On April 23, Salesforce and Slack filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in London’s High Court, accusing the company of anticompetitive practices related to its Microsoft Teams app.

Speaking to Reuters, a Salesforce spokesperson indicated that "Microsoft's practices harmed ⁠competition, using tying and bundling of Teams to ​limit customer choice."

Per Salesforce's lawsuit, Microsoft bundling Teams with its Office suite is described as a calculated move designed to limit customer choice and restrict fair competition in the workplace collaboration market.

A Microsoft spokesperson dismissed Salesforce's claims, further indicating that the antitrust case against it lacked merit:

"Salesforce’s complaint lacks merit, and we’ll make our case before the Court in due course. Slack's lackluster growth, compared to Zoom and Teams, was based on inferior capabilities when COVID-19 hit in ​2020, and had nothing to do with Microsoft." (via Salesforce Ben)

This isn’t the first time Salesforce has raised concerns about Microsoft’s business practices. Back in 2020, Slack filed a complaint with the European Commission, accusing Microsoft of abusing its market dominance by bundling Teams with its Office suite to stifle competition.

The complain further alleged that millions were forced to install Microsoft Teams without the ability to remove it. However, Microsoft dismissed the allegations, arguing that Slack’s struggles originated from its lack of integrated video‑conferencing features rather than any anticompetitive behavior.

But Microsoft caved to antitrust regulatory pressure, making some changes...

In 2025, Microsoft unbundled Teams from Office 365 in an attempt to dodge EU antitrust fines. For context, the European Commission launched a formal investigation into Microsoft for bundling Teams with Office 365 in 2023.

Microsoft made several commitments to the European Commission, including drastic changes in pricing for its core services. For context, it committed to offering Office 365 and Microsoft 365 without Teams at a lower cost, at around $2.20 (€2) less per user each month. As such, it started offering Teams as a standalone service for about $5.50 (€5) per user per month.

The tech giant also committed to improving how Teams works with competing platforms, making it easier for rival apps to integrate with Teams and other Microsoft services.

This is a developing story. I'll keep tabs on it as it unfolds and equally keep updated as new information becomes available.

Elsewhere, Microsoft is also facing a separate class‑action lawsuit, alleging that it set wholesale prices for Windows Server software higher on rival cloud platforms than on its own Azure service.

Do you think Microsoft is engaging in anticompetitive business practices by bundling Teams with its Office suite? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

You may dread hearing that your organization is switching from Slack to Teams, but your company's IT Admins may soon react differently to the same news. A new Slack to Microsoft Teams migration tool will roll out this month and simplify the process of switching between the platforms.

The migration tool was originally set to start rolling out in December 2025, but that rollout was delayed about one month. Now, it will start by the end of January and continue throughout early March.

For now, there are some limitations on the tool, such as only supporting channel content. The updating timeline appears in the Microsoft 365 Message Center (archived here).

Microsoft outlines the data that will be migrated in a support document:

• Slack channels (public and private).
• Slack channel messages (including threading and standard reactions).
• Slack channel file attachments.
• Slack channel canvas and list content (migrated to HTML and JSON file attachments within the Teams channel, respectively).
• Slack channel membership (owners and members).

To migrate from Slack to Teams using the tool, customers need to have permission to export their Slack workplace data. Workspace Owners, Workspace Admins, Org Owners, and Org Admins and any member with an Export Admin system role should meet the requirement.

Similarly, customers need to have permission to import data to Teams. It's recommended that a Microsoft 365 Migration Administrator import the data, but a SharePoint Administrator or Global Administrator also have the needed permissions.

The migration process has a lot of steps, but they're all outlined by Microsoft. There are, however, some known limitations when it comes to migration.

The biggest limit is that only one Slack workplace can be connected to the migration tool at a time. It is possible to disconnect a workspace and add another one.

The migration tool works with Slack channel content. It does not migrate the contents of direct messages, group chats, workflows, or custom app integrations.

While the limits are noteworthy, using the migration tool should smooth the shift from Slack to Teams considerably.

Slack vs. Microsoft

Slack and Microsoft have a storied relationship. When Teams came out, Slack issued a statement welcoming the competition.

Former CEO of Slack, Stewart Butterfield, seemed to have different thoughts than the company's PR department. He claimed Teams was not a competitor to Slack.

That disconnect continued in 2019 when Slack filed an antitrust claim against Microsoft over "illegal and anti-competitive practice." Notably, A 2019 10-Q filing from Slack claimed that Slack's "primary competitor is currently Microsoft Corporation."

I guess Slack disagreed with its then-CEO about the status of Teams as a competitor.

The drama continued with Microsoft claiming "Slack suffered from its absence of video-conferencing." Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella asked, "would Slack have even existed if it was not for the free access they had on top of, say, the Windows platform?"

Slack was purchased by Salesforce in 2021, but the rivalry with Microsoft and Teams continued under new ownership.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said, "Copilot is just the new Microsoft Clippy. It doesn't work or deliver value" in 2024. Last year, he claimed Microsoft did "pretty nasty" things to Slack.

At least when it comes to the bundling of Teams and Office — which was the center of the Microsoft vs. Slack feud — Slack earned a key victory. Microsoft unbundled Teams from Office 365 last year in the EU.

It seems likely the two companies will continue to feud, especially as they jockey for positioning in the communication space.

Do you use Slack or Teams in your professional life? Share your experience with the platforms in the comments!

Slack is down. Zoom is down. Even Wordle is down, so don't think about killing time with puzzle games while your remote team figures out why their critical platforms are broken. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the server platform behind hundreds of the Internet's most popular apps, services, and games, and reports on the official AWS Service health page confirm "increased error rates" responsible for a huge chunk of the web going down.

Some user-friendly dashboards, like Downdetector, show the same news, though early signs show that recoveries could be happening as the pings begin dropping — though it's more likely that fewer reports are coming in compared to previous hours.

Still, the apps listed at the top of their pages with the most reports expose how fragile some of the world's favorites are, since they rely on Amazon's web servers, as even fun apps like Snapchat and renowned video games like Fortnite bit the dust when AWS began suffering. Palworld is out, too, and it has nothing to do with Nintendo's legal team this time.

Somewhat comically, the gigantic social media platform Reddit also uses AWS, so common web searches for "why is [service] down reddit" can pull up errors and similarly dead pages — suffering the exact same fate.

Nevertheless, Amazon's engineers "were immediately engaged and are actively working on both mitigating the issue, and fully understanding the root cause", so these downtimes will probably be over within a few hours, at least based on previous occurrences with AWS errors.

Thankfully, the majority of Windows Central's operations are unaffected by any AWS downtime, except for a handful of conveniences that sometimes speed up our work. For now, you'll perhaps find that only your workplace is affected if you're a night owl in the United States, or if you're closer to Europe and rely on servers hosted in the US.

One standout, besides Slack, includes Grammarly — a spelling and grammar assistant available for Windows and mobile, which is also suffering downtime. Luckily, I only use it as a backup when writing, but as with similarly AI-driven apps like ChatGPT and Perplexity, the AWS outage killed its usefulness on this Monday morning. Used my brain instead.

Microsoft Teams is finally receiving support for threads within channels. The new feature is in public preview testing and should make its way to everyone in the near future.

Threads in channels are a new way to collaborate, or at least a new way to collaborate within Teams. Slack and other apps have had similar functionality for years.

The feature lets you reply directly to specific messages, turning them into threaded conversations. This makes it easier to stay on top of specific topics and reduces clutter within channels.

"Threads in channels, something many users will be familiar with, are a key part of this evolution," Microsoft explained in a blog post. "It combines the simplicity of chat-like conversations with the structure, durability, and manageability of channels—helping you stay on top of the information that matters most without getting overwhelmed."

As alluded to by Microsoft, the concept of threads is nothing new. In fact, it's surprising that Teams has taken this long to catch up to Slack and other communication apps that support threaded conversations.

A Followed Threads section within Teams collects your conversations into an interactive list, meaning you don't have to switch between channels to reply to each thread. You can also unfollow a thread to stop getting updates.

Those who prefer the Posts layout, which reorders content based on most recent replies, will still be able to use it.

More Microsoft Teams features

While the addition of threads in channels is the biggest change to Teams, it is not the only improvement. The app will soon be able to trigger workflows with emojis.

As an example, you could react to a message with an exclamation point emoji to create a support ticket within your organization. Microsoft notes that the feature can be used to "automate DevOps, incident response, team collaboration, and more with the Workflows app."

Teams will also support slash commands in the near future, such as using /gif to search for a GIF.

Lastly, customizable keyboard shortcuts are on the way to Teams.

All of the new features outlined in the recent blog post are in public preview.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is well-known for not mincing his words, especially when criticizing Microsoft and throwing jabs at the company's AI efforts. Over the past few months, the executive has referred to Copilot as the new Microsoft Clippy, claiming it doesn't deliver value.

Benioff has also branded Microsoft as an "OpenAI reseller," claiming the tech giant repackaged ChatGPT as Copilot and presented it to consumers as a different product. Recently, the executive appeared in a podcast interview with SaaStr CEO Jason Lemkin.

Marc Benioff claimed that Microsoft did "horrible things" to Slack before Salesforce acquired the platform between 2020 and 2021 for approximately $27 billion. Interestingly, Microsoft had also shown interest in acquiring Slack for $8 billion, but later pulled the plug in a bit to focus more on Skype (RIP) and the launch of Teams.

According to Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff:

"You can see the horrible things that Microsoft did to Slack before we bought it. That was pretty bad and they were running their playbook and did a lot of dark stuff. And it's all gotten written up in an EU complaint that Slack made before we bought them."

Microsoft has a long-standing rivalry with Slack. The messaging platform accused Microsoft of using anti-competitive techniques to maintain its dominance across organizations, including bundling Teams into its Microsoft Office 365 suite.

However, Microsoft was forced to unbundle Teams from Office 365 globally after Slack filed a complaint with the EU Commission. Teams is now available for new customers as a standalone app for $5.25, whereas Office packages without Teams range between $7.75 and $54.75.

Marc Benioff further indicated that Microsoft's treatment of Slack was "pretty nasty." He claimed that the company often employs a similar playbook to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals while referencing "browser wars" with Netscape and Internet Explorer in the late 1990s.

"That playbook should get ripped up and thrown away," continued Benioff.

Marc Benioff doesn't think Microsoft will be in OpenAI's future

Over the past few months, multiple reports and speculations have surfaced online suggesting that Microsoft's multi-billion-dollar partnership with OpenAI might be fraying. It all started when OpenAI unveiled its $500 billion Stargate project alongside SoftBank, designed to facilitate the construction of data centers across the United States.

