same as the other Office Apps, lack of direction and finishing out features or usability issues.

    1. Re:Anything is better! by Junta · · Score: 1

      Basically MS' IM product has been terrible all along, and MS kept thinking it was a marketing problem rather than a technical one.

      The result is the same basic project being paraded under new name after new name. Going from OCS to Lync wasn't such a bad brand move, it was less of a mouthful. Going from Lync to 'Skype for business' was terrible, since it was clearly just Lync renamed to look like Skype, but no technical relationship between the two.

      I would not count on MS suddenly 'getting it' and producing good product instead of branding exercise.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    2. Re: Anything is better! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slap a shiny UI on it and call it a day. Isn't that Satya's M.O

  7. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I use Skype and Teams in my job and I can tell you one thing; Skype will not be missed...

  8. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We just switched the whole company to Skype Business and now they want us to switch to a different MS product? Screw that.

  9. Best yoga teacher by satyamvedicyogaschoo · · Score: 0

    Hey your post was very informative. Do visit my website satyamvedicyogaschool.com best yoga school in India or you can contact us at satyamvedicyogaschool@gmail.com

    1. Re:Best yoga teacher by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I tried, but was rejected.

  10. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Replacing a fully functional product [...] just seems moronic.

    Or, as we call it here, "monday at microsoft"...

  11. Open source to the rescue! Use Diaspora. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If you need a communication platform for your team that's open source, then Diaspora is surely the way to go. It's written in Ruby using Ruby on Rails, and the code is on GitHub, so it's using cutting edge technologies.

    1. Re:Open source to the rescue! Use Diaspora. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's written in Ruby using Ruby on Rails

      I feel like you're trolling. I'll bite.

      For the end user of a web-based communication platform, the language in which the backend is written plays no role in the adoption process. What matter are the feature set, the support, and the costs. With Microsoft's team-communication platform of the current year (wait, Lync/Sharepoint, 365/Skype for Business, Teams, whatever), you probably get reliable videoconferencing (does Diaspora even do video?) and some sort of document sharing and collaboration, things businesses want. MS will support its software, but God only knows what kind of support you'll get for issues with Diaspora. The costs will be part of the 365 subscription that most businesses already have.

    2. Re:Open source to the rescue! Use Diaspora. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know how using Ruby makes it cutting edge. Probably writing hard to understand code makes them think they are on the cutting edge. A good web designer can make any stupid backend look polished.

  12. Re:US = ISIS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why are you such a sucker for FAKE NEWS?

  13. Microsoft Extinguishes Successful Products by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I wonder when Microsoft will figure out that changing the brand of their products every 2 years and killing off products just makes customers confused and kills any momentum they may have had previously.

    To make it better, they add 15 license models making it impossible to know cost or how to pay.

  14. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not if you Office 365 company getting Teams thrown in for free...

  15. Downhill again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Lync was pretty good. Then they replaced it with Skype - made it a little bad. Then Skype for Business; worse. Then MS Office 365 Skype for Business which is horrible. Can't wait to see what Teams will be like

    1. Re:Downhill again by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

      Lync was never replaced by Skype. It was rebranded Skype for Business. Lync/Skype for Business was always lagging functionality found elsewhere. Slack has just come on MS' radar as a target. The problem for MS, is that they know they need to compete, but don't really know why. Which is why they keep changing focus.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    2. Re:Downhill again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is a ton of "hidden" functionality in Lync/SfB that is often ignored when people talk about things found elsewhere. It's an incredibly secure platform, it has hooks into every Microsoft product out there, and can access the PSTN. There are features that come along that sometimes are a bit later than other IM clients but real functionality is rarely ever behind and is more than not far ahead of any competition.

    3. Re:Downhill again by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      You are absolutely right. However, most of those features requires additional configuration/expenses and MS doesn't make it easy to get to them.

      I use both Lync/SfB and Slack, and I can tell you, Slack just works. AND if Google gets its head out of its messaging crap, it would be loads better than Microsoft. I mean I have about a few ideas that would be game changers if Google just would ask me.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    4. Re:Downhill again by zlives · · Score: 1

      "doesn't make it easy to get to them" a per fect excuse for the end user to give up and use teams or at least thats how cisco sells their webex... you could do it in house... if you hired a CE for it and it alone.

    5. Re:Downhill again by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      CE is covered ....

      requires additional configuration/ expenses

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  16. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unfortunately, Slack doesn't do a lot of the core things that Skype is good at, such as video conferencing and meeting integration with Outlook (including conference rooms that have AV systems built into them).

    If Microsoft can pull this off seamlessly I'll be *very* impressed, but I doubt it's going to be a seamless transition or work properly when they push it on all of their o365 users.

