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Why is Microsoft Teams integration being removed from Win11?

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Nearly two years after the first announcement of the integration, Microsoft is getting ready to remove the built-in Microsoft Teams client from Windows 11.

This integration aimed to provide seamless communication and collaboration for Windows 11 users, enabling them to connect with colleagues, join meetings, and share files easily.

Microsoft Teams
Image Source: theverge.com

The more adaptable free edition of Microsoft Teams, which is also accessible as a Windows 10 app, will replace the Chat capability. Microsoft revealed the improvements this week in a fresh Windows 11 test build.

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According to a blog post by Microsoft’s senior program manager Brandon LeBlanc, “Starting with his build, Chat is now Microsoft Teams – Free.” “Microsoft Teams – Free is pinned to the taskbar by default and can be unpinned like other apps on the taskbar.”

The operating system was tightly integrated with the first Teams integration in Windows 11, known as Chat. The Chat app was pinned to the taskbar by default and has to be disabled by navigating to Settings.

Up until now, Microsoft has been steadily introducing new features to Chat inside of Windows 11, including enhanced video conferencing capabilities in October, Discord-like communities in early November, and an AI art tool.

The Microsoft Teams 2.0 client served as the basis for the new MS Teams software that is currently being sent out to organizations, and it also served as the basis for the built-in Chat capabilities in Windows 11.

Days after announcing intentions to discontinue support for Cortana on Windows 11 later this year, Microsoft has decided to remove the built-in Teams client from the operating system. Microsoft is almost at the beginning of a new fiscal year, and it is evident that the corporation is concentrating its resources on brand-new Windows initiatives, such as its AI-powered Windows Copilot tool.

When speaking at CES earlier this year, Windows CEO Panos Panay hinted at the significance of AI for Windows, saying that “AI is going to reinvent how you do everything on Windows.” Undoubtedly, AI will be a significant component in Windows 10 as well.

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Additionally, Microsoft apparently agreed to discontinue bundling Teams with Office only a few months prior to the modifications to Teams. In an effort to placate EU regulators, Microsoft has decided to stop requiring Office customers to install Teams on their devices in April, according to The Financial Times.

After competitor Slack complained about Microsoft’s bundling of Teams in 2020, the European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation on Microsoft’s practices.

Zoom Team Chat

Zoom Chat becomes Zoom Team Chat and adds features to compete with Teams

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When the pandemic struck in early 2020, Zoom Chat was a relatively unknown startup. However, at the height of the crisis, when people stranded at home turned to video conferencing for communication, Zoom reported triple-digit sales growth. Zoom also offers Zoom Chat, a service that is somewhat comparable to Microsoft Teams and Slack. Along with a number of other useful enhancements for the collaboration software, Zoom announced a tiny modification to the product’s name, which is now Zoom Team Chat.

In an effort to compete with rivals like Microsoft’s Teams Zoom Video Communications Inc. announced on Monday that it has rebranded its chat platform and added additional functions, including third-party connectivity. To make teamwork more convenient, the updated program combines chat, third-party integrations, file sharing, video, voice, and a whiteboard in one location, according to a blog post by Zoom.

Zoom Team Chat
Image Source: businessworld.in

The most recent updates will make it simpler to switch from a chat to a video or phone call or to share an idea via a whiteboard. According to experts, Zoom has added “Team” to its chat product since consumers were confused about how the chat component in Zoom meetings differed from the premium communication tool. This item acts as an all-in-one platform, providing comprehensive capabilities to encourage teamwork.

The head of product at Zoom Team Chat, Sharvari Nerurkar, claimed in a chat with The Verge that users encounter friction when they must switch between several different platforms in order to communicate with the same set of individuals. Zoom Team Chat is designed to be a single center for collaboration where you can communicate with coworkers asynchronously via text chat or in real-time via calls.

By the end of the month, Zoom hopes to roll out a few new features to improve the overall experience of actually utilizing zoom chat. The ability to share in-meeting chat directly into Zoom Team Chat is one addition that will make it simpler to read any crucial notes after the meeting has ended. If you’re having a text exchange that might benefit from a call, you may also schedule a Zoom conference directly from a Zoom Team Chat channel.

With this update, Zoom is attempting to take a stand in a market that is quite crowded.