The ChatGPT maker had previously been spotted complaining that Microsoft doesn't meet its cloud computing needs, shifting blame to the tech giant if one of its rivals hit the AGI benchmark first. Consequently, Microsoft lost its exclusive cloud provider status but retains the right of refusal to OpenAI's projects.

At the same time, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff predicted that Microsoft won't use OpenAI in the future. Interestingly, Microsoft has seemingly taken a back seat in its partnership with OpenAI and even started developing in-house AI models, emancipating itself from an overdependence and reliance on OpenAI.

While speaking to IT Pro, Microsoft confirmed that OpenAI “continues to be our partner on frontier models.” It will be interesting to see how Microsoft and OpenAI's partnership pans out, especially after the former officially listed the ChatGPT maker as a competitor in search and AI.

No, it's not your internet, and you've not been fired either. Slack, a well-known messaging platform used across organizations is experiencing a widespread outage, according to Downdetector.

The company has acknowledged the outage via its help center website, indicating:

"We've received feedback that Slack is having some trouble and we're investigating. Please visit Slack Status to see the latest updates."

The outage is affecting critical organizational communication features, including sending messages, workflows, threads, and other API-related features.

Slack is working to restore services, citing that "teams are aware and are investigating the issue."

Affected users have been encouraged to stay alert as more updates trickle in on status.slack.com.

Employees revel in Slack's massive outage

As is often the case, users flocked social media platforms to share funny and witty memes about Slack's widespread usage. Admittedly, the outage also caught me off guard.

Initially, I thought my internet was acting up, but I found Slack trending on X (formerly Twitter) for all the wrong reasons.

It reminds me of the massive global IT outage that left over 8.5 million Windows devices with Blue Screens of Death.

While Salesforce attempts to mitigate the widespread outage, here's a compilation of some funny memes about the situation I've seen so far.

As it appears, the massive outage has seemingly caused a bit of panic among some users, with some indicating that they initially thought they'd been fired.

Some employees jokingly indicated that Slack's massive outage triggered some form of serendipity. "Slack is down," Amanda indicated on X. "I haven't felt peace like this in 5 years."

Perhaps more interestingly, Slack's outage seemingly constitutes a free day for some employees, especially remote workers. "Slack being down is the adult version of a snow day."

This is a developing story. We'll make subsequent updates to this post as more information becomes available and a potential permanent fix for the outage is issued.

As we bid adieu to yet another episode of Slack's great crash of 2025, let's appreciate the humor and resilience of remote workers. Amidst the flurry of memes and frantic refreshes, we're reminded of the delicate dance we perform with our digital tools.

While technology has undoubtedly revolutionized how we work, these unexpected outages expose the fragility of our hyper-connected lives. (and we speak from personal experience here). A single hiccup can send us into disarray in a world where productivity hinges on the seamless flow of information.

It's a quirky yet sobering reflection on the modern age and a reminder that even the most advanced systems can suddenly fail without notice.

Were you affected by the Slack outage today? Let us know your experience in the comments!

What you need to know

• Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently bashed Microsoft for its Copilot AI service.
• He claimed Microsoft's AI efforts are a "tremendous disservice" to the industry while referring to Copilot as the new Microsoft Clippy, further suggesting it doesn't work or deliver value.
• Benioff predicts the hype around Copilot will fade, potentially sending the service to the Microsoft Graveyard as its user base dwindles.

Microsoft is undoubtedly among the major key players in the AI landscape. Market analysts and experts are betting on the tech giant to become the world's most valuable company in the next five years. They attributed their predictions to Microsoft's strategic multi-billion partnership with OpenAI and its early adoption and integration of AI across its tech stack.

However, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is of a different opinion on Microsoft's trajectory in the AI landscape. In an episode of the Rapid Response podcast dubbed "Salesforce can beat Microsoft in AI," the CEO discussed the company's efforts in the AI landscape, including a recap of the company's just-concluded Dreamforce conference and Agentforce.

For context, Agentforce is Salesforce's new tool designed to help build customized AI agents. Benioff claimed Salesforce is probably the largest AI enterprise supplier in the world, with the capability of doing "a couple of trillion AI transactions per week." The CEO further claims the company's Agentforce offering is what AI was meant to be while referring to client  feedback since shipping the entry: 

"This must be witchcraft, this is crazy with what's happening with my customers right now."

Later in the interview, the host asked Benioff how Agentforce differs from Microsoft's Copilot AI offering. "Microsoft has done a tremendous disservice not only to our whole industry but also all the AI research that has been done."

According to Benioff:

"When you look at how Copilot has been sold to our customers, it's disappointing. It doesn't work. It spews data all over our floors, it doesn't deliver value. I haven't found a customer who has transformational work with Copilot. Copilot is just the new Microsoft Clippy."

The CEO claims unlike Microsoft's confusing narrative, Saleforce's Agentforce will make it possible for customers to see what is real and how easy it is to get value from AI with low hallucinogenic. "I don't think Copilot will be around," added Benioff. "I don't think customers will use it."

He predicts the transformation of enterprise with agents at the forefront. He further added that Agentforce will be the number one supplier of agents. "I think will have more than a billion agents running from Salesforce within the next 12 months."

Microsoft unveiled Copilot agents last month to help automate business processes and promote efficiency.

Who will win the AI arm's race?

Based on recent events, it's becoming clear that AI is an expensive venture. For instance, OpenAI spends up to $700,000 per day to keep ChatGPT running. This is on top of the ridiculous amount of electricity required to power the operations coupled with cooling water. 

The ChatGPT maker was reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy, with a $5 billion loss within the next 12 months lingering over its head. OpenAI found itself in a tough financial situation due to its exorbitant spending on AI model training and staffing. However, investors, including Microsoft and NVIDIA, raised $6.6 billion, saving the AI firm from collapsing and pushing its market capitalization to $157 billion.

Interestingly, another report claims OpenAI might endure a massive $44 billion loss before seeing profit in 2029, partly due to the Microsoft tie-up. This happens amid investors raising concerns about spending on AI projects with little profit to show. Investors will likely pull back from the AI hype, prompting them to channel their investments elsewhere. 

At this point, startups like OpenAI might face difficulty generating enough revenue to fund their next-gen advances. Market analysts predict Microsoft will buy OpenAI within the next 3 years. Besides, $7 trillion and many years to build 36 semiconductor plants and additional data centers isn't a small ask.

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What you need to know

• Slack is finally bringing native Arm64 support to its Windows app.
• Now available in beta, the app runs with better performance and efficiency on Windows on Arm devices like the Surface Pro X and Lenovo ThinkPad X13s.
• Slack is just one of many app developers who are introducing native Arm support in their apps on Windows in light of upcoming Snapdragon X laptops.

It's something I've personally been asking Slack to add since the first Windows on Arm devices began shipping in 2017, and today my request is finally being addressed. Slack is releasing an Arm64 native version of its Windows client, which means the app will now be faster and be more energy efficient on Windows on Arm devices.

Up until now, the Slack Windows app has run under emulation on Windows on Arm, which meant the app didn't feel very good to use on devices like the Surface Pro X or Lenovo ThinkPad X13s. Now, with a native Windows on Arm app, Slack no longer has these issues. It runs just like a normal Windows app, with fast loading times, smooth scrolling, and runs with less power draw, which should increase battery life slightly.

Slack is just one of many Windows app developers who are finally getting their act together around Windows on Arm in light of the upcoming Qualcomm-powered Snapdragon X laptops launching this month. Windows on Arm is no longer an afterthought for hardware and software makers, meaning more and more of the apps you use should see native Arm compiles soon.

Just recently, Google released an Arm64 native version of Chrome for Windows on Arm, and Adobe and WhatsApp have announced that Arm64 versions of their apps are on the way too.

You can download Slack for Windows on Arm in beta today. 

What you need to know

• Slack GPT was introduced during the World Tour NYC event.
• This new app integrates AI features into Slack.
• It can instantly generate summaries, find helpful information, and more. 
• To use Slack GPT you must sign up on the waitlist.

Last Thursday, the American cloud-based software company, Salesforce, along with Open AI introduced Slack GPT during the World Tour NYC event. This new app brings AI features into the widely used business messaging app, Slack, to make the software even more convenient for busy professionals. 

As found on the official ChatGPT for Slack page, Slack GPT "combines knowledge found in Slack with the intelligence of ChatGPT, empowering customers with the information they need to move work forward faster." A few ways in which ChatGPT for Slack empowers users are by:  

• Generating summaries to help users quickly catch up on the latest info
• Quickly finding answers after scanning messages and chats
• Drafting messages in just a few seconds

The idea is that these features will increase productivity and allow users to be more in the loop without taking away from their busy schedules. Chief Product Officer at Slack, Noah Desai Weiss, explained how great of an opportunity it was for Slack and OpenAI to integrate like this.

"OpenAI has been a great Slack customer, and we’re even more excited for them to be an amazing Slack partner. The ChatGPT app for Slack deeply integrates the power of OpenAI’s cutting edge large language models into Slack’s conversational interface. There couldn’t be a more natural fit. This will give customers new superpowers by helping them tap the collective knowledge of their organization’s channel archives. We’re excited to partner with OpenAI to bring more generative AI powers directly into Slack to deliver productivity efficiencies for everyone."

The reason OpenAI specifically chose Slack as its productivity platform over other popular services stems from the fact that OpenAI is a longtime Slack customer and the company felt comfortable working with the business messaging platform's framework to create a secure service. What's more, the team has been able to interact with its customers in a very helpful way due to this setup.

As OpenAI's Head of GTM, Zack Kass, stated, "I love Slack Connect so much. We were very early adopters, and, alongside Huddles, it’s been the lifeblood of our customer communications. I think it’s the coolest workspace communication advancement ever. Injecting our own technology into this product has supercharged our ability to connect with and delight our customers. Life without it with our customers is unimaginable."

It remains to be seen if other services like Bing Chat or one of the other best AI chatbots on the market will also be able to create integrated apps for Slack. However, it's possible that this opportunity will only be available for ChatGPT. 

Slack GPT is currently in beta. You can get on the Slack GPT waitlist if you are interested. 

Updated February 23, 2022 at 4:52 PM ET: An earlier version of this story referenced reports on an AWS outage. However, Amazon has confirmed there was no outage on February 22.

Updated February 22, 2022 at 11:50 AM ET: Slack appears to be working again for many users. Outage reports have dropped to near normal levels. The original story follows.