  17. And so it begins... by hyades1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    An office suite program is integral to the efficient functioning of just about any business. So now, predictably, Microsoft is using its newest version of Office to leverage other applications into accepting more and more of its programs. Identify what "Teams" does that "Skype for Business" doesn't (especially with respect to how much of your business will reside on Microsoft servers after the change), and that is the amount by which Microsoft has increased its hold on your company. I have no idea what those differences might be, but I have little doubt they exist.

    Companies that opted for Libre Office are starting to look smarter and smarter, while those that took the easy route and "upgraded" to Win 10 and Office 365 ("All Your Cloud Are Belong To Us") are probably going to regret their choice sooner or later.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    1. Re:And so it begins... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Powerpoint and VBA are the big reasons the world can't switch to LibreOffice.

      One would think Powerpoint is low hanging fruit. And, after 20 years of VBA, I'm surprised there isn't an opensource equivalent.

    2. Re:And so it begins... by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Prezzi is a good (not perfect) replacement for most people wanting to do presentations.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    3. Re:And so it begins... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Microsoft is using its newest version of Office to leverage other applications

      High time traveller. Welcome to 2017. You must have missed a lot in the past 15 years.

      (Personal advice: Go back. Things made more sense then).

    4. Re:And so it begins... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      asking for open source VBA is like asking for open source COBOL. it is not interesting to anyone who would want to work on the project.

    5. Re:And so it begins... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not a good comparison. COBOL is significantly more alive and well than you think and there are active open source implementations of it:

      https://sourceforge.net/projects/open-cobol/

      Just released 2.2 this month.

      If anything, VBA is more legacy than COBOL. COBOL is still an actively used language with a living and evolving standards body. The last COBOL standard was put out only 3 years ago.

      VBA, on the other hand, about died with Visual Basic 6.0. It's only had one language enhancement in the last 18 years and that was only to add 64-bit integer and pointer support for those macros that happened to invoke exported functions (the horror).

    6. Re:And so it begins... by hyades1 · · Score: 2

      I bet a lot of people call you a condescending prick, and politely request that you fuck off and die.

      Perhaps you should accept their well-meant advice.

      --
      I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    7. Re:And so it begins... by hyades1 · · Score: 1

      Excellent point. It seems to me both Powerpoint and Prezzy have stayed pretty much the same for quite a while now. I'm not sure whether that's because they are pretty much doing their job properly, or because nobody's really interested in developing them further.

      I would think that if the latter situation is true, then the Open Source application would be more likely to see further development when there's no really compelling business case to be made to invest resources in such a project.

      --
      I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    8. Re:And so it begins... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no they aren't, thats BS of the highest caliber. The biggest reason that the world wont switch to open-source is because it costs money to retrain people and the majority of the world learned the office products from such a young age. It is always much easier to take the path of least resistance until it has proven to be too large a risk to corporations. That risk assessment will happen when outages at Microsoft start leaving businesses with out their tools to work with. Then and only then will companies start thinking of moving away from the office products. Microsoft has a captive audience and they know it, thats why they don't make any major changes or a bunch of changes all at once.

    9. Re:And so it begins... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I installed LibreOffice some weeks ago. Having it as default doesn't break Office365 links and works as expected usually. It's now worth the effort to keep off the "cloud" and "their experience".

    10. Re:And so it begins... by Gussington · · Score: 1

      Companies that opted for Libre Office are starting to look smarter and smarter,

      Keep dreaming. For all it's foibles, MS Office still shits on Libre Office if you are in any business with more than one person...

    11. Re:And so it begins... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Not really, a lot of people have a sense of humour and the humility to see how stupid their statements are.

  18. MS likely pushing an even more intrusive platform by evolutionary · · Score: 1

    MS has this way of seeing how far they can get away with intrusive, user-unfriendly products. From XP (via WGA) to Windows 8 (tiles aka ad server) to Windows 10 (which collects more data than ever before with very limited ability to protect your private). With the MS purchase of Skype (thanks owners for selling customers out), it's no exception. One day we will get wise and tell MS where to stick it and go to linux/macos. Until we do MS will keep doing this because by continuing to use them, especially when we have choices. (even switching from Windows 10 to 7 would send a message, and yes, folks you CAN either buy windows 7 or use the windows 10 pro downgrade rights), we are saying it's okay.

    --
    "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
  19. I sexually identify as a Skype... err Teams user by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait..

    Fuck it, I'll be both at the same time, now respect me.

  20. Re:Deep Sigh by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

    Even our Cisco chat tool is just XMPP underneath. It makes it easy to integrate into a host of services. IBM's "Sametime" is also in libpurple. I've used both and they're fairly good. At the minimum I can at least use my own chat client.

  21. Skype: Embrace and extinguish, not even extend by SysEngineer · · Score: 1

    Remember when Microsoft bought Skype and people worried about the future of Skype as cross platform. Now Skype has been sucked in to Office365. Only Offrice365 is being extended.

