Microsoft Teams Hits 20M Daily Users, Up 50% in 4 Months (geekwire.com) 71
Microsoft Teams now has more than 20 million daily active users, a 50% spike in four months that puts the tool well ahead of its chief rival Slack. From a report: Microsoft revealed the number of Teams users for the first time in July, about a year after it first started offering a free version of the service. Teams has the advantage of being part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem with a pool of millions of users to pull from, setting it up for rapid growth. Last month, Slack said it had more than 12 million daily users, a 37 percent increase over the prior year. Despite trailing Microsoft in the number of users, Slack has said its high level engagement -- the average paid customer spends 9 hours a day on Slack and more than 90 minutes actively using it -- gives it an advantage in shaping the future of work. The two companies are in the midst of a fierce, multi-year rivalry for dominance of the competitive market for chat-based collaboration tools, which also includes tech giants Google and Facebook. Microsoft and Slack have been aggressive in making splashy announcements this year to showcase the growth of their platforms.
Easy to understand (Score:1)
Like it or not, Microsoft knows how to write business-oriented software. And the more seamless integration with all their other programs also makes it easier to use Teams than Slack.
That being said, Microsoft really needs to add the ability to view a whole month at once in Teams Calendars.
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Yes and how about showing the team calendars in Teams instead of making me switch to Outlook.
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It also doesn't hurt that Teams is the replacement for Skype for Business which will cease operation in 2021.
Teams is a unifying experience and is an anchor point for many other Office 365 and 3rd party services.
Once deployed, we have found that people love it and it makes it much easier to deploy and utilize other services that we already pay for with a 365 license.
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Having it forcefully re-install itself and load up every time you restart your computer probably helped boost the usage numbers.
Kind of like the Windows 10 rollout; It's easy to grow your user base when you shove it down people's throats.
=Smidge=
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Gotta love the lack of an in-app option to stop itself from loading.
You've gotta delete it right out of the registry, last I checked.
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Go to apps and search for Teams.
There is the App plus an system wide installer. Remove the installer and Teams is gone forever.
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Well in the case of Teams, it gets complicated.
Businesses have decided that as a matter of course, they *must* use MS Office.
MS has parlayed this to 'well, we *must* be an office 365 subscriber, or else we'll be left behind.'
With this, MS has further made this 'when we want a product to be adopted, we just turn an Office365 user into a 'product X user' and brag about how well adopted it is when we flip the switch to make an office365 a user of whatever 'product X' we need.
Now in the case of teams, it is sup
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Isn't this classic anti-competitive, monopolistic behaviour though?
They see Slack. They make a clone but it integrates with their other tools that already have most of the market. Customers see the advantage of integration and flock to it. Slack can't compete because it can't integrate with Microsoft services and building its own is unlikely to break into that market where many others have already failed.
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Even if true, in order for it to be actionable I believe it has to be shown that consumers have suffered harm.
Re: Easy to understand (Score:2)
I find Microsoft application integration to be lackluster at best and user hostile at it's worst. Microsoft Teams was subjected upon my team (and I suspect most of those millions of users), everyone (or almost everyone) on my team despises Microsoft Teams.
What Microsoft does know how to do is convince executives in purchasing or adopting software or services against users' will.
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Can you elaborate on some of what you don't like? I've been very tempted to give Microsoft Teams a try, but knowing in advance that it won't work out would save some pain.
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By far the worst part is how difficult it is to navigate. This is a pervasive complaint from the two Teams groups I've been part of. It's electron based so it has random high CPU utilization and continuously high memory usage. It's glitchy/crashy/unstable; I've had to force quit it because it was misbehaving more than once. It's constantly lighting up 'red dot, unread notifications' and it's not clear why. I just keep clicking red things until it goes away. I get notifications from people/places/channels/go
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Thanks a lot! I wonder if they are primarily testing it in the case of a small team chatting without meetings and god-knows-what? (Incidentally, that is how my team uses Slack, but it sounds like it's not worth the risk to try Teams.)
Re: Easy to understand (Score:2)
My group was forced to stop using slack (& used hipchat before that) for teams.
It is like using phone texting as your chat. Complicated to review past chats, multiple chats, group chats. It was ok for video and audio. If you were on windows.
Re:Easy to understand (Score:4, Interesting)
Like it or not, Microsoft knows how to write business-oriented software.
That is debatable. See Skype. Skype was used by both consumers and businesses before MS bought them. No one I know uses it anymore for either. I think we have it at work but the MS changes made to make it more business friendly had the opposite effect.