Updated February 22, 2022 at 12:40 PM ET: An Amazon spokesperson reached out to clarify that the company did not find any problems originating with its AWS services related to the Slack outage.

What you need to know

• Slack went down around 9:25 AM ET on February 22, 2022.
• Outage reports spiked dramatically on Downdetector.com.
• This is an ongoing story, and we will update it as more information becomes available.

If you work remotely and are looking to start your workday off on the east coast, you may run into some issues. Slack is down, with a massive spike in outage reports beginning around 9:25 AM ET on February 22, 2022. Due to the outage, hybrid and remote workers may not be able to communicate. Additionally, office jokes about today being "Twosday" (2/2/22 or 22/2/22 depending on your region) will have to wait or be sent through email, Microsoft Teams, or another service.

In under an hour, over 10,000 outage reports have been sent to DownDetector. That number continues to rise quickly. The Slack Status Twitter account replied to an outage report this morning.

If you try to log in to Slack, you'll see a page that reads, "something's gone awry, and we're having trouble loading your workspace." The same page claims that a restart of Slack may help, but that is likely generic advice for any time that the service fails to load.

Slack's status appears to vary between devices. Some members of our team are able to connect to Slack at the moment while others cannot.

This is an ongoing story, and we will update it as more information becomes available.

What you need to know

• Slack filed a complaint with EU antitrust regulators over Microsoft bundling Teams with Office.
• Said regulators are now surveying Microsoft rivals to find out if this bundling activity gives Microsoft unfair market advantages.

Another day, another controversy. This time, it's a result of Slack filing a complaint against Microsoft's Teams and Office activities. Specifically, Slack Technologies made the claim that Microsoft integrating Teams with Office constituted an illegal move that disadvantaged products attempting to rival Teams (via Reuters).

Slack is one of Teams' rivals, as are Zoom and Facebook. In response to Slack's complaint, EU antitrust regulators are contacting said rivals to ask them specifics such as how many of their customers had left for Teams or Office, how much money those migrations cost them, and the overall impact of these elements in concert.

It's no secret that Microsoft is keen on integrating Teams into more and more PC users' lives. It routinely boasts about the quarter of a billion people that use its communications platform, and has even made it part of the core Windows 11 experience via the Chat app. But rivals of Microsoft argue that the tech giant is, in essence, making Teams too deeply nestled within the PC lifestyle for their products to have a fair shot.

Slack, in its complaint, highlighted that Teams comes preinstalled, is hard to uninstall, and that Microsoft hadn't provided key information so that rivals could work with Office and Teams instead of being cut out of the loop.

It's unclear what the end result of the antitrust regulators' efforts is beyond determining if Microsoft is creating an unfair situation for the competition. Verdicts, consequences, and responses from the involved parties remain to be seen.

What you need to know

• Slack announced a new option today that allows you to schedule messages within the app.
• Microsoft Teams lacks native functionality to schedule messages.
• Imitating Slack's new feature would help Microsoft Teams keep pace with its competitor.

Earlier today, Slack announced a new option that allows you to schedule messages (via The Verge). The feature lets people schedule messages in rooms, as direct messages, or in group threads. People will be able to schedule messages on the iOS, Android, and desktop versions of Slack.

With many people working remotely, schedules don't always line up. For example, our news editor, Rob Carnevale, and I work in different time zones. I usually sign off around 7 PM in England, and he stays on for several hours since he's based in the United States. Carnevale often leaves messages for "future Sean" with the intention of me seeing them when I sign on in the morning. This works fine for some cases but is an awkward workaround.

Being able to schedule messages for any time in the future opens up new possibilities. A person could schedule a reminder to be sent while they're away on vacation, or a boss could schedule a congratulatory message for when a major event wraps up.

At the moment, Microsoft Teams doesn't offer a native way to schedule messages. Almost 2,000 people have requested the functionality through UserVoice.

There is an app available for Microsoft Teams called "Send Later" that lets you schedule messages, but you'll likely need to pay for a plan for it to be useful. The free version only allows for 10 messages per month from two users.

What you need to know

• Slack is rolling out a new feature that lets you list your pronouns under your name and job title.
• Admins could create a custom field for this already, but the new option is rolling out to everyone.
• Many people have requested the same feature for Microsoft Teams.

Slack has a new pronouns field that allows you to list your pronouns below your name and job title. Your pronoun will appear on your mini-profile and your full profile, helping people know how to address you. The feature is rolling out now, so you might not see it just yet (via The Verge).

It was already possible to have a pronoun field in Slack if an administrator created one. Some people also include their pronouns in their name. If an administrator already created a pronoun field for a Slack channel, they can continue to use that field or switch to the new one that's rolling out to everyone. The new pronoun field is featured more prominently in people's profiles.

The new pronoun field in Slack is hidden by default, but it can easily be enabled. Slack has a guide on how to enable the pronoun field.

Slack rival Microsoft Teams may want to follow suit. Almost 3,000 people have voted for the same feature to roll out to Microsoft Teams through UserVoice. Now that the option to list pronouns is rolling out to Slack, people in the UserVoice forum have expressed frustration that it isn't available for Teams.

An admin from Microsoft responded to the UserVoice post, stating that Microsoft loves the idea and that it is under review.

Some other popular sites and apps have rolled out the option to add pronouns to profiles, including Instagram, OkCupid, and Lyft.

Updated March 24, 2021 at 2:35 pm ET: In response to concerns raised over potential for abuse, Slack has disabled the ability to customize the message inviting people to try the cross-org DM feature. In a statement to The Verge, Slack's vice president of communications and policy, Jonathan Prince, said the following:

What you need to know

• Slack now lets you send direct messages to anyone on the platform.
• The feature is intended to help people work across organizations.
• People seem to have already found flaws with the system.

Slack, the popular communication platform, recently gained the option to send direct messages (DMs) to anyone using the service. The feature is called Slack Connect DMs, and it is meant to help people work with partners or clients that are part of another company. The feature is available now, though options vary for for paid and free Slack customers. Paid users can initiate direct messages, but free users can only participate after someone else initiates. Both paid and free users will soon be able to initiate direct messages.

While the feature lets you message anyone across Slack, there are some limitations. First, IT departments have to allow the feature. Second, people have to accept an invite to start messaging through Slack.

These protections are in place to make sure that only those that want to chat with someone have to see messages. You, theoretically, shouldn't be able to be spammed with messages. You can, however, get harassed by message requests, at least according to Twitter user Menotti Minutillo.

According to Minutillo, if you send someone an invite to the message, the other person will see the contents of your invitation. That message can contain anything you'd like, including abusive language. As far as we can tell, you can't block these types of emails because they come from a generic Slack email address.

Hopefully, Slack plugs this hole in the system soon. The ability to connect with anyone across Slack could be extremely useful, but it's important that it works well.

What you need to know

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discusses big tech companies in a recent interview.
• One topic he touches on is Slack and how the open nature of Windows shaped Slack becoming popular.
• Slack and Microsoft have had a heated relationship over the last few years.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discusses big tech companies and the role of competition in an interview with Bloomberg Televisions' Emily Chang (via The Seattle Times). Among the many topics that Nadella discusses is Slack, the communication platform that's in a "don't call it a rivalry" rivalry with Microsoft Teams.

Slack has an interesting history with Microsoft. When Teams came out, Slack said they were "genuinely excited to have some competition." In March of last year, Slack's CEO said "Teams is not a competitor to Slack." A 10-Q filing from Slack from October 2019 states that Slack's "primary competitor is currently Microsoft Corporation."

Slack also accused Microsoft of anticompetitive practices in a complaint to the EU last July. Microsoft responded by stating, "Slack suffered from its absence of video-conferencing."

Despite all of this back and forth, the companies are tied together. Slack is available on Windows, and Nadella points out how the nature of Windows paved the way for Slack:

Nadella raises an interesting point. These days, walled gardens aren't that rare. Many operating systems have restrictions, and app stores are curated. While Microsoft does have an app store of its own, developers are still free to make apps and release them how they'd like.

As pointed out by our executive editor Daniel Rubino, Microsoft played a major role in computers becoming ubiquitous. Microsoft and Windows played a major roll in Slack being possible.

What you need to know

• Slack appears to be down right now.
• People from throughout Europe and in the United States have reported issues with the service.
• Downdetector saw a massive spike in reports starting at 10 am ET.

It's not just you experiencing issues with Slack. On the first day that many people have returned to work from the holidays, the messaging and communications platform appears to be down in several countries. According to Downdetector, people from throughout Europe and within the United States are experiencing issues. As with most outages, it's not clear at this time how widespread the issues are.

Downdetector shows a massive spike in issues with Slack, including sending messages and connecting to the service at 10 am ET. We use Slack to communicate at Windows Central, and we're experiencing issues as well, though that's not an indication of how widespread the issues are.

Slack shared on Twitter that it is aware of the issue and that it is investigating the cause of the problems.

This is a developing story, and we'll continue to add details as they become available.

What you need to know

• Salesforce has announced its aquisition of Slack for $27.7 billion.
• The two companies will integrate their services together to better address the demand for remote working and communication.
• The deal is expected to close in 2022 pending approval.

Workplace communication has been a major focus of the year, with companies left and right taking advantage of the fact that many employers cannot yet return to the office. Many have been pushing their business tools and productivity apps, while others have been focused on ways to expand their business to better accommodate for the new status quo. The latest expansion comes in the form of Salesforce, as it has announced its acquisition of Slack for a staggering $27.7 billion.

To give a little perspective, Slack went public last year for $19 billion before seeing its shares fall. But the offer from Salesforce, which provides a suite of sales and marketing software tools, highlights just how important it is to meet the new remote workplace demands. Together, the companies plan to combining their extensive app ecosystems to create a comprehensive platform that brings together all aspects of a company's existing workflow, as highlighted by Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff.

Move comes just as Amazon announced its own extended partnership with Zoom, which is poised to further take advantage of the growth in video communication. Google and Microsoft have also both seen their daily usage grow significantly this year with their respective communication' ness offerings. Interestingly, Slack has previously rejected takeover offers from each of them, even calling Microsoft a bully for bundling Teams within its own office products, making it "tough to compete".

Thanks to this new acquisition, it'll be much better equipped to compete with the big boys. Both Slack and Salesforce will benefit from this deal, as the former extends its enterprise footprint, and the latter will integrate Slack's communication tools into its own cloud offerings. It will likely replace Salesforce's own collaboration tool, "Chatter", which isn't exactly a hit.

The deal is expected to close around Salesforce's fiscal second-quarter of 2022, pending board and regulatory approval.