    1. Re:Skype: Embrace and extinguish, not even extend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft has two products with confusingly similar names. Skype, the thing they bought a few years ago, and Skype for Business which used to be called Lync but was rebranded. It's the latter that was offered in Office 365 and is being replaced with Teams, Skype is unaffected.

    2. Re:Skype: Embrace and extinguish, not even extend by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Your post points out the problem Microsoft actually has. They have two separate and distinct products that kinda sit in the same area. Its confusion and muddled messaging. Exactly the opposite considering they are messaging apps.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    3. Re:Skype: Embrace and extinguish, not even extend by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Errrr no. Skype is still Skype. The thing in Office 365 is Lync, with a name and a logo change. (even then only partial, it still is listed as lync.exe on my system)

    4. Re:Skype: Embrace and extinguish, not even extend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Long time Skype user. It took a while, but MS has managed to f**kup the UI in the Skype apps. Job done.

      MS Teams, compared to Slack, the UI is already f**ked up, job already done. I use both Slack and MS Teams, MS Teams is rubbish compared to Slack in almost every way.

  22. Re:Title says Slack but summary doesn't... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    Slack is basically IRC for business that just raised money at a $5 billion valuation.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  23. Lync, Skype, ... by Zorro · · Score: 1

    Microsoft needs to make up its damn mind about this.

    We support several flavors of Lync and are transitioning to Skype for Business and NOW they are going to change it again?

    1. Re:Lync, Skype, ... by grumpy-cowboy · · Score: 1

      Another option: stop using MS tools. There is so many other options (free and commercial).

      --
      Will $CURRENT_YEAR be the year of the Linux Desktop?
    2. Re:Lync, Skype, ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We support several flavors of Lync and are transitioning to Skype for Business and NOW they are going to change it again?

      Well, yeah. Don't chain yourself to the Microsoft boat anchor.

    3. Re: Lync, Skype, ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed, you could use Google Talk instead.

    4. Re: Lync, Skype, ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google Talk is nowhere near as secure or robust as Skype for Business. If you've got a 10-20 person company, go for Google Talk. If you want federation into other companies' IM services, deskphones and conference rooms, enterprise features, etc. - Google Talk is not even in the running.

  24. Good riddance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Skype for Bussiness on OSX is fucking trash. Unfortunately our company is locked into the O365 suite of bullshit. Slack channel specifically prohibited so we are constrained to skype and teams.

  25. Re:Title says Slack but summary doesn't... by orlanz · · Score: 1

    Or even... HOW this is pressure on Slack? The Article is the same title and they just mention that Slack was worried about Teams before. And now somehow the highlight of MS cannibalizing one of its own products (a 3rd time in this product) is Slack worrying more...

  26. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by spiritgreywolf · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been using Teams for a little bit at two of my clients - and I have to say Microsoft REALLY needs to improve the efficiency of Teams before they go fully replacing Skype. As soon as I run the fat-client app whether on Windows or Mac, it's a resource suck as bad as anything I have seen. It's like a really sad, slow version of Google Wave.

    --
    Never have a philosophy which supports a lack of courage
  27. lync.exe lives on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So just new icon and change window title again?

  28. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Junta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would say they should have named it 'Lync' again. Skype for business has been the most confusing thing to talk about, because it has *zero* to do with Skype, except in the minds of MS marketing people.

    As a result you can't just say 'Skype' because people won't do the right thing, you always had to say 'Skype for Business' which is a misleading mouthful.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
  29. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    They're not "replacing" anything. They're:
    1) adding Teams functionality to Skype For Business, because SFB is a functional product and Teams is new functionality,
    2) rebranding SFB as Teams, because SFB is a clunky name and everyone has hated the name since it replaced Lync, and
    3) releasing a non-cloud server called Skype For Business Server, because there are large enterprises that want to host their own stuff for various legitimate reasons.

    This announcement has the following impact on everyday users/IT workers:
    - Current SFB users will be getting Teams functionality added to their client soon. At the same time, they will see a branding change.
    - Current O365 users will get Teams (rebranded SFB) by default.
    - Enterprises admins in critical industries or paranoid organizations will soon have the ability to take SFB/Teams out of the cloud and into the server room.

    Slack can't touch any of these features, either because it doesn't apply or because they don't have the rest of what Microsoft offers. Only an idiot would dump this for Slack. And I say that as a daily SFB and Slack user. We probably won't be using Slack for much longer. It's already prohibitively annoying to admin for and we have already been looking for a replacement. Getting Teams for "free" with the stuff we already use (O365, SFB) is the final nail in the coffin.

  30. Wait, what? by jpellino · · Score: 1

    MS has purchased / absorbed a competing / NIH product an later crippled / killed it? Hoping this does not become a trend.

    --
    "Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
    1. Re:Wait, what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, Skype For Business/Lync/Office Communicator was developed in-house, though it did get Skype-like features after the latest name change.