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I've used Lync, Skype, and now Teams. Of the three, teams has by FAR the worst interface. It's just amazing how badly designed it is. The only good thing I can say about it is that it crashes less than Skype or Lync.
It's obvious that the reason so many people are using it is because their companies forced them to use Skype, and now that Skype is going away, did as Microsoft told them to and shuffled over to Teams.
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Yeah, sure (Score:2)
I wonder how many of that twenty million “active” users are university users who’ve been signed up even if they’ve never used Teams.
Like me. For a while I kept getting these stupid Teams notices because an overzealous (former) co-worker who loves All Things Microsoft added everyone in our sub-org, despite no internal interest in Teams. I eventually figured out how to disable the spam, but apparently I’m still on the list of users.
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In defense of your co-worker, Teams is a convoluted opt-out, not opt-in, assuming you're using O365.
He probably didn't go out of his way to sign you up.
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Okay, guess I should apologize for disparaging him then. :-D
Our campus has both Google's G Suite and Office 365. While I'm using Google for my work email, I do also have an O365 account (I believe everyone does, whether we're actually using it or not).
Well they're deprecating skype... (Score:3)
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They are not deprecating Skype. They are deprecating Skype for Business.
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Which is a very clear of example of why renaming 'Lync' to 'Skype for Business' without any actual technology change was a terrible terrible branding decision.
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Teams vs Slack vs others (Score:3)
If your org hasn't picked one yet then I would say
* Orgs heavily invested in O365 should try Teams first.
* Orgs not heavily into O365 and/or using diverse applications will probably be better of trying Slack first.
As always YMMV.
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You forgot one:
* If you're a contractor, learn how to use both, because eff you that's why
TBH, I kind of miss plain old IRC. The complexity kept the punters out, and no stuffy corporation would install an application called "BitchX".
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If you have to *learn* how to use either, you should probably not be a contractor.
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Wrong Metric (Score:3)
"the average paid customer spends 9 hours a day on Slack and more than 90 minutes actively using it"
I don't want to spend 90 minutes actively using a tool that doesn't produce anything. Part of an excellent tool would be to communicate efficiently, so spend as little time as possible using it, so I can be doing production work.
~D
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What, like a computer?
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I don't want to spend 90 minutes actively using a tool that doesn't produce anything
What, like a computer?
More like a Slashdotter.
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I don't want to spend 90 minutes actively using a tool that doesn't produce anything.
Back in Bill Gates' days, he said:
"Microsoft wants to own the desktop!"
Now it is:
"Microsoft wants to own the user!"
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"the average paid customer spends 9 hours a day on Slack and more than 90 minutes actively using it"
Holy shit, I don't even work 9 hours a day (billing is another story).
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I don't want to spend 90 minutes actively using a tool that doesn't produce anything.
I wonder how long you spent on Slashdot today. Or maybe you're a fortunate introvert who can work in a bubble. I for one would not be able to get my job done if I didn't spend a good portion of my day communicating with people.
Not everything in life is a production target.
Part of an excellent tool would be to communicate efficiently, so spend as little time as possible using it
When you finish getting your mind reading plugin working for Outlook do let us know. In the meantime I have just spend a full minute typing this reply to your silly comment.
Re:Wrong Metric (for who?) (Score:2)
"the average paid customer spends 9 hours a day on Slack and more than 90 minutes actively using it"
I don't want to spend 90 minutes actively using a tool that doesn't produce anything. Part of an excellent tool would be to communicate efficiently, so spend as little time as possible using it, so I can be doing production work.
~D
Seems entirely possible that 90 minutes of active use a day could be the minimum about of time needed, and is the most efficient communication.
We don't use Slack, we use Skype for Business. Frankly, 90 minutes seems a little light for me, considering that I work with people in no fewer than 5 other physical locations. I am not sure what would be more efficient in a lot of cases other than IM. If you want to sit and only produce what you produce all day every day without interacting with other people, go
Wha'ts the benefit? (Score:3)
I'm being forced to use it at work now. I already have a work phone with work texts and work email. This is just yet another always on never ending conversation I don't need.
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I'm being forced to use it at work now. I already have a work phone with work texts and work email. This is just yet another always on never ending conversation I don't need.
Yup, just like Slack is for me.
Yet another way for my company to poorly distribute information too.
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Um, yeah (Score:2)
They are getting rid of Skype for Business. They automatically transitioned people from it to Teams.