What you need to know

• Salesforce reportedly held talks to purchase communication platform Slack.
• The deal could potentially be worth tens of billions of dollars.
• Slack being purchased by Salesforce could help it compete more with Microsoft.

Cloud computing giant Salesforce is reportedly interested in purchasing Slack (via CNBC). A Dow Jones report states that Salesforce has been in talks with Slack and that a potential deal would "likely value Slack at more than its current market capitalization of $17 billion." The talks appear to be in early stages and are subject to change or fall through entirely.

Slack shares skyrocketed following reports of interest from Salesforce. Based on Slack's share value, the company is valued at roughly $20.8 billion. As noted by TechCrunch, Slack's share value has a tendency to fluctuate.

Salesforce has made some big purchases in recent years, including a $6.5 billion acquisition of MuleSoft in 2018 and a $15.3 billion purchase of Tableau in 2019. A potential purchase of Slack would likely be more than either of those past acquisitions by a sizeable margin.

The possibility of a move involving Slack and Salesforce could affect Microsoft significantly. Microsoft's cloud computing efforts compete with Salesforce. Microsoft Teams also goes head-to-head against Slack, even if the Slack CEO doesn't think so. There's so much overlap, in fact, that Microsoft was reportedly interested in purchasing both Salesforce and Slack at different times.

It's unclear at this what a potential acquisition would look like, but the combination of the Salesforce and Slack customer base would be sizeable. Salesforce and Slack both have strong footholds with enterprises. If Slack was acquired by Salesforce, it could put more weight behind the communication platform.

Neither Salesforce nor Slack have shared statements on the reports of a potential acquisition.

Google last week debuted a big revamp for G Suite, bringing a bunch of its work tools under one roof in Gmail. Billed as a "better home for work," the redesign was seen by some as an indication that Google is making a broader push to compete with Microsoft Teams and Slack. However, that may not be what's at the top of Google's mind.

Craig Roth, a research vice president, and analyst for Gartner, sees Google's transformation of G Suite as less about Teams and Slack and more about staking out the next territory. "I think that they are more forward-focused on trying to get to the next place and how people want to work and releasing a set of tools that looks more like that," Roth said. "And whether Slack or Microsoft is doing that or not, it may notice that a bit, but it's not directly an attack on them."

As for what that next territory is, Roth says it's all about breaking down silos between productivity applications. By nestling messaging, rooms, Meet, and project management tools inside of Gmail, Google is tearing down barriers between its products that might otherwise get in the way of work. This has the added benefit of cutting down on task switching, which can be a major disruptor for workflows, Roth says.

If that sounds a little bit like Microsoft Teams and its integrations with the Microsoft 365 suite, it's because Microsoft and Google are on similar tracks here. "Teams seems to be rising to be more of an umbrella above the components that they all describe how they connect into it," Roth said. "So whether it's a tab or some other form of integration, that seems to be a hub where you would go first, and then if you have to get at a document or project plan, or whatever it is, you can do it from there."

For its part, Google says it is concerned with the customer experience first, rather than Teams or Slack. "Product decisions are always driven first and foremost by customer needs," Google told Windows Central in a statement. "If as a result, the market sees us as a better alternative to other options, then that's a great outcome because it means we can help more people do their best work with G Suite."

David and Goliath(s)

One of the biggest differentiators for Microsoft and Google in this space is that they control an entire suite of productivity tools. Slack, by contrast, relies on a robust set of third-party integrations to flesh out its core communication features. One might think Google unifying its work suite would mean further pressure on Slack, but Roth disagrees.

"Slack has its constituency, especially with developers, engineers, project managers, and those people just love it," Roth said. "I think they're gonna continue to have that constituency going forward."

For now, Google doesn't seem interested in hoarding its productivity tools for its own suite either. In a statement to Windows Central, Google said: "None of the available integrations with [Microsoft] or Slack will be impacted by this update."

"Google is a great partner, and apps like Google Calendar and Google Drive are some of the most popular on the Slack platform," a Slack spokesperson said in a statement. "Organizations are using more software from more vendors than ever – we want to help companies get the most value out of all their software tools, not just the tools from any one vendor."

Microsoft declined to comment for this story.

The simmering battle

Even before Google's recent moves, tensions have been simmering between Microsoft and Slack since before Teams launched in 2017. It started in 2016, just before Microsoft formally announced Teams, with Slack buying a full-page ad in the New York Times welcoming Microsoft's competition with some "friendly advice." As Microsoft has gained momentum with Teams, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield said he doesn't see Microsoft's reach as a threat. He added in April that Teams is not a competitor to Slack.

However, things took a sharp turn this week when Slack filed a competition complaint in the EU against Microsoft. "Microsoft has illegally tied its Teams product into its market-dominant Office productivity suite, force installing it for millions, blocking its removal, and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers," said Slack in a press release announcing the filing.

Jonathan Prince, Slack's vice president of communications and policy, emphasized that he is confident Slack would "win on the merits" of its product, but that it "can't ignore illegal behavior that deprives customers of access to the tools and solutions they want."

Shortly after Slack filed its complaint, Microsoft fired back with a statement of its own. "With COVID-19, the market has embraced Teams in record numbers while Slack suffered from its absence of video-conferencing," a Microsoft spokesperson said.

It remains to be seen how the feud between Microsoft and Slack will play out, but Google may want to grab some popcorn and watch the show.

Update, July 22 (1:00 pm ET): Microsoft responded with a statement that points toward Slack's lack of video-conferencing as a reason Slack "suffered."

What you need to know

• Slack accused Microsoft of anticompetitive practices in an EU complaint.
• Slack alleges that Microsoft's market dominance was abused to eliminate competition for Microsoft Teams.
• Specifically, the complaint alleges that millions were forced to install Microsoft Teams without the ability to remove it.

Microsoft was accused of anticompetitive practices in an EU complaint by Slack according to a new report from CNBC. Slack alleges that Microsoft's market dominance was abused to eliminate competition for Microsoft Teams. Slack alleges that this was done by tying Microsoft Teams to the Office suite. Slack also claims that millions of people were forced to install Teams and didn't have the ability to remove it. The allegations are laid out in a new post from Slack.

A Microsoft spokesperson shared the following comment with us:

These allegations seem to indicate a change in stance by Slack, or create a dichotomy between statements from Slack's CEO and the company's recent allegations. Less than two months ago, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield said in an interview with CNBC, "What we've seen over the past couple of months is that Teams is not a competitor to Slack."

Stewart specifically addressed Microsoft tying Teams to what was then called Office 365 in 2019, stating "If it's based on the bigger distribution, I don't think that's really a threat." The bigger distritubtion in the quote rfeferring to Office 365, as reported by CNBC.

What you need to know

• Slack announced it is partnering with Amazon in a bid to appeal more to enterprise customers.
• The partnership will see Amazon's Chime infrastructure used for Slack calls, while Slack will also get AWS chatbot and Amazon AppFlow integration.
• The move is Slack's latest in challenging Microsoft Teams as the two companies fight for shares of the enterprise communication market.

Slack and Amazon announced a new partnership today that is meant to appeal more to enterprise customers. Through the partnership, Slack will take advantage of Amazon's Chime infrastructure for Slack calls, giving it a "high-quality" backbone for audio, video, and screen-sharing capabilities through Slack's integrated calling experience.

"The future of enterprise software will be driven by the combination of cloud services and workstream collaboration tools," said Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield in a press release. "Strategically partnering with AWS allows both companies to scale to meet demand and deliver enterprise-grade offerings to our customers. By integrating AWS services with Slack's channel-based messaging platform, we're helping teams easily and seamlessly manage their cloud infrastructure projects and launch cloud-based services without ever leaving Slack."

As part of the partnership, Slack will also get integration with AWS Chatbot and Amazon AppFlow. AWS ChatBot gives teams an "interactive agent" that can help them more easily collaborate and stay updated with alerts for specific events, workflows, and security findings. Amazon plans to have more than 175 services available through AWS Chatbot.

Amazon AppFlow integration will allow Slack users to more easily transfer information between Slack and AWS services like Amazon Simple Storage Service and Amazon Redshift.

The move comes as Slack and Microsoft Teams have been fighting for pieces of the enterprise communication market. Since launching in 2017, Microsoft Teams has surged to 75 million daily active users, helped in part by the recent overwhelming shift to work-from-home setups at companies around the globe.

Slack's partnership with Amazon shows that the company is serious about challenging Microsoft Teams among enterprises. With Amazon services, the company gains access to a proven backbone for calling and additional useful features for enterprise customers. That's likely to boost momentum for the company, as it just reported a revenue boost of 50 percent in its latest earnings report.

If you use the Slack app on Windows 10 to work from home or the office, you also probably upload and share files in the chat or any of the available channels as part of the collaboration process with colleagues.

Slack makes it easy to delete files, in case that you shared the wrong document, or when the file is no longer needed. But if someone in the organization is controlling the settings, you may have limited options to delete files, and this is when knowing the different ways to remove files from the service can come in handy.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through two methods to delete files uploaded to Slack.

How to delete files shared on Slack

You can delete files uploaded to the service from the message or files section if you use Slack.

Delete files from a message

To delete files uploaded to Slack, use these steps:

1. Open Slack.
2. Click on the chat or channel with the file.
3. Hover over the image and click the More actions (three-dotted) button from the top-right corner.Quick tip: If you want to delete the image and message, click the "More actions" button on the message, not on the image.

4. Click the Delete file button.

5. Click the Yes, delete this file button.

Once you complete the steps, the file and message will be deleted from the Slack chat or channel.

Delete files from storage

If the option to delete files from a message is missing, then you can remove it from the services storage.

To delete files uploaded to Slack from the Files section, use these steps:

1. Open Slack.
2. Click on Files from the left pane.
3. Search for the file.Quick tip: If you don't remember the name, click the Filter option from top-right and use the settings to find the file.
4. Click the name of the file to view its information.

5. Click the More actions (three-dotted) button from top-right corner.
6. Click the Delete file option.

7. Click the Yes, delete this file button.

After you complete the steps, the file will be deleted from the Slack workspace.

If you want to delete a file posted by somebody else, then you'll need to contact the workspace administrator and ask them to delete the file for you.

What you need to know

• Avatarify allows you to create living avatars that mimic your actions.
• You can use the avatars in video calls, such as on Skype or Zoom.
• Its developers just released a video explaining how to install and calibrate Avatarify.

An incredible tool called Avatarify popped up on social media today. It allows you to convert images into moveable avatars of your face that you can use in video calls. The program integrates your facial movements into the image, making it appear as if the image comes to life. In the program's tutorial video, you can see one of its developers, Ali Aliev, convert Einstein, the Mona Lisa, and other images into living avatars.