  31. Re:Title says Slack but summary doesn't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is Slack and why it would be pressured by Microsoft?

    Are you really so lazy that you can't google, creimer?

    I understand that you're ignorant of most of the IT landscape today, but it's not our job to fill you in and catch you up.

    Who the fuck is creimer??

  32. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My business uses "skype for business" and now "Teams". Lync/Skype4Business sucks really bad. Glad to see it die.

    Teams is the first decent Microsoft application I've seen in decades. No doubt some version a few years from now will once again be bloated and encrusted with irrelevancies & bugs, but for now it does one or two jobs well and without surprises or obvious limitations for the domain.

  33. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by garcia · · Score: 2

    We have O365 and Skype here at work and we prefer Slack to S4B in every way. In fact, we're evaluating other options for conferencing because S4B sucks when trying to operate with those who are not using S4B externally.

    I fully understand why Microsoft is trying to go down this route, as evidenced by our lack of faith in their offerings; however, I am not certain it's going to do much to help them "win", especially when people are already paying for their O365 subscriptions and having to double up and use other software on top of it.

  34. Re: This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Skype for Business is a laggy, buggy, bloated pos that's a shell of its former self. Now that all gets rolled into the quite nascent and equally buggy Teams? Yikes!

  35. Who were buying ISIS oil? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it was North Korea you would hear threats and sanctions from the US 24/7.

    The fact that your media never said a word on who've been dealing with ISIS means they are owned by the same people.

    Putin Reveals ISIS Funded by 40 Countries, Including G20 Members

    BREAKING: Putin Reveals 40 Countries That Are Funding ISIS At The G20 Summit

  36. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

    I fully understand why Microsoft is trying to go down this route

    Yes, so do I. It is the latest of MS saying "Us Too!!!!!"

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  37. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Dan667 · · Score: 1

    microsoft has a long history of this. I remember netmeeting. It was great and it worked great. They replaced it with something I have forgotten and in a couple of weeks everyone stop using it as it did not work. If they had built up netmeeting they might have never needed to buy Skype. Looks like they are repeating the same pattern decades later.

  38. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by SoCalChris · · Score: 3, Informative

    Have you ever used Skype for Business? It's a shitty app, and won't be missed in the slightest. If they just shut the entire fucking thing down today, I'd be thrilled.

    It can't keep conversations synced across devices, if you've got multiple instances open (For example on your PC, a remote PC and your phone) it will randomly send a conversation to a device that you're not using and you won't see it until later, it freezes for about 30 seconds every time you get a new conversation, the audio cuts out constantly, when connected with bluetooth headset if and other app plays a sound Skype for business just completely shuts down all audio until the other sound is done.

    The entire Lync/Skype for Business team should be fired.

  39. Re:Title says Slack but summary doesn't... by EndlessNameless · · Score: 2

    When a large corporation has multiple products in one space, it usually means one of two things: either they are pursuing distinct niches, or they have no major strategy for that market.

    It also means that the development talent is divided into separate groups.

    If Microsoft is killing Skype for Business to focus on Teams, that means they have identified their business communication product as an important market. They are probably consolidating their dev talent, and they are probably going to integrate and promote the application more heavily.

    With Slack being a relative newcomer, this could make it much harder to compete. I assume Microsoft will copy the most important features and court Slack customers immediately, which could kill the company if Microsoft does a good job.

    I don't know why Slack is called out in particular. There are certainly other established apps like Webex and GoTo. Maybe Microsoft has a thing for Slack? I don't pay attention to corporate drama.

    --

    ---
    According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
  40. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Glad I'm not alone. Already stamped a big red DNU on Teams for our division. The head IT honchos were looking to push it out asap but there's way, way too many resource issues and bugs that need to be ironed out. My budget is too stretched to play beta site for MS's (typical) lack of QC.

    Sticking with Slack for now but did calendar 2019 to revisit Teams.

  41. Bad track record and a garbage name. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MSN Messenger - Discontinued
    Windows Live Messenger - Discontinued
    Lync - Discontinued
    Skype for Business - About to be discontinued

    Surely, this gives us major confidence in "Microsoft Teams"....

    Ohh yeah and the name "Microsoft Teams" sucks some serious donkey 8====D, whereas "Slack" actually sounds like a cool product. Too bad MS' marketing team has this retarded notion that companies will not use products/services with cool names, it's gotta be bland, boring uninteresting naming.

    1. Re:Bad track record and a garbage name. by PrimaryConsult · · Score: 2

      To be fair, Lync was a cool name. They should have kept it.

  42. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    If I were a buisness that used Skype, I'd be pissed off and probably change to Slack

    If I were a business that used Skype, I'd wait and see and assess what it means, before jumping the gate and racing off in some unknown direction powered entirely by my own lack of information.

  43. Re:Title says Slack but summary doesn't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Go to the closest mirror. Inspect the fat, greasy, prematurely aged visage staring back at you from behind that sparse, pubey neckbeard.