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It also helps Microsoft that Teams is bundled in your existing Office 365 subscription, while Slack is $6.67 a month for each additional user.
That kinda makes switching a no brainer if you're a fan of Microsoft products and/or you're cheap.
Cue sock puppets (Score:2)
No, they're not copying / embracing and extending Slack features unless your idea of a feature is "provides window with text cursor". We have both Slack and Teams at work because I.T. is pushing Teams in the hope of avoiding paying for Slack in the future.
Teams is free but it's nothing great. The user message boards at MS seem to have a lot of multiyear-deferred items that are requests from users to "just make it work like Slack". The UI is simultaneously busy and distracting and less information dense (
I wept... (Score:5, Funny)
I wept because I had no shoes, until I met a man with no feet.
I hated using Slack, until I had to start using Teams.
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And yeah, all the numbers come from MS moving away from Skype for Business. So duh, of course the numbers are going up.
My experience (Score:4)
Maybe it's better now, but I doubt it. Discord should just make a business-oriented offering, it'd give them an effective way to monetize (they're having money problems) and it'd be way better than the existing offerings.
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"Reasons" is a simple way of saying "I don't know why people do something. I don't understand it. I don't want to put the effort into understanding, but I will criticise them anyway.
In case you do want to understand: Skype for Business was subject to a lifecycle announcement, Teams was integrated into O365. It makes sense to use it for a Microsoft shop.
It was far less efficient than our old workflow
Changing any workflow is always less efficient. It's a fact of life, right until people stop complaining, accept the change, and start adjusting their workfl
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We did try to organize a few things on there just to
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I don't want to view Excel files in a poorly coded chat client.
Actually you're viewing Excel in the same code base as the rest of Microsoft's Office codebase. The chat client tends to form a front end for the same HTML stuff that runs the rest of Sharepoint, OneDrive, the rest of Office 365. Incidentally I can't get behind the emotion of your post. If I want to "view" Excel files I much prefer it to just flash up the data right on the screen. Now editing is a different story ;-)
it was a solution looking for a problem.
You're not seeing the overall picture. Teams is just the natural evolution of MS bolting eve
its all students (Score:1)
odds are it is all students now that schools are using 365
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Odds are it's all corporations who are working around the Skype end of life announcement. We have added 20000 new Teams users per month for the past 4 months to our systems as region by region we're migrating. We're not the only ones.
Duh (Score:1)
Query about Teams (Score:2)
I volunteer at a small local seniors non-profit, with only two part-time employees. Most of the organizational heavy lifting is done by unpaid volunteers, working at home on their own computers. The majority run Windows, and many use Microsoft Office. No surprise: few are using up-to-date hardware or software. Probably 40 percent (or more) are still in Windows 7 (and a few XP), with various versions of Office installed, as far back as Office 2003. (if not older). Paying for new hardware and/or OS is
Re: Query about Teams (Score:2)
Iâ(TM)m sorry, as I know Iâ(TM)m not answering your question about Teams directly, but there are a number of great alternatives you can consider. Rocket.Chat and Mattermost both have a free version, and are API compatible with Slack. Riot.IM and Campfire are also available, and Trillian is trying to play the game as well - itâ(TM)s not free, but itâ(TM)s good and cheap.
Bots have been developed (Score:1)
Maybe that's because (Score:4, Interesting)
they install it without asking.
I run MS Office 365 on my Windows laptop. On August 17, Microsoft Teams was installed with no interaction on my part. AND set to run automatically when Windows starts. Which I promptly disabled.
Is that what that stupid popup is that I cancel? (Score:2)
I'm not "using Microsoft Teams", I'm closing the stupid pop-up for this software I never asked for.
I dispute daily users (Score:2)
Just my 2 cents
Ugh! (Score:3)
Very poor implementation.
Having used the two... (Score:2)
Microsoft makes jumping onto Teams pretty compelling, by essentially bundling it with Office 365. The integration is well done. The cost is low (once you're in Office-land). However, Slack's usability still completely stomps Teams
- Workspaces: as a consultant, I can't be logged into all of my clients' Teams at the same time. Teams client won't allow more than one Office 365 login at a time, so unless they have a guest user policy, I have to have an anonymous browser window open for each additional Teams-usi
Teams / Slack we have both (Score:1)
Being forced to switch from Skype (Score:2)
Microsoft has stated that Skype for Business is going to be phased out next year, in favor of Teams. So some companies, including my own, are actively migrating users to Teams to minimize the disruption.
I'm dealing with a broken MS Teams as... (Score:1)