Avatarify launched on April 12, 2020, but a tutorial for Windows installation came out today, making it accessible to many more users. Avatarify allows you to calibrate images to fit your facial movements better. For example, if the source image is smiling, you can smile, calibrate the image, then make a straight face. Doing this makes the image have a straight face as well. You can use the same process to line your head up with images that are at an angle, such as the Mona Lisa.

The how-to video goes into great detail to make sure you can install the program on your PC, assuming your setup meets the minimum requirements. If you just want to see the program in action, jump to around the 9:45 mark. That's the point Aliev is using Einstein as an avatar, followed by calibrating the setup for the Mona Lisa.

To use Avatarify, you need to have a PC that meets the program's minimum requirements. Its Github page says you can hit 33FPS with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080Ti, 15FPS with an NVIDIA GTX 1070, and only 1FPS with a 2018 MacBook Pro without a GPU. That last entry helps illustrate the main point that you need a CUDA-enabled (NVIDIA) video card, or else it will use your PC's processor and run slowly.

The GitHub page has sections walking you through using Avatarify on Skype, Zoom, and Slack, though you could potentially use it on other programs as well.

What you need to know

• Slack just launched support for launching calls to Microsoft Teams directly within Slack.
• Slack also added the ability to call phone numbers within Slack through supported VOIP services.
• The additions make it easier to connect with people on different platforms.

Slack just announced that starting today, people can launch calls to Microsoft Teams directly within Slack. In addition to the ability to launch calls to Microsoft Teams, Slack announced additional VOIP phone integrations that allow people to use VOIP calling providers to make phone calls to phone numbers directly within Slack. VOIP phone integration works with Zoom, Cisco Jabber, RingCentral, and Dialpad.

The addition of Microsoft Teams support is quite interesting. Microsoft Teams is a direct competitor to Slack, but this move allows people on the platforms to work together. However, Slack working with other services is not new. Slack has over 2,000 applications and works with several popular services. It's worth noting that the integration with Microsoft Teams allows people to launch calls to Teams within Slack, but not participate with the call directly within Slack.

Brian Elliott, VP & General Manager of Slack Platform, shared thoughts on the features:

Slack's CEO Stewart Butterfield said Slack was working on Microsoft Teams support last week. Now, the feature is available and comes alongside support for VOIP calls to phones through supported services. You can get the Microsoft Teams app for Slack on Slack's website

What you need to know

• Slack is working on Microsoft Teams integrations for calling.
• Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield confirmed the features are in the works in a recent interview.
• The features could give Slack users a way to access cross-app calling with Teams users.

Slack and Microsoft Teams may be competitors in the work collaboration space, but they could be about to get a lot closer. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield said that the company is working on integrating Teams calling features in a call with RBC analyst Alex Zukin, CNBC reports.

"We're working on Teams integrations for calling features," Butterfield said. Presumably, the features Butterfield alludes to would allow Slack and Teams users to call one another across apps. It's a sign that, even as the companies compete for the business from companies around the world, Slack is open to facilitating communication regardless of platform.

As more people have begun working from home in recent weeks, Butterfield reported that Slack broke a record this week with 12.5 million concurrent users. Microsoft Teams has also seen a surge to 44 million daily users as more companies accelerate the move to digital communications.

There's no indication of when the integrations might roll out to Slack users.

We've reached out to Slack and Microsoft with requests for comment.

Microsoft Teams sees significant growth — but Slack isn't going anywhere

What you need to know

• Slack has unsurprisingly broken its user record.
• It reached 12.5 million concurrent users on March 25.
• The move comes as millions of workers take to working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.

Slack saw its concurrent user figure reach 12.5 million yesterday, breaking its record as millions turn to working from home.

As reported by The Verge:

As the report notes, Microsoft Teams has also seen a huge increase in demand, recording 44 million daily active users earlier in March.

Slack also recently overhauled its design with a brand new UI described by its VP as "the largest redesign in Slack's history." Recently, Slack was rolled out to all 330,000 of IBM's employees, IBM is Slack's biggest customer.

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic has forced may employers and employees to turn to remote working. Some employers adapted the measures early out of caution, however in many parts of the world, all but "essential" workers now find themselves housebound. It emerged yesterday that the shift is also driving demand for hardware, including Apple's latest products based on its new scissor mechanism keyboard, notably the recently announced iPad Pro and the new MacBook Air.

What you need to know

• Slack has a major UI redesign rolling out to users on the web and the desktop apps.
• The new design has cleaned up menus, settings, and more, while also adding some new features, such as sidebar sections to group together channels, DMs, and apps.
• There is also a new mobile app redesign in the works, but there is no word on when it will be released.

Due to the recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus, people all over the world are being asked to work from home. As a result, many are adjusting to a new work environment and tools to make collaborating with others easier outside of the office. What could be a better time to launch a new and improved design for one of the best workplace communication apps?

Slack is used by millions worldwide by major corporations to help them work together and stay productive. However, it has drawn some criticism over features being hard to find and an overall clunky interface. Fortunately, the main focus of the update was simplifying the layout and making it easier to use. Speaking on the update, vice president of design Ethan Eismann said, "the design of Slack was more complicated than we really felt like it should be."

The sidebar is where some of the most significant changes were made—starting with sidebar sections, which allows you to drag and drop messages, channels, and apps into collapsible groups to better organize your workspace when working on a project. The only downside is that this new feature is not available for free Slack users, only those who use a paid plan.

The next biggest change you're likely to notice is the new large compose button in the sidebar. Using this button, you'll be able to quickly start drafting a message for a DM or specific Slack channel from anywhere in Slack. Before you press send, it will even load the corresponding message history within the draft view.

Speaking of sending a DM, Slack is now making it easier to find who you want to message with a new section at the top titled "People." There is also a section dedicated to mentions and reactions, making it easier to keep up with all the interactions from your team involving you. Previously, these were all tucked away in the UI, but now, you can access them more quickly and keep up with everything more easily.

Navigation should also be significantly improved since the app has cleaned up most of the menus, preferences, and added more space to make it feel less cluttered. The top bar has also gotten a refresh, adding shortcuts to switch between channels and DMs with support for keyboard shortcuts. There is even a new larger search bar.

The changes will begin rolling out today on the desktop and web versions of Slack. It will begin with new users and show up for everyone else in the coming weeks.

While speaking to The Verge, it was also confirmed that a new mobile version of the app is in the works. It will include buttons for home, DMs, and mentions at the bottom to improve navigation in the app. However, there is not yet a timetable on when we might see it launch, only that it will be within the coming weeks.

Top 7 working from home hacks to get more done

Microsoft Teams saw major growth throughout 2019. The service, which initially launched at the tail end of 2016, reached 20 million daily active users (DAU) in November, according to Microsoft, standing above the 12 million daily active users its chief rival in the team communication space, Slack, claimed in October. That fact has stirred up lots of discussion about Teams' future trajectory and what it means for Slack.

The narrative that has developed around Slack and Teams isn't as simple as it appears at first glance, however. Microsoft is certainly poised to see some explosive growth in the coming months. Ultimately, though, there's room for both apps to co-exist.

20 million DAU is a drop in the bucket

While Teams' 20 million daily active user metric is impressive, it's just a small sampling of its potential for growth. Teams is linked to Office 365, which gives the service a base of more than 200 million potential users to draw upon, says Hunter Willis, product marketing manager for AvePoint, a company that helps others make the transition to Office 365. The barrier right now, Willis says, is the deliberately slow pace at which IT departments are rolling out access to Teams as they make sure proper management and governance plans are in place.

"Adoption rates are still relatively slow for the platform right now, however, I think that as larger Microsoft companies become more confident about their deployments and start rolling out the solution, we'll start to see adoption rates skyrocket," Willis says. "I suspect this will be visible in the next 6 to 18 months, and with Slack and Microsoft going back and forth – as they have been – I imagine that this process will be very visible."

Larry Cannell, a research director covering enterprise collaboration for Gartner, agrees. "Teams has the potential to grow as large as Office 365 will allow it," says. Teams' biggest barrier to growth, according to Cannell, will be user adoption. Specifically, the challenge lies in whether Microsoft can get people to use it for more than just the occasional message or conference.

Where we're likely to see a spike in growth is with the transition of Skype for Business users over to Teams. Microsoft is already encouraging the transition for current Skype for Business users, and Skype for Business Online will retire in 2021 in favor of Teams.

"By replacing Skype for Business Online with Teams, Microsoft can justify everyone having the app loaded on their desktop and phone," Cannell says. "This is also an example of how Teams and Slack are not quite the same product."

Battle for the workplace

Microsoft Teams' momentum hasn't gone unnoticed by Slack, and the company has been very vocal about how it views Teams as a competitor. Earlier in 2019, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield was very clear that he doesn't see Microsoft Teams as a threat. However, that hasn't kept the perception of a duel for the workplace from entering the narrative among the tech press.

In Slack's most recent earnings call, Butterfield admitted that he expects Microsoft Teams's DAU count to hit "50 million in the next six months and then 100 million within the next year," unless Microsoft hits a roadblock of some sort. Butterfield chalked that up to Skype for Business users being "force-migrated to Teams," though he also tempered concerns by drawing a distinction between Teams and Slack.

"Although Microsoft markets Teams as a Slack competitor — and there's no doubt this causes confusion in the marketplace — in practice, these are different tools used for different purposes and our customers achieve markedly different results," Butterfield said during the earnings call.

"Slack can bring together apps, people, and information all in one place so that people can do their best work by having that single source of truth," a Slack spokesperson told us when asked to expand on how it sees Slack and Teams as serving different purposes. "The vast majority of Teams DAUs are just using it as a replacement for Skype for Business (i.e. conference calls and instant messaging) because they were forced to transition from Skype to Teams."

Though both are generally seen as workplace communication tools, there may be some merit to Slack's claims. Its ease of setup, in particular, could make it more attractive to organizations that are just getting started with these sorts of communication tools. "Slack is still a great app that is easy to use and is easier to get started with," Willis told us. "[Its] look and feel have been expertly tailored, and I have heard feedback that users prefer the way it feels to Teams."

Another major factor that will continue to drive Teams growth, Willis says, is the work Microsoft has done on ensuring integrations and data management tools are in place for larger organizations. "Teams takes the lead due to its improved organization of chat information and the ease and number of integrations with other services, many of which users are already familiar with (Exchange, One Drive, SharePoint, Office)," Willis says. "Large organizations prefer Teams because of the level of controls and data management that comes with it."