    That's a creimer. Sort of like a football player, but fatter and in much worse shape due to its atrocious dietary and exercise habits. Sort of like a bicyclist, but balancing its massive bulk on two thin, lollipop-stick legs that show no apparent muscular definition or strength.

    Hideous, isn't it?

  44. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Putin is tin-pot despot, and the world would be better with him dead. Here is a list of his greatest accomplishments and past-times:

    Apartment bombings in Moscow that killed hundreds, false flag for the 2nd Chechen war.
    Murdered more than 25,000 civilians in the 2nd Chechen war.
    Murdered journalists.
    Murdered his opposition party members.
    Created and supported the pro-Kremlin front in Ukraine. Annexed Crimea.
    Continuously bombed Syrian civilians, including many hospitals.
    Blew up Malasia Airlines Flight 17.
    Spams slashdot with propaganda, and pretty much every other comment section ever.
    Continuous disinformation and subversion campaign against many targets globally.
    Pays for targeted, divisive advertisement during US elections, paid hackers to disrupt as much as the election as possible.
    Has an entire news organization propaganda arm (from Pravda to RT).
    Siphoned billions in bribes and kickbacks out of his own country for his personal wealth.
    He is basically the world's biggest terrorist.

  45. Re:Title says Slack but summary doesn't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Go to the closest mirror. Inspect the fat, greasy, prematurely aged visage staring back at you from behind that sparse, pubey neckbeard.

    That's a creimer. Sort of like a football player, but fatter and in much worse shape due to its atrocious dietary and exercise habits. Sort of like a bicyclist, but balancing its massive bulk on two thin, lollipop-stick legs that show no apparent muscular definition or strength.

    Hideous, isn't it?

    you sound bitter, sweet tots

  46. Re:Russian Satellite Proof, America is ISIS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    GTFO with your lies and propaganda, comrade. How much does the Kremlin pay to annoy slashdoters?

  47. By that definition,the US is the biggest terrorist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The list of US war crimes is 1000 times longer than yours.

    What you psyop shill don't get is people don't give a shit about Putin, smearing Putin doesn't change the fact that the US is the biggest terrorist state on earth.

    Putin isn't going around pretending to be some "Freedom" fighter, you Americans are, you fucks talk the biggest bullshit and do the biggest damages.

    https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-co...
    https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-co...
    https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-co...
    https://grrrgraphics.com/wp-co...

    CRIMES OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

    United States war crimes

    The Untold History of US War Crimes

    U.S. Crimes Against Humanity: a history

    Fellow blogger Marc Immanuel has written an extensive history of the United States and its ongoing imperial crimes against humanity from beginning to present, from its earliest days as a settler colonial enterprise to its numerous massacres of civilians in Iraq in the 21st century. The article gives a detailed account of each of the most well-known massacres committed against the Indigenous peoples by bloodthirsty white colonists who conducted what can only be described as a campaign of extermination against the original inhabitants of this land. These include

    The Gnadenhutten Massacre
    The Bad Axe Massacre
    Bloody Island Massacre
    Bear River Massacre
    Sand Creek Massacre
    Skeleton Cave Massacre
    The Wounded Knee Massacre

    Immanuelâ(TM)s research leads him to conclude that by the year 1900, the combined Indigenous population from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific stood at around 250,000, or âoeless than 5% of the original population prior to the beginning of the European invasion by Spanish colonialist forces in the early 16th century.â From there other forms of genocide against the Native peoples that were used are detailed and discussed, such as biological genocide and cultural genocide.
    February 28, 1991 image from the Gulf War taken by Ken Jarecke showing the corpse of an Iraqi soldier who was burned alive in the U.S. blitzkrieg known as the âoeHighway of Death.â

    Aside from the multitude of genocides committed against the Indigenous populations, thereâ(TM)s the horrific U.S. Army genocide against the people of the Philippine Islands, torture of Haitians during the 1915-1934 invasion and occupation, the CIAâ(TM)s barbaric and sadistic MKUltra mind control program, Abu-Ghraib and GITMO warehouses of torture, state-sponsored and state-sanctioned brutality against people of color in the U.S., involvement in the âOpium Warsâ(TM) in China, the forced opening of Japan, financial and military support of brutal military dictator regimes all across the globe, crimes of aggression and massacres of civilians in North and South Vietnam, crimes of aggression against Cuba, invasion of Grenada, predator drone attacks on innocent families in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, and much, much more. This is an essential read and good reference point to be returned to again and again to combat the oft-repeated myth of supposed

  48. Every year at our company we switch IM clients... by gosand · · Score: 1

    Lync, then Skype, then Jabber, now Skype again. We also use Webex for meetings. I swear, it's always the corporate IT guys jockeying for something. Once they finally settle on something, then MS changes their direction.

