11 ms·

Teams is the result of Microsoft taking a look at Slack and saying, how can we make this feel more like Excel?

by bmy78 4y ago

LarryMullins 4y ago
I wish I could believe that Microsoft appreciates Excel that much. Excel is one of the most empowering applications ever written and the single greatest thing Microsoft has ever been involved with.
- codethief 4y ago
  > I wish I could believe that Microsoft appreciates Excel that much Yeah, I don't think they really appreciate the Excel pro scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubbVvKbUfY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubbVvKbUfY
- ijustlovemath 4y ago
  What most techies don't get about Excel is that people wouldn't build their businesses around it if it weren't a really powerful abstraction. Sure, a dev could set up a CRUD app, but then you need a dev, which is far outside the budget of most SMBs. Rather than Excel being the root of all evil, we should view it as the empowerment tool that it really is!
  - twoodfin 4y ago
    When SPJ of Haskell fame was working for Microsoft, he put together a fantastic presentation on this theme: https://www.lambdadays.org/static/upload/media/161673641592992lambdadaysfeb21corrected.pdf https://www.lambdadays.org/static/upload/media/1616736415929...
- TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
  Credit where due, spreadsheet applications were already established AND bundled into suites by the time Microsoft got around to leveraging their market position to make Office the de facto standard. But, yeah, I owe most of my career to making real web apps out of badly designed, hard to use, vile to share, yet somehow better than nothing Excel workbooks. Even with all the modern trappings, and besides specific applications like Photoshop or CATIA, you could probably still run a company on just email and Excel, because people will make Excel do whatever they need, no matter how lumbering the monster becomes.
  - twoodfin 4y ago
    That undersells the innovation of Excel, which started out as a Macintosh exclusive before being ported to Windows. It was the first major spreadsheet to be GUI-based from the ground up. It didn’t need Office bundling (which came much later) to dominate, it was by far the superior spreadsheet in the Windows 3.0/3.1 era.
    - TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
      > by far the superior spreadsheet in the Windows 3.0/3.1 era Quattro Pro is waiting outside the door. He says he'd like to have a word. ;-)
- mFixman 4y ago
  It's still a pretty awful tool, and anybody who wondered what the 109 means in `subtotal(109, A:A)` thinks the same. Excel is so successful that competitors need to copy its bad parts.
- noelherrick 4y ago
  Mmm, SQL Server and, to a lesser extent, C# would like to have a word.
AtNightWeCode 4y ago
Well, Excel does not come with a complete broken auth. MS posts stats of how horrible the Internet sec is and it is just that you mostly can't even use the service without going into auth hell.
roboben 4y ago
Internal code name was Slack360
- graphe 4y ago
  Because when you saw it you walked 360 degrees away
  - albrewer 4y ago
    As a teenager circa 2007, I would troll in World of Warcraft's Trade chat with a variant of this joke.
  - lostmsu 4y ago
    360 is a full circle, e.g. you'd turn right back toward it.
    - deadbunny 4y ago
      Au contraire: https://i.imgur.com/PS1Vb6p.gif https://i.imgur.com/PS1Vb6p.gif
    - xbar 4y ago
      Let me help you--that's the joke.
  - peteradio 4y ago
    360 degrees away? Why don't you try this and see how far you get. Look at something now turn a full circle (360 degrees) and start walking, become amazed that whatever you were looking at is now closer.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- amarshall 4y ago
  365? Also can’t tell if you’re serious or joking.
yohannparis 4y ago
I don't see where is that a problem? People who will be using Teams are people using Office 365 daily. Having a cohesive ecosystem makes complete sense. From a UX too.
- widowlark 4y ago
  The problem is that its very top heavy and is not well done, has lots of UI bugs and really is a pain to work with
  - vikram2784 4y ago
    Totally agree. MS Teams is super agonizing to work with.
  - axlee 4y ago
    For meetings, calls, screensharing, and scheduling it's superior to Slack in every single way. Written experience is worse though. If only Slack spent a month writing a "Schedule a meeting with those people, and add the meeting with a link to everyone's calendar" feature, they would be on par.
    - jrochkind1 4y ago
      One reason Slack maybe doens't, is nobody actually chooses Teams over Slack because of feature set. They choose Teams over Slack because it's "good enough" and included with Office360 which they already have. Meeting Teams feature set may not actually get Slack any more customers at all.
      - axlee 4y ago
        We do use Teams and Slack, Teams for scheduled meetings and Slack for everything else, just because Slack's scheduling is non-existent while something great comes out of the box from Teams (and yes, also because we get it "for free" through O365, and wouldn't be paying for Zoom). We wouldn't have to deal with Teams if Slack upped their game.