Willis admits that Slack has made great strides in improving its security and bot integration capabilities. However, he still sees Teams as the clear winner in this department, at least for now.

"In order to use Slack as an integrated tool, you have to maintain any connected apps that bring the capabilities desired by the appropriate users," Willis says. "This aspect of using the platform for collaboration can quickly become a huge burden on organizations that have security and compliance requirements."

This is something Microsoft clearly sees as an advantage as well. "Customers have chosen Teams because it provides a single hub for everything teams need — chat, video conferencing and calling, their Office files, the apps they use every day, and industry-leading security and compliance capabilities which today's modern enterprises require," a Microsoft spokesperson told us, without addressing Slack's claims directly.

To be continued

If one thing is clear, it's that we'll see Teams hit other major milestones in the coming months and years. Along with 20 million DAUs, Microsoft says it counts 30 million weekly active users, and 500,000 organizations across 181 markets and 53 languages already using Teams in some capacity. The cloud that will remain over that growth, however, is something Slack has been quick to latch onto: engagement.

Slack says its engagement metrics are much higher than Teams. Following its most recent earnings, Slack also noted that more than 70 percent of its customers are also Office 365 users. That's on top of a quarter that saw Slack beat analyst expectations, reporting revenue growth of 60 percent to $168.7 million.

As Teams and Slack continue to grow, it will be interesting to see how the two compete for enterprise adoption. However, in the end, it's unlikely we're going to see any sort of winner-take-all situation here.

"Slack has a strong, passionate user community as well as a large ecosystem of Slack apps to draw on," Cannell told us. And he says ultimately the end-users will have a significant say in which product is used most often.

What you need to know

• Slack highlights engagement numbers and weekly actions in recent statements.
• Slack states that over 5 billion weekly actions occur on the platform.
• Slack competes with Microsoft Teams that recently hit 20 million daily active users.

Yesterday, Microsoft shared that Microsoft Teams has 20 million daily active users. Now, rival Slack points towards usage rate figures in statements to Thurrott.com.

Slack told Paul Thurrott, "As we've said before, you can't transform a workplace if people aren't actually using your product." They also added that "Slack continues to see unmatched engagement on our platform with 5+ billion weekly actions, including 1+ billion mobile actions. Among our paid customers, users spend more than 9 hours per workday connected to our service, including spending about 90 minutes per workday actively using Slack." Slack's emphasis on weekly actions and usage rate indicate that Slack's focus is people using a service heavily rather than the total number of users.

Thurrot points out that Microsoft Teams had 27 million voice or video meetings in the last month and 220 million open, edit, or download actions on files stored in Microsoft Teams last month. These figures indicate a low engagement rate, including about one monthly voice or video call per daily active user.

It's difficult to measure these services against each other without complete data to compare. At least for now, it seems that each company will focus on areas that show success and growth. The categories that Microsoft and Slack focus on likely won't line up as each company wants to focus on areas that they're leading.

What you need to know

• Slack has a new dark mode that's available on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• Slack also added new themes that go along with dark mode.
• Slack's mobile apps already support dark mode.

Slack has joined the dark side by bringing a brand new dark mode to its communication app. The new dark mode is available now on Windows, Mac, and Linux. To go along with the dark mode, Slack also added several themes. The new dark mode is available now and can be turned on and off through preferences.

Dark mode for apps and operating systems continues to grow in popularity. In addition to looking nice and providing users more options, dark mode is also helpful in low light environments and for users with visual impairments or visual disorders.

Dark mode is already available on Slack's mobile app, but you can elect to have your dark mode settings separate for the desktop and mobile versions of the app. In the future, Slack will support syncing with operating system's dark/light mode settings.

While Slack states that the update is available now, it has not shown up on our systems yet. There's a good chance that the new dark mode will roll out throughout the day.

What you need to know

• Slack DMs and starred channels are missing from the sidebar for some users today.
• Slack has acknowledged the issue and is working on a fix.
• It appears you can still access missing conversations via the search bar.

If you've noticed your Slack DMs and starred channels have gone missing from the sidebar today, you're not alone. Slack has acknowledged the issue and is working on a fix for affected users. For now, it appears conversations remain accessible through the search UI.

From Slack's status page:

As of 3:24 p.m. ET, Slack said that it still hadn't gotten to the bottom of the issue, but it is actively working on a fix.

We'll update this post with more details as they become available.

What you need to know

• Slack unveiled a fresh suite of enterprise security tools today.
• New capabilities like secondary authentication, domain whitelisting, and default browser control are all planned.
• Some features are available immediately, while others are planned to roll out by the end of the year.

Slack is beefing up its enterprise security bona fides today with a slate of new tools headed to organizations. The new features are largely focused on giving IT administrators the ability to control what devices and how many can access data from the organizations they work for. Employees will also get access to secondary authentication methods on their devices.

Starting today, employees will be able to use Face ID and Touch ID as a secondary form of authentication, and administrators can require this. IT administrators can also now take advantage of domain whitelisting to control which workspaces are allowed to be accessed on a corporate network. Finally, administrators can also now block message copying and file downloads on mobile devices.

In the "coming weeks," Slack says administrators will get access to the option to remotely wipe mobile and desktop sessions for specific users. This is meant to ease the risk of sensitive data getting into the wrong hands if a device is lost or stolen.

Here's a look at what's on tap for the rest of the year:

• Default browser control - Admins can require all links from Slack to open in Blackberry or other browsers managed within a MAM container.
• Jailbroken device detection - Admins can detect if a device is jailbroken and block access if so.
• Force app upgrade - Admins can ensure employees are using the latest version of the Slack app so they can access new features and security updates.

Finally, the ability to block file downloads on desktop is expected to arrive early in 2020.

Portable (and affordable) power accessories we love

Each and every one of these charging gadgets will keep your favorite gear and gadgets going for longer, and none of them costs more than $30.

VisionTek 8,000 mAh micro-USB power bank ($13 at Dell)

This compact dual-output powerbank can speedily recharge any and all your devices, thanks to a two-amp "fast charge feature," using its micro-USB out port. Its simple design includes an LED indicator, and it costs about as much as a single ticket to the movies.

Panasonic eneloop AA batteries (From $13 at Dell)

Panasonic's rechargeable batteries are among the best available, and just a couple of them will keep your favorite remote, mice or other peripherals powered up when you need them. They're also eco. And the company's affordable charger fits and charges both AA and AAA batteries at the same time.

Belkin Qi Wireless Charging Pad ($30 at Dell)

This unobtrusive Qi wireless charging pad looks good (and kind of like a UFO …) and easily charges all your Qi-compatible device up to 5W. Its LED indicator lights up when you're charging. And it costs just $30.

What you need to know

• Slack's next desktop update is focused purely on speed and making the app less frustrating to use with a spotty connection.
• The update makes Slack load up to 33 percent faster, cuts its memory usage in half, and will allow you to look over previously viewed conversations even when disconnected from the internet.
• Look for this update to start rolling out across desktop PCs "over the next few weeks."

Your Slack experience on desktop PCs is about to get a whole lot snappier. The company announced today that its next update, rolling out gradually "over the coming weeks," brings several speed improvements to the app, cuts its memory usage in half, and makes working with a spotty internet connection much less frustrating.

The biggest speed improvements come in the form of a faster startup experience and quicker call connections. Slack says that the update will make the desktop app load up to 33 percent faster while making calls connect ten times faster. In addition, Slack will use up to 50 percent less memory than it did prior to the update. The overall result should be a more responsive Slack experience on desktop PCs if Slack's figures translate as expected.

The final major tweak coming in this update is the ability to still view channels and conversations that you've previously viewed, even when your connection drops out. "Gone are the connection error messages that bring work to a standstill," Slack says in a blog post announcing the changes. "Instead, you'll be able to look back on messages from your session, even if your signal drops in and out."

There are a few more notable improvements tagging along in this update as well. Here's a look at the full release notes:

• Limited offline support — set your status, star items, and react to messages when you don't have an internet connection
• Less memory usage, better performance
• Faster loading times
• Improved Slack calls
• Click the new paperclip icon in the message field to add attachments
• A redesigned autocomplete menu for @mentions and slash commands
• No more loading messages – Slack loads too quickly for them to be readable
• Unread message activity displays as a dot on the top-right of your workspace icon
• Member profiles have a bigger profile image and include the option to message or call the individual
• Drafts sync across Enterprise Grid workspaces

This speedy update comes after Slacks biggest competitor, Microsoft Teams, announced that it now has 13 million daily active users, surpassing the last official figure from Slack. Though Teams is dialing up the heat, Slack remains an incredibly popular tool for businesses and Slack's CEO, Stewart Butterfield, says that he doesn't see Teams as a threat.

This update will roll out gradually in the coming weeks to all desktop Slack users, so you may not see it right away.

Portable (and affordable) power accessories we love

Each and every one of these charging gadgets will keep your favorite gear and gadgets going for longer, and none of them costs more than $30.

VisionTek 8,000 mAh micro-USB power bank ($13 at Dell)

This compact dual-output powerbank can speedily recharge any and all your devices, thanks to a two-amp "fast charge feature," using its micro-USB out port. Its simple design includes an LED indicator, and it costs about as much as a single ticket to the movies.

Panasonic eneloop AA batteries (From $13 at Dell)

Panasonic's rechargeable batteries are among the best available, and just a couple of them will keep your favorite remote, mice or other peripherals powered up when you need them. They're also eco. And the company's affordable charger fits and charges both AA and AAA batteries at the same time.

Belkin Qi Wireless Charging Pad ($30 at Dell)

This unobtrusive Qi wireless charging pad looks good (and kind of like a UFO …) and easily charges all your Qi-compatible device up to 5W. Its LED indicator lights up when you're charging. And it costs just $30.

What you need to know

• Slack's CEO said that he doesn't view Microsoft Teams as a threat.
• The CEO compared Microsoft Teams vs. Slack to Bing vs. Google.
• Microsoft Teams recently surpassed Slack in terms of the number of daily active users.

Slack's CEO, Stewart Butterfield, said that he doesn't view Microsoft Teams as a threat "if it's based on the bigger distribution." Butterfield spoke at length in an interview at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference (via CNBC). In the interview, he spoke at length on Slack, its progress, and its priorities as a company. At the 17:05 mark, the interviewer turned the interview towards Slack's biggest competitor, Microsoft Teams.

Butterfield goes through some history regarding large companies trying to compete with smaller companies that had a specific focus. He points out that Microsoft tried to compete with Google using Bing and invested tens of billions of dollars but is at a 9 percent market share (8.6 according to NetMarketShare). He also draws a parrallel to Google trying to push Google+ to compete with Facebook. He states that the lesson they've learned is that "A smaller company, if it has real traction with customers in some cases has a bit of an advantage against a larger company with multiple lines of business."