    Excel and other MS applications are getting slower and less stable.
    This push to the cloud is getting quite annoying.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  49. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Radical+Moderate · · Score: 1

    Yep. We had Skype for Buisness, and a bunch of rogue Slack instances. Skype for Business is just so clunky in comparison. Finally management broke down and got a Slack license. I'm sure they'll move us to Teams eventually, I hope MS doesn't screw it up. Especially Mac and Android support. Not holding my breath.

    --
    Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
  50. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like an inept implementation. We have no issues with external conferencing be they dial in or using the web app.

  51. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Netmeeting was replaced by "Live Meeting", which was really just a brand change. It was part of the Live Communications Server and Office Communications Server platforms. Later, with Microsoft Lync, they brought all that functionality into one client. Then they rebranded that to Skype for Business. Nothing from Netmeeting has ever been lost, it still exists today inside of Skype for Business.

  52. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the heck is Yammer I cant tell what the big difference is?

  53. Re: This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you used it? It isn't related to Skype at all - it evolved out of a separate product and is a steaming pile.

    My former company ditched it even while in money saving mode and shelled out more subscription fees for Slack.

    Microsoft knows exactly what they're doing here.

    (Now if they only knew what the fuck they were doing with Windows...)

  54. Re:Title says Slack but summary doesn't... by orlanz · · Score: 1

    Basically you are saying Teams vs Slack is worse than Skype + Teams vs Slack. I get that. But MS was already an entrenched IM vendor in the business world. Their primary competitor was themselves with LCS, OCS, Lync, Skype, and Teams. And the article should have just said "MS Communicator, new year, new name."

    MS (and other big guys) talks about SaaS but then do stuff like this where its the same service but the branding has changed because the underlying technology comes from a different repo, code base, or dev team. They should have left the name as Skype or Lync.

  55. Has it been two years already? by sootman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Time for a chat client name change!
    * Messenger
    * Communicator
    * Lync
    * Skype for Business (as opposed to "Skype for Pleasure"?)
    ... and those are just the ones that are still in my Applications folder! I think there were a couple besides those as well. And those are just corporate clients -- I'm not even talking about MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, etc etc etc. And some were for both, before there was a big division between corporate and regular IM clients. ("MSN Messenger" came with Office X for Mac.)

    Oh yeah, NetMeeting -- anyone else remember that?

    And I'm sure I'm still forgetting one or two more.

    --
    Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
    1. Re:Has it been two years already? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot Cisco's Jabber

    2. Re:Has it been two years already? by mtmra70 · · Score: 1

      Parent was naming Microsoft's products. Cisco has also committed to Jabber and is not EOLing it any time soon.

  56. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would say they should have named it 'Lync' again. Skype for business has been the most confusing thing to talk about, because it has *zero* to do with Skype, except in the minds of MS marketing people.

    As a result you can't just say 'Skype' because people won't do the right thing, you always had to say 'Skype for Business' which is a misleading mouthful.

    Just Call it SOB

  57. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stuppid businesses will fall for this, and 'upgrade'.

    Smart businesses will find a more stable product, one that does not have a history of being 'replaced' frequently. Could be something opensource, could be something from a commercial competitor. But not Microsoft stuff. 'A smart business does not buy stuff for buying's sake.

  58. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by nnet · · Score: 1

    Like Netmeeting, before Skype?

  59. Re:By that definition,the US is the biggest terror by VocationalZero · · Score: 1

    Nice copy pasta. Half of that shit is pure fabrication by the Kremlin, and the other half, this troll has to reach back hundreds of years to find a time when the US was as bad as Russia is now.

    Russia has an even longer and bloodier history than the US. The czars were murderous hacks who considered their serf population as their own property. They brutalized all of their vassal states in the cold war. Stalin massacred hundreds of MILLIONS. Russia has the most blood on its hands, more than any other country EVER. Go back to your Kremlin masters and shove it.

  60. Re:By that definition,the US is the biggest terror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "you psyop shill..." - whines the psyop shill

  61. If it ain't broke, don't fix it... again. by Arzaboa · · Score: 1

    Seems like every time Microsoft touches something, it gets worse. Adding Microsoft to just about anything seems to equate to adding malvertising bloatware, and create no way for any decent feedback. I suppose the only question I have, is "when do they screw this up so badly, they buy Slack and kill that?"

  62. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by dinfinity · · Score: 1

    I'm not familiar with Teams, but Slack is dreadful in the area of resource usage as well.

    It currently hogs 1.5GB of my memory, with just 4 teams (of which 1 is defunct and not used at all) and absolutely nothing fancy going on (one or two images shared each day is about it).

  63. I'm honestly all for by bravecanadian · · Score: 2

    Microsoft replacing a bunch of their duplicate services with one service to rule them all... I just wish they would decide on one and stick with it for a while.