Teams is the result of Microsoft taking a look at Slack and saying, how can we make this feel more like Excel?

by bmy78 4y ago

Teams is the result of Microsoft taking a look at Slack and saying, how can we make this feel more like Excel?

I wish I could believe that Microsoft appreciates Excel that much. Excel is one of the most empowering applications ever written and the single greatest thing Microsoft has ever been involved with.

codethief 4y ago
> I wish I could believe that Microsoft appreciates Excel that much Yeah, I don't think they really appreciate the Excel pro scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubbVvKbUfY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubbVvKbUfY
ijustlovemath 4y ago
What most techies don't get about Excel is that people wouldn't build their businesses around it if it weren't a really powerful abstraction. Sure, a dev could set up a CRUD app, but then you need a dev, which is far outside the budget of most SMBs. Rather than Excel being the root of all evil, we should view it as the empowerment tool that it really is!
- twoodfin 4y ago
  When SPJ of Haskell fame was working for Microsoft, he put together a fantastic presentation on this theme: https://www.lambdadays.org/static/upload/media/161673641592992lambdadaysfeb21corrected.pdf https://www.lambdadays.org/static/upload/media/1616736415929...
TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
Credit where due, spreadsheet applications were already established AND bundled into suites by the time Microsoft got around to leveraging their market position to make Office the de facto standard. But, yeah, I owe most of my career to making real web apps out of badly designed, hard to use, vile to share, yet somehow better than nothing Excel workbooks. Even with all the modern trappings, and besides specific applications like Photoshop or CATIA, you could probably still run a company on just email and Excel, because people will make Excel do whatever they need, no matter how lumbering the monster becomes.
- twoodfin 4y ago
  That undersells the innovation of Excel, which started out as a Macintosh exclusive before being ported to Windows. It was the first major spreadsheet to be GUI-based from the ground up. It didn’t need Office bundling (which came much later) to dominate, it was by far the superior spreadsheet in the Windows 3.0/3.1 era.
  - TheRealDunkirk 4y ago
    > by far the superior spreadsheet in the Windows 3.0/3.1 era Quattro Pro is waiting outside the door. He says he'd like to have a word. ;-)
mFixman 4y ago
It's still a pretty awful tool, and anybody who wondered what the 109 means in `subtotal(109, A:A)` thinks the same. Excel is so successful that competitors need to copy its bad parts.
noelherrick 4y ago
Mmm, SQL Server and, to a lesser extent, C# would like to have a word.

AtNightWeCode 4y ago

Well, Excel does not come with a complete broken auth. MS posts stats of how horrible the Internet sec is and it is just that you mostly can't even use the service without going into auth hell.

roboben 4y ago

Internal code name was Slack360

graphe 4y ago
Because when you saw it you walked 360 degrees away
- albrewer 4y ago
  As a teenager circa 2007, I would troll in World of Warcraft's Trade chat with a variant of this joke.
- lostmsu 4y ago
  360 is a full circle, e.g. you'd turn right back toward it.
  - deadbunny 4y ago
    Au contraire: https://i.imgur.com/PS1Vb6p.gif https://i.imgur.com/PS1Vb6p.gif
  - xbar 4y ago
    Let me help you--that's the joke.
- peteradio 4y ago
  360 degrees away? Why don't you try this and see how far you get. Look at something now turn a full circle (360 degrees) and start walking, become amazed that whatever you were looking at is now closer.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
amarshall 4y ago
365? Also can’t tell if you’re serious or joking.

yohannparis 4y ago

I don't see where is that a problem? People who will be using Teams are people using Office 365 daily. Having a cohesive ecosystem makes complete sense. From a UX too.

widowlark 4y ago
The problem is that its very top heavy and is not well done, has lots of UI bugs and really is a pain to work with
- vikram2784 4y ago
  Totally agree. MS Teams is super agonizing to work with.
- axlee 4y ago
  For meetings, calls, screensharing, and scheduling it's superior to Slack in every single way. Written experience is worse though. If only Slack spent a month writing a "Schedule a meeting with those people, and add the meeting with a link to everyone's calendar" feature, they would be on par.
  - jrochkind1 4y ago
    One reason Slack maybe doens't, is nobody actually chooses Teams over Slack because of feature set. They choose Teams over Slack because it's "good enough" and included with Office360 which they already have. Meeting Teams feature set may not actually get Slack any more customers at all.
    - axlee 4y ago
      We do use Teams and Slack, Teams for scheduled meetings and Slack for everything else, just because Slack's scheduling is non-existent while something great comes out of the box from Teams (and yes, also because we get it "for free" through O365, and wouldn't be paying for Zoom). We wouldn't have to deal with Teams if Slack upped their game.