He later added that "If it's based on the bigger distribution, I don't think that's really a threat."

While Stewart points out two examples with Google+ and Bing, they aren't direct parallels to Microsoft Teams. Bing never approached the same market share that Google had, and Google+ always lagged behind Facebook in terms of engagement. Microsoft Teams has already surpassed Slack in terms of daily active users. Microsoft Teams launched in March 2017.

Stewart points out in the interview that the larger you get as a company, the harder it is to focus on the quality of a service and user experience, adding "So if the competition was based on the quality of user experience, and that's where all the effort is, that would probably be more daunting for us."

He also states in the interview that Microsoft is an incredible company and a good partner to work with. Slack recently announced integrations with Office 365 so it seems the companies have an understanding and a mutual interest.

Portable (and affordable) power accessories we love

Each and every one of these charging gadgets will keep your favorite gear and gadgets going for longer, and none of them costs more than $30.

VisionTek 8,000 mAh micro-USB power bank ($13 at Dell)

This compact dual-output powerbank can speedily recharge any and all your devices, thanks to a two-amp "fast charge feature," using its micro-USB out port. Its simple design includes an LED indicator, and it costs about as much as a single ticket to the movies.

Panasonic eneloop AA batteries (From $13 at Dell)

Panasonic's rechargeable batteries are among the best available, and just a couple of them will keep your favorite remote, mice or other peripherals powered up when you need them. They're also eco. And the company's affordable charger fits and charges both AA and AAA batteries at the same time.

Belkin Qi Wireless Charging Pad ($30 at Dell)

This unobtrusive Qi wireless charging pad looks good (and kind of like a UFO …) and easily charges all your Qi-compatible device up to 5W. Its LED indicator lights up when you're charging. And it costs just $30.

It's time to say goodbye to the Slack app for Windows Phone. As of its most recent update, Slack has confirmed that it will no longer ship updates for Microsoft's slowly withering mobile platform.

In an update shipped out last week, Slack began alerting users to the change, stating (via Windows Latest):

Slack for Windows Phone never left beta – it still carries the tag on the Microsoft Store – but the app was fairly active with bug fix updates over its lifetime. However, given the status of Microsoft's mobile efforts, it's not surprising to see Slack leaving the app to rot on the vine. A number of other high-profile apps have taken the same track in recent months.

As for the future, the Slack app will continue to be available on the Microsoft Store, it just won't receive any more bug fixes or improvements. Should nothing break, the app will continue to work as it currently does. However, any major change on Slack's end – or Microsoft's– could break the app at any time.

See at Microsoft Store

Slack is making it easier for companies to share secrets with new capabilities for its shared channels. The company has announced the rollout of private shared channels, which let you add some privacy to what was previously a public-only feature.

Originally launched in late 2017, shared channels allow two different organizations to work with one another in, well, a shared Slack channel. While standard shared channels are public, however, sometimes companies may want to keep some projects confidential, which is where private shared channels come in.

The new feature allows administrators to limit a shared channel to only invited participants. From Slack:

Shared channels are still in the process of being beta tested, so the new privacy features are in beta as well. However, paid team on Standard and Plus plans can try out the features as they wish. Administrators will also get access to a new "Manage shared channels" menu in their workspace, which acts as a single spot to do things like creating shared channels, viewing which channels are shared with each workspace, and more.

Slack already supports screen sharing in calls, but now it's adding a dose of interactivity to the mix. Rolling out to Slack's desktop apps today, interactive screen sharing will allow other people on a call to collaborate on whatever is being shared to make their own edits or highlight areas of interest.

The feature is essentially geared toward breaking down the barrier created by distance, enabling people to work on a project as if they were in the same room. While sharing a screen in a call, you can now hit the "share control of your screen" button to let others participate. Each member of the call will get their own cursor "along with the ability to type, edit, scroll, and click through the contents of the shared screen," Slack says. When you're not sharing control, members of the call can highlight areas of interest by temporarily drawing on the screen.

Slack says it has already seen companies take advantage of interactive screen sharing for things from IT troubleshooting and programming to collaborating on fielding customer tickets. We're sure to see more uses crop up as the feature rolls out to everyone.

According to Slack, interactive screen sharing is available to paid plan users on the latest versions of its Windows desktop and Mac apps.

The Slack app for Windows PC has netted a new trick and several tweaks with its latest update. Most notable in Slack version 2.7.0 is the ability to now pause and resume file downloads at will. There are also quite a few bug fixes and other tweaks to check out as well.

Here's a look at what's new and fixed in Slack version 2.7.0:

• File downloads are now pausable and – in perhaps a master stroke of matchmaking – resumable too.
• A bevy of changes to make the app more keyboard navigable.
• We've adjusted the app icon, but just a skosh. Putting our best foot forward.
• Should the worst happen and the app fail to load, you'll see a less dreadful error page and perhaps even a code you can share.
• On Windows 7, notifications have been made more reliable, at the expense of a preference: you'll no longer be able to customize their position on-screen.
• On Windows 10, we've negotiated a truce between notifications and your antivirus. This will keep notifications appearing in a timely manner. They'll play whatever sound you've told them to play more reliably, too.
• The team sidebar is no longer touch-challenged. Tap, flick, and drag teams to your heart's content. Cancelling a running download is 38% less crashy. For when you decide you didn't need that third gif after all.
• We spliced some wires we shouldn't have, causing a loading screen to flash briefly after signing into a team. Now it's as it should be.
• Those little white dots in the team sidebar that let you know when you have messages to read? They're no longer obscured when the app is maximized.

It's not the most groundbreaking update in the world from a new feature standpoint, but it's still solid nonetheless. To check out all of what's new, you can grab the update on both the desktop and Windows Store versions of the PC app.

• Download Slack from the Windows Store
• Download Slack for desktop

Status messages are coming to Slack, making it easier to keep your teammates abreast of what you're up to at a glance. If you spent a lot of time with chat apps of ages gone by like MSN Messenger, then Slack's implementation should look fairly familiar.

With status, you can choose from a set of five default messages to cover common situations like being out sick or getting lunch. If you need to opt for something a little more complicated than the defaults, you can set a custom status of up to 100 characters. Once set, your Status will be displayed unobtrusively by an emoji next to your name. Hovering over the emoji will show your text status. And yes, custom statuses let you set a custom emoji to appear next to your name.

What's potentially even cooler is that Status can interact with third-party apps, letting them set your status for you. One example Slack gives is Zenefits, which can sync your status with their Time Off Tracking system.

Slack says that its custom status feature will be rolling out over the next few days to its desktop and mobile apps. Once available for your team, you can set a custom status by clicking on your name in the sidebar and selecting "Set a status."

Slack for Windows 10 has snagged a new update that, while it doesn't contain any single standout feature, offers some nice improvements when taken together. Included are things like an improved spellcheck for 3 languages, and text pasting tweaks. On a more technical side of things, the app is also now a little less bloated thanks to some memory improvements.

Here's a look at all of what's new and fixed in version 2.5.1.0:

• The way we load teams you don't view often has been changed to reduce the app's carbon* footprint. (*memory. When we say carbon, we mean memory. Let's pretend it's a comment on climate change things, shall we?)
• Folks consistently unable to load the app will now be greeted by a troubleshooting page that offers suggestions on making their situation better. (Spoiler: it's usually to do with over-zealous antivirus software).
• Those pasting text with style into a Post then finding their text to have "no style" can now Paste & Match Style under the Edit menu.
• You can see our Help Center documentation in – of all places – the Help menu. The almost over-intuitively named Open Help Center item will be your friend.
• Spellcheck support for three (세!) additional languages; writers of Korean, Portugese (Brazilian), and Albanian type a little easier.
• Fixed: Waking Slack after hibernation or a system crash occasionally found all your teams missing. Thank you for your patience, and sorry for the inconvenience; it no longer should.
• Fixed: A rare bug where team icons shuffled out of formation in the sidebar. They're more stoic and sticky and as a bonus, rearranging them is smoother.
• Fixed: On Windows, a handful of zoom-based glitches: borders inappropriately sized, taskbars jumping around. All of that? Smoothed. Fixed: Customers typing in languages that use IME composition (Korean, for example) will find that the message input is 82% stickier.

As you might recall, the Slack desktop app was only just recently added to the Windows Store, so it's now up for grabs in 2 different places. If you prefer to manage things through the Windows Store, you can grab it there now. Otherwise, the app is also up for grabs through Slack's website as well.

• Download Slack from the Windows Store
• Download Slack for desktop

Slack has announced it is stepping things up with a highly requested feature: threaded messaging. Set to roll out to the team collaboration app over the coming days, threaded messaging will let you quickly and easily branch a conversation that may not involve everyone in a channel off into its own thread.

Overall, it looks like Slack's threaded messaging will be fairly easy to use. If someone says something that you want to follow up on, you can simply hover over the message and click the "Start a thread" icon. From there, a sidebar will pop up where you can quickly add a reply. Messages that have already been split into threads will also show thumbnails of the people participating along with the number of replies. All you have to do is click to join in. And if you need to keep track of all of the threads you're participating in, there will be a new "All Threads" option right under "All Unreads" in the sidebar.

In adding threaded messaging, Slack has caught up with at least one big area where Microsoft Teams had it beat on launch. The feature could be incredibly handy for quickly breaking out into discussions that may not concern everyone in a channel without resorting to private DMs. If you're eager to check out threaded messages, Slack says the feature will start rolling out to its desktop and mobile apps over the next few days.

• Download Slack (Desktop) from the Windows Store
• Download Slack Beta (Mobile) from the Windows Store

The desktop version of Slack's collaborative work chat app of the same name is now available to download from the Windows Store (via MSPU). If you prefer using the Windows Store to manage your apps, this is sure to be good news as you can grab the app without hitting up Slack's website and rely on the Windows Store for updates from here on out.

The app looks to be a straight conversion of the desktop app that's already available, and thus shouldn't hold any surprises from a feature standpoint. The only major difference is you can manage the app through the Windows Store. Here's a recap of what to expect from Slack:

• Communicate with your team and organize your conversations by topics, projects, or anything else that matters to your work
• Message or call any person or group within your team
• Share and edit documents and collaborate with the right people all in Slack
• Integrate into your workflow, the tools and services you already use including Google Drive, Salesforce, Dropbox, Asana, Twitter, Zendesk, and more
• Easily search a central knowledge base that automatically indexes and archives your team's past conversations and files
• Customize your notifications so you stay focused on what matters

If you already use Slack's desktop app and want to switch to the Windows Store version, you can grab it now. Keep in mind that this is a completely separate listing from the Mobile Slack app, which is currently on the Windows Store in beta.