    The constant renaming and shifting strategies from NetMeeting to Groove to Yammer to Lync to Skype to Teams is getting kind of annoying.

    That and their general problems with naming products.. geesh..

  64. Re:Title says Slack but summary doesn't... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    I've worked at several places that tried to use Slack... Most ended up using it for cutesy-type office notifications because the always-on/always-in-your-face approach of Slack is worse for productivity than even open office spaces. Slack does nothing that e-mail doesn't do - other than notify you IMMEDIATELY whenever anyone adds to a thread. It breaks the whole concept of segmenting/compartmentalizing the efforts of your day. Of course, with modern "tools" needing hundreds of developers and engineers to accomplish what used to be done with just a dozen, it's no wonder Slack is leading the charge...

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  65. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

    Replacing a fully functional product that a company probably spent a lot of money hiring people to implement and integrate with the company network with another product just seems moronic.

    They're just copying Google's business model. Google Talk/Hangouts/Duo/Messages...

    FWIW, Skype for Business probably had nothing to do with Skype from what I can figure out - it seems to be pretty much Lync with a revamped chat window. The code bases for Lync and Skype for Business probably overlap about 90%, compared to about 0% for Skype and Skype for Business.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  66. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by thewolfkin · · Score: 1

    I use Skype and Teams in my job and I can tell you one thing; Skype will not be missed...

    that's because Microsoft already killed skype. It hasn't been since just before Microsoft bought it. And yet somehow it got worse.

    --
    Just another second banana
  67. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by spiritgreywolf · · Score: 1

    Yup. It's that bad and there is like zero traffic on it with one team. Just to have a presence in memory drags the machine. They really do have performance issues with it they need to address before expecting corps to deploy it.

    Even if they said "Just go virtual" you'd still hear an ESX farm scream in terror as a group of people logged into their virtual desktops in the morning!

    --
    Never have a philosophy which supports a lack of courage
  68. question by Dmitri_Yuriescu · · Score: 1

    Is that AI thing in Microsoft Teams safe for users who /mostly/ work in VPN protected environments and encrypt a fair amount of data, email etc.?

  69. And... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...Extinguish

    Who relies on anything else from Redmond?

  70. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After a little while, you'll beg them to switch away from Skype for Business. It has to be the only application that brings everyone in the entire company together. And we do come together and hate it so much.

  71. Skype For Business != Skype by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember that Skype For Business is simply Microsoft Lync rebranded with the Skype name. It shares little or nothing with "consumer" Skype that most people are familiar with.

    My employer adopted Lync, and then moved to Skype For Business. IM is the least of it for us. It's primarily a PBX replacement (VOIP), and for conference calls. I like it, but the opinion isn't universal. Having a stable network connection (I do) seems to make a big difference.

  72. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For what it's worth, this isn't the skype you use at home. It's a reskinned Lync with a few added features. Entirely different than consumer skype with a lot more back-end integration (outlook, exchange, sharepoint, etc) - and it's (unless using o365) entirely on-premise.

  73. Not even close by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I work in an almost exclusively Microsoft shop and we've been using Slack for over a year to collaborate. Recently we tried Teams because it's nice to be able to use your Windows domain credentials for everything, instead of having yet another set just for Slack.

    Teams didn't last one day, hell it didn't even last one HOUR, before we went back to Slack. Teams is so far behind in functionality - even basic functionality - that at this point it isn't even a competitor to Slack. For example, to upload a file in Slack, you drag and drop the file; in Teams, you not only have to have a fucking OneDrive account to upload a file, you also have to be on a Windows version newer than 7 (because 8 and up have the built-in OneDrive integration).

    I'm about as pro-Microsoft as they get but Teams in its current incarnation is a terrible, terrible piece of software that MS should honestly be ashamed of. It does surpass Slack in one way though... it consistently uses a lot more memory to do nothing.

  74. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Gussington · · Score: 1

    I would say they should have named it 'Lync' again. Skype for business has been the most confusing thing to talk about, because it has *zero* to do with Skype, except in the minds of MS marketing people.

    As a result you can't just say 'Skype' because people won't do the right thing, you always had to say 'Skype for Business' which is a misleading mouthful.

    I'm on a project now that involves a large S4B deployment and this is me at every single meeting. Skype for Business is stupid name so everyone just says Skype, then the discussion turns to original recipe Skype and some people already use 'Skype' so why are we deploying it again. Cue the explanations, rinse repeat for the last nine months...

  75. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Gussington · · Score: 1

    Skype from what I can figure out - it seems to be pretty much Lync with a revamped chat window.

    It's not even revamped, it's just Lync rebranded. It has nothing to do with original recipe Skype.

  76. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Our team was forced to change from Skype home to Teams and it has effectively killed all the conversation. If a web page needs a splash screen to entertain user while it loads itself for a minute, there is something deeply wrong in the service. And the resulting Teams page, which can cover only dozen or so lines of text messages, rest being useless whitespace and rounded corners, is worse than even the current Skype, which was phone-washed couple of years ago. Microsoft must be paying a lot of bribes to the corporate CIO:s to get that crap sold.