Google, Slack, and Microsoft among others, are all quickly developing their own professional communication technologies to help enterprises in adapting to hybrid work environments, putting a lot of pressure on Zoom.

Although Zoom Team Chat has been improved, it may be challenging for the company to convince companies to switch from their current platforms to Zoom Team Chat. As demand declines from epidemic highs, Zoom lowered its annual revenue and profit predictions last month.

Zoom Team Chat is a feature of Zoom One, the company’s all-inclusive communication package, which also comprises Zoom Meetings with up to 300 participants, Zoom Whiteboard, and 5GB of cloud storage. Zoom’s chat product never really enjoyed the same level of attention as Zoom’s video meeting capabilities so far, but the company wants that to change through this move.

Eric Yuan founded Zoom in 2011 and released its software in 2013. Zoom’s revenue growth and the software’s perceived usability and dependability led to a $1 billion valuation for the business in 2017, establishing it as a “unicorn” company. In 2019, the company achieved profitability and successfully completed an IPO.

Microsoft Build 2021

Microsoft Teams to let developers create collaborative apps, announced during virtual Microsoft Build 2021

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Microsoft revealed a bunch of new updates during the virtual Microsoft Build 2021. These new updates are going to help developers bring real-time, multi-user collaboration for their app offering features like whiteboarding, design, etc. Microsoft has added this series of new updates such that developers can increase user engagement and harness the power of the Teams platform.

The new class of apps has exclusively originated as the solution to the crisis developers faced during the 2020 lockdown. The working scenario changed dramatically as everyone started working remotely and hence a strong purpose of the collaboration was the need of the hour. Microsoft Teams was built for this very reason so that it can enable collaboration creating opportunities for developers to build the next generation of applications.

A Hybrid Workplace

With collaboration being the top priority, Microsoft has added some new features that will help the developers to navigate a new hybrid workplace. The availability of the share stage integration is a new feature that is available in preview. With this new feature, the developers can now build apps and enable a real-time, multi-user collaboration experience. This can be done by extending the main stage of a Teams meeting as the user will get an option to add an app and share it with other attendees. Using this, the developers will experience real-time collaboration which will involve whiteboarding, project boards, design, etc.

Microsoft Build 2021
Image Source: microsoft.com

Developers are also getting a series of new media APIs with resource-specific consent. This will enable real-time audio and video streaming for the developers at the Teams meetings. These new APIs will have added features like transcription, translation, note-taking, insights gathering through their apps, etc.

Microsoft is also adding an extension of the Together Mode coming this summer. This will allow developers to create their own customized meeting scenes for any Teams meeting which they can also share with others. There will be a Scene Designer Tool in the Developer Portal which the developer can use to create custom scenes thus increasing user engagement and making the meetings more fun.

Another feature Microsoft Teams is adding is the availability of the fluid components in private preview. It will allow the developer to send a table or a list as a message. Actions in these items can be taken by everyone in the meeting if they are co-authored by the developer. This reduced redundancy as communication through long chat threads can be minimized as all the changes can be made in the table itself.

The Developer Portal for Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is also enabling automation of meeting related-workflows such as starting and ending of a meeting. The Developer Portal in the Microsoft Teams has been built exclusively for the developers so that they receive a standalone app management console that can be accessed through the web or the Teams. In this portal, the developers can register their apps and configure them within a single or central location. Since Microsoft is adding plenty of new features for the developers, the app might become strong competition for Slack, Zoom, and others.

Other Updates

Apart from the updates in Microsoft Build 2021, the company has also announced support for message extensions in Outlook. This will create a sync between Teams and Outlook as this will allow users to integrate tasks in Teams while emailing someone from Outlook. Additionally, the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is also receiving support for Linux graphical user interface (GUI) apps. With this support, any Linux GUI apps can fully run on Windows without setting up a traditional virtual machine.

Upgrades are also made in the Windows search bar to support personalized results from tools such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365. The Windows Terminal 1.9 preview will be also available as announced by Microsoft which also comes with a Quake Mode. The advantage of this mode is users can open a new terminal window in Windows by using a keyboard shortcut from anywhere. In Microsoft Build 2021, an update was also announced for Visual Studio 2019 and support for creating GitHub Actions Workflows directly from the IDE (Gadgets 360).