Download Slack (Desktop) from the Windows Store

Slack has kept up its promise that video calls would eventually make their way to the service. Following the launch of voice calls earlier in 2016, the team communication app has now added video calling to the mix.

To get started with video calls, you initiate a call as normal by clicking the phone button in the Slack app. From there, click the camera icon from in the call to turn on your video. In a slight one-up over Hangouts and the like, Slack's video calls will also let you use emoji to react to whatever is being said without interrupting. Options like thumbs-up and a raised hand will hang over your video for a short period to show your response to others.

Video calling is rolling out to users on the Windows and Mac apps, as well as on Chrome over the next few days. The feature also brings Slack closer in competition to Microsoft Teams, which launched in early November as a rival to Slack with video calling already included.

Download Slack for Windows

A new version of the Slack beta app for Windows Phone is here, and it packs a number of bug fixes that should smooth things over. While there aren't really any new features to speak of, the update does patch up a number of annoying and unintended behaviors that just make the experience of actually using the app better overall.

Here's a look at what's new in Slack beta version 2016.1212.0.0 for Windows Phone:

• Attachments having dates sometimes led to the app crashing. We were being too sensitive. Attachments can have dates. We accept that now.
• Sometimes the key Slack feature of simply mentioning users could lead to the app crashing - no more, thank jiggins.
• While we like tapping, we don't like tapping twice. If you want to send a direct message from someone's profile it now only takes one tap. Tada!
• Creating new channels without internet connection is still not possible, but at least we now let you know that.
• Users with owner rights didn't always get the VIP treatment they deserved. We now allow you to do all the fun things.
• We'll no longer make channels unread just because someone leaves or joins them, because it didn't make any sense.
• If you are about to start a new conversation with someone, but really just want to create a private channel instead, we now allow you to do so again.
• The bar saying you have unreads is now a lot more reliable.
• Uploading with a bad connection can be difficult. We now tell you if it went wrong rather than just let it disappear silently.
• If you're the last member leaving a channel, you can now archive it. Lights out!

Definitely not too shabby of an update if you've been hitting any of the snags mentioned above. To check out all of what's new, hit up the Windows Store to grab the update and let us know what you think in the comments!

Download Slack (Beta) in the Windows Store

Despite Microsoft entering the work-chat fray today with their Teams release Slack is not resting on their laurels. A new version of the Slack app for Windows phone is now available (and yes, it's still in beta).

The November update is no slouch with a well-defined changelog mostly focusing on improvements to speed. Slack was never fast on Windows phone, but this update does quite a lot to fix that especially on our HP Elite x3.

Here is what's new with the always entertaining Slack changelog!

Slack 2016.1102.0.0 (November 2nd, 2016)

CHANGES

FIXED

• Presence was not always being 100% truthful. You're now there when you're there, and not when you're not. As it should be.
• Loading very large teams could make the app unresponsive. No more.
• The red notification dot would sometimes not go away when you read messages with mentions in them. It had ONE job. It now performs it.
• DND was sometimes performing time travel, moving into negative time. Impressive, but not useful, so we fixed it up.
• We sometimes forgot to save your unsent message when you switched teams or channels. We'll now keep them till you get back.
• Where you couldn't always tap mentions to see a user profile. You now can.
• Channels that were staying bold once you'd read them was a bold (but incorrect) move, and is now rectified.
• Leaving and closing channels could sometimes cause issues. Now you can come and go as you please.
• Notifications, where they were unreliable, can now be trusted again.
• Channels with terrible habit of forgetting the scroll position in messages if you were distracted by a opening a picture (or looking away at any other shiny object) now remember where you were before you… wait, what's that? Is that candy?

Not bad at all and it's great to see Slack continue their support for Windows phone. Now, if we can just get a UWP app that supports Continuum maybe we won't jump ship to Microsoft Teams.

Download Slack (Beta) in the Windows Store

Staring down the launch of Microsoft Teams, Slack said that it is "excited to have some competition" from Microsoft's entrant into the collaborative workplace chat arena. The Slack team made its feelings known and congratulated Microsoft while expressive a bit of concern bthrough a blog post ahead of the Teams launch.

While the Slack team From Slack:

Slack then took the opportunity to offer Microsoft some advice, ranging from items like "it's not the features that matter," to espousing the importance of an open platform. Slack rounded things off by noting that, no matter what happens, it's here to stay.

It will definitely be interesting to see if Microsoft can effectively leverage Microsoft Teams in the workplace to gain a foothold in a space currently dominated by Slack. And while Microsoft's offering may have an uphill climb, it certainly looks to be off to a good start.

The most recent update for the Slack business-themed messaging service on Windows includes some app reloading improvements along with some notification changes on Windows 10

Here's what's new and what's been fixed in Slack 2.2.1, also known as "Tempest, Teamwork, Triumph [At Sea]"

What's New

• Rather than reloading the whole app, View > Reload now reloads just your current team. We're pretty sure that's what you meant.
• What is that beacon of pure white light? Oh! It's the Windows 10 Action Center, with the rubbish–err, notifications–taken out. Whenever you switch channels, we'll dismiss notifications in that channel from the Action Center.
• Use Help > Report Issue to send feedback or file a bug. It attaches your log files automatically, because who has the time for attachments?
• So, you want to memorize every hotkey? Of course. Consult our ever-expanding cheatsheet, now available from Help > Keyboard Shortcuts.

Fixed

• Blank white apps as a result of network troubles should be a rare circumstance. It was rare before, but now it's like, extinct. Or endangered. One of those.
• Launching the app from the Windows command prompt should work more reliably. Before it was, well... we don't want to talk about it.
• On Linux, you can now use Ctrl-W to close the app window without quitting (quit–why would you ever do that?)

Because we missed it earlier, we will also post the change log for Slack's previous PC app update, 2.1.1, also known as "Champagne Supernova":

What's New

• We've rebuilt the ability to spell-check from the ground up. This edition is steadfast in its red-lining, is flexible if you happen to switch languages apropos of nothing, and should keep you from typing pure nonsense. O frabjous day.

Fixed

• A pesky focus issue that had some customers typing their email or password into the message input if they had tabbed away from the app during sign in has been, thankfully, remedied.
• If you were signed into multiple teams, we were doing one additional redirect for some of them. This expenditure, though small, was unnecessary and so we whittled it away.
• We now move fewer things around during installation, causing antivirus programs to panic erroneously a bit less frequently.
• A crash on startup that would happen if someone dropped a folder into the app's log directory. Why would a person do such a thing? We're not sure, but we are humbled by their bravado.
• On Linux, licenses weren't loading in the new About Slack dialog. Voilà! They're back.

There was also a bug fix for the "Champagne Supernova" update that was released later (version 2.1.2) that resolved an issue with the new spellchecker that was causing fragments of the messages it checked to be logged on the user's local PC. The bug fixes has wiped those logs.

Download Slack for Windows now

Microsoft is reportedly working on a new messaging service under the Skype brand. The product is Skype Teams, and it seems to be targeting businesses who already use the popular Slack service.

As posted by MSPoweruser, Skype Teams will share many of Slack's features, such as the ability to chat in several "channels" within one team, along with direct messaging between two people on a team, sharing files and notes between team members and channels, and even sharing things like emojis, GIfs from Giphy and more "fun" images. It will also reportedly be able to do things Slack cannot currently do, such as video calls in channels and in private:

Skype Teams is reportedly designed to be used with Office 365, and it may be available first for those subscribers before expanding to more users. The report claims that Microsoft plans to launch Skype Teams clients for Windows, iOS and Android.

Keep in mind that these details have not yet been confirmed by Microsoft so take them with a grain of salt. Also, it's possible the company could decide to change aspects of this project before its public release, or cancel it entirely. The story does point out a rumor from earlier this year that claimed Qi Lu, Microsoft's Executive Vice President, Applications and Services Group, made a proposal for the company to purchase Slack, but that idea was reportedly dismissed by CEO Satya Nadella and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates — the latter of which was said to be in favor of adding features to Skype to better compete with Slack.

The business-based messaging service Slack has updated its Windows Phone beta app to include larger photos on profile pages.

Here's what's new and fixed in this update, which has the version number of 2016.726.1901.0:

What's New

• An updated profile page with a larger profile picture so you can enjoy even more of your teammate's faces while on the move.

What's Fixed

• In rare cases the app would hang on the channel loading screen, seemingly intending to do that forever. We'll never find out if it would actually hang forever, now: because we fixed it.
• In multiple scenarios we ran a risk of encountering a null state for no good reason. We're doing our best to never touch that void again.
• Some pictures were just big for low memory devices and caused unpleasant errors. And no image. You should now get less error, more image.
• Sometimes you would like to remove people from group messages, not only add new ones. We understand. You can now do that again.
• The screen for inviting users to channels, private channels or group messages always showed the same header. We changed it so that the header actually makes sense now.
• Improved indication for image downloads. So you know when the image landed on your device.

Download Slack (beta) from the Windows Store

The business-based messaging service Slack has updated its Windows Phone beta app, adding the ability to chat with yourself, among other new features.

Here's what's new and fixed in this update, which has the version number of 2016.706.354.0:

What's New

• You can now enjoy the newfound ability to DM yourself (it's useful for links and notes, as well as for talking to yourself, should you so wish).
• Creating new conversations, inviting people to existing channels are greatly improved, as is the experience of joining channels
• "We want to be able to download pictures!" you said. Fair enough, we replied. Download away!
• The overall app performance has had a boost. While we're not at the speed of light we're one step closer to making your day a bit more productive with less waiting.

What's Fixed

• Fixed: Notifications are wasn't reliable and didn't always load correct. They are now.
• Fixed: You can now search for someone by their name and not just their @handle.
• Fixed: Some users experience nothing when using the app. As in "null". We can't promise they're all gone, but we think we've chased most of nothings down now, and made them into somethings.
• Fixed: It was possible to create a channel with invalid name. We make sure you can't do that anymore.
• Fixed: You can now actually reopen a DM with someone you've DM'ed with in the past. As opposed to before, when you couldn't. Sorry about that: We never meant to burn your bridges for you.
• Fixed: When signing in on Windows 10 Mobile, the first character on the email field always wanted to be capitalized. With stern words and sterner code, we put it in its rightful case.

Download Slack (beta) from the Windows Store