Microsoft announced Thursday a free version of its Teams application, which will be a tough competition with Slack's chat service. So far, Microsoft has not provided a TeamS service to customers paying Office 365, and Slack has offered free and premium options since it was launched in 2014.
Microsoft is now offering a slew of features with the free version of Teams, which will be limited to only 300 people. This free version includes unlimited chat messages, search feature, 10 GB of files storage for Teams and 2GB of personal space, plus voice and video calls for a group of people, and unlimited integration with more than 140 applications.
Of course, this service will be linked to all Office 365 applications online, such as Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and OneNote.
By comparison, the free version of the Slack service only searches for 10,000 of your most recent messages, only voice calls and individual video calls, integrates with only 10 third-party applications and offers 5 GB of storage space.
Microsoft plans to add automatic blurred background to video chats later this year, giving users some privacy. This is in addition to direct translations into 36 different languages, which will help users while they are around the world. The paid version of Teams will contain the cloud records, which will also be automatically copied and recorded.
Microsoft also announced that Office 365 users will be able to run live events through Yammer, and that the company will add smart services to those flows. Office 365 will use Face Detection to automatically detect the faces of people who are speaking during the event. In addition, there is an automatic timing system, and a feature to convert speech to text and search.
Microsoft will also provide a preview of MyAnalytics Nudges that will provide you with data-based tips that will be displayed while you work in Office 365. The company will provide four types of alert signals, such as getting more focus time, managing the meeting more effectively, Your colleagues at work, and finally be always in touch with task mail and e-mail unread.