  77. Re:Title says Slack but summary doesn't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slack is a resource hog web page which provides a bad IRC client without conversation history.

  78. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by scdeimos · · Score: 1

    Hardly surprising given that Teams is an Electron application. This is also why #Slack is such a resource hog - it consumes about 1GB per Team because each team runs in its own extremely inefficient browser process.

    I understand the desire for Write Once Run Anywhere but surely there are better platforms to use than Electron.

  79. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by SoCalChris · · Score: 1

    Shit, even the most recent executable is named "lync.exe". I'm pretty sure they just updated resources and released that.

  80. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

    Yeah good luck with that. Companies are the biggiest MS fanboys who killed the superior Novell Netware, Unix, and other products to one unifying Microsoft solution hoping it would cut down on costs and save them money.

    Teams is Skype, Sharepoint, some chat application, and Slack?? I never even heard of it before. Has anyone else?

    It is not from Microsoft so it will be ignored by the enterprise since MS has a similar option. Everyone uses Teams and Planner is the new rage so far this year

  81. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

    That's... what I just said. You'd have saved yourself some time if you read to the end of the paragraph!

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  82. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yep - marketdroids have no idea what people actually WANT. They aren't really talking to people that have ACTUAL problems to solve, they're merely trying to chase after

    The parts of Microsoft that *actually listen* (mainly their developer tools, like visual studio onine) and are prepared to TRY and strike out and solve actual problems do work fine. But this .. this .. this is just insecure marketdroids trying copy the current market leaders.

    Replacing a fully working product with something that's hardly out of alpha? And doesn't even aimed at the SAME issue? (Teams/Slack is very much a persistent collaboration environment tool, Lync is very much a 1 on 1 communications tool.)

    It is utter lunacy.

  83. rofl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    lol, if I had started using this way back in 2015....my people would just now be getting the hang of it and time to switch again :O

    All these great new products sure seem to have short lifespans now, making them rather less than great :/

  84. Welcome to the Microsoft slashdot .. by najajomo · · Score: 1

    15 mentions of Microsoft on the front page ..

  85. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been using Teams for a little bit at two of my clients - and I have to say Microsoft REALLY needs to improve the efficiency of Teams before they go fully replacing Skype. As soon as I run the fat-client app whether on Windows or Mac, it's a resource suck as bad as anything I have seen. It's like a really sad, slow version of Google Wave.

    We just switched to Microsoft Teams, and it is absolutely terrible. All black, with candy colored highlights. This thing is so broken it does not auto scroll for new messages. You have to click the New Messages button to see new content. Terrible design, terrible interface, terrible product. Bring back Lync!!!

  86. Re:And so it begins... Visio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Visio still dominates the "drawing" software - there is NO Open Source alternative that is even 25% close to Visio! And don't tell me DIA - it's not even close - it barely compete in the space.

  87. Re:This is the exact opposite of what they should by geekymachoman · · Score: 1

    > Replacing a fully functional product that a company probably spent a lot of money hiring people to implement and integrate with the company network with another product just seems moronic.

    I don't know any decision that MS made that was not moronic.
    They're surviving by luck and circumstances (Windows and some of its products like Office) are already so prevalent that they cannot basically fail, at least not easily because all the apps are made for it.

    But their innovation and decisions are probably the stupidest, one can come up with.

    Let's hope they die off in this lifetime, and stop making everybody's life miserable.

  88. Re: This is the exact opposite of what they should by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slack lacks VOIP though...

  89. Anything will be better than Skype for Business by OppMan29 · · Score: 1

    As a user of that crappy app, I welcome the change

  90. This is Moronic by Nonekdan · · Score: 1

    I for one have a Skype for Business implementation that spans the globe. I have sites in Africa, UK, Brazil, Mexico, Germany Chile, and the US. All of my sites are tied together with Skype for Business. I have SIP trunks to every local PBX at every location so that I can call for free to any of these locations and they can call me. It is EXTREMELY cost effective and versatile. And it just WORKS.. So now they get teams.. It literally is copying a bunch of SKype for business features and really the only one that I see that is really different is the persistent conversation piece and maybe some scheduling. Why the HELL are they replacing SKype for Business with TEAMS when they already have a huge customer base using Skype for Business / Lync and they basically tell us that they will bring parts into Teams when it should be the other way around. They are going to release a piece of crap that is totally cloud dependent that won't have local PSTN support all the while basically ringing the death bell for Skype for Business. It is beyond Mind numbingly stupid. I can't as a technician in all honesty recommend a Microsoft product and have a company create an INFRASTRUCTURE around a product just to have them pull the plug on it for a FEATURE UPGRADE??? WTF????