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WHAT was Slack thinking writing this?! http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/2/13497766/slack-microsoft-teams-new-york-times-ad http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/2/134

WHAT was Slack thinking writing this?! http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/2/13497766/slack-microsoft-teams-new-york-times-ad http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/2/13497766/slack-microsoft-t... Is this the worst ad in the history of advertising? HUGE publicity for Microsoft, with a schoolboy level of condescending, passive aggressive nonsense. Not sure what they were thinking with this one, especially with an opening line doing nothing but praising their competitor. The confidence(arrogance) is astounding.

algorithmsRcool 10y ago
That was actually how I found out about Teams to post this. Slack didn't do themselves any favors with that post.
Touche 10y ago
Yep, I had never heard of Teams but now am going to consider it for my startup.
EduardoBautista 10y ago
All Office 365 customers who are on Slack must be seriously considering moving over to Microsoft Teams right now. They are basically letting them know they have an alternative.
3pt14159 10y ago
They are copying Apple [1]. It's supposed to demonstrate strength, since most competitors try to pretend that the competition doesn't exist. To me it always came off as really dumb and self-important in the most cringing of ways. [1] http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/jobs-apple-welcome-ibm-seriously-ad.php http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/jobs-apple-welco...
- overcast 10y ago
  Yeh, we know how that turned out for Apple in the 80s/90s :)
- pwthornton 10y ago
  That was a much older, dumber Apple. They would never do that now.
  - traskjd 10y ago
    They wouldn't do it now because they're not the underdog. When you're big, you try to look small. When you're small, you try to look big.
- mhermher 10y ago
  Off topic note here: Apple forecasts a "logarithmic leap". I have never heard that term. Logarithmic growth is sub linear and doesn't seem like something akin to a leap. Usually you would go with "exponential". Just seemed like odd wording.
  - overcast 10y ago
    Well they weren't wrong, growth leveled off to nothing. More a reverse logarithmic graph.
  - antisthenes 10y ago
    Logarithmic growth is a more accurate description of the actual growth and on a limited interval grows faster than linearly. It's symbolic of the typical winner-take-all markets in the IT sphere, unlike the term exponential, which is constantly misused and inaccurate in most cases (except, perhaps, for Moore's law on a limited time interval)
Mithaldu 10y ago
The "do it with love" part is especially funny as their support doesn't actually give a shit what their customers think or feel. They'll happily give you absolute bottom-of-the-barrel effort canned copy-paste responses to carefully written and considered bug reports, indicating the agent neither actually read nor remotely understood what you were writing about. Slack doesn't have a box to stand on to tell others how to treat people.
- overcast 10y ago
  That part was almost unreadable, it was so cringe worthy. "Made with Love" movement is a meme in itself at this point.
  - BoorishBears 10y ago
    At the risk of sounding like a grump, something about the emojis in software movement really aggravates me. When I see "Made with love" or the hideous heart eye smiley, something makes me just not want to use the software that's showing it.
    - brynjolf 10y ago
      I agree. I guess it is to seem more like buddies, I think it is strange dynamic. I am paying for the product, I don't want an emoji response.
- jitl 10y ago
  This is the opposite of my experience
  - thr0waway1239 10y ago
    Microsoft's support, in contrast, is outstanding you see. As a bonus for sticking with them, you will even get an upgrade of your perfectly functional Windows 7 computer at some unspecified point in time based on checking a box with manipulative exploding offers, and be left with a large brick (voila! magic!).
jlgaddis 10y ago
I've got an evil grin on my face just thinking about Microsoft's response to Slack. I hope they respond and I hope they don't let me down -- there's a prime opportunity here.
- overcast 10y ago
  I want "Dear Slack, lol."
- chromakode 10y ago
  They should just respond with a giphy gif.
  - overcast 10y ago
    I vote for Ace Ventura, "I have eexxxxxorcised the demons!"
- filereaper 10y ago
  "Dear Slack, resistance is futile."
urda 10y ago
What's even more amusing on their online posting, they have hidden responses: > The author has chosen not to show responses on this story. You can still respond by clicking the response bubble. So not only is the arrogance higher than ever, you can throw cowardly in there as well.
- adamsoad 10y ago
  I didn't appreciate this either...and am curious if the "image" of disabling comments was considered.

algorithmsRcool 10y ago

That was actually how I found out about Teams to post this. Slack didn't do themselves any favors with that post.

Touche 10y ago

Yep, I had never heard of Teams but now am going to consider it for my startup.

EduardoBautista 10y ago

All Office 365 customers who are on Slack must be seriously considering moving over to Microsoft Teams right now. They are basically letting them know they have an alternative.

3pt14159 10y ago

They are copying Apple [1]. It's supposed to demonstrate strength, since most competitors try to pretend that the competition doesn't exist. To me it always came off as really dumb and self-important in the most cringing of ways. [1] http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/jobs-apple-welcome-ibm-seriously-ad.php http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/jobs-apple-welco...

overcast 10y ago
Yeh, we know how that turned out for Apple in the 80s/90s :)
pwthornton 10y ago
That was a much older, dumber Apple. They would never do that now.
- traskjd 10y ago
  They wouldn't do it now because they're not the underdog. When you're big, you try to look small. When you're small, you try to look big.
mhermher 10y ago
Off topic note here: Apple forecasts a "logarithmic leap". I have never heard that term. Logarithmic growth is sub linear and doesn't seem like something akin to a leap. Usually you would go with "exponential". Just seemed like odd wording.
- overcast 10y ago
  Well they weren't wrong, growth leveled off to nothing. More a reverse logarithmic graph.
- antisthenes 10y ago
  Logarithmic growth is a more accurate description of the actual growth and on a limited interval grows faster than linearly. It's symbolic of the typical winner-take-all markets in the IT sphere, unlike the term exponential, which is constantly misused and inaccurate in most cases (except, perhaps, for Moore's law on a limited time interval)

Mithaldu 10y ago

The "do it with love" part is especially funny as their support doesn't actually give a shit what their customers think or feel. They'll happily give you absolute bottom-of-the-barrel effort canned copy-paste responses to carefully written and considered bug reports, indicating the agent neither actually read nor remotely understood what you were writing about. Slack doesn't have a box to stand on to tell others how to treat people.

overcast 10y ago
That part was almost unreadable, it was so cringe worthy. "Made with Love" movement is a meme in itself at this point.
- BoorishBears 10y ago
  At the risk of sounding like a grump, something about the emojis in software movement really aggravates me. When I see "Made with love" or the hideous heart eye smiley, something makes me just not want to use the software that's showing it.
  - brynjolf 10y ago
    I agree. I guess it is to seem more like buddies, I think it is strange dynamic. I am paying for the product, I don't want an emoji response.
jitl 10y ago
This is the opposite of my experience
- thr0waway1239 10y ago
  Microsoft's support, in contrast, is outstanding you see. As a bonus for sticking with them, you will even get an upgrade of your perfectly functional Windows 7 computer at some unspecified point in time based on checking a box with manipulative exploding offers, and be left with a large brick (voila! magic!).

jlgaddis 10y ago

I've got an evil grin on my face just thinking about Microsoft's response to Slack. I hope they respond and I hope they don't let me down -- there's a prime opportunity here.

overcast 10y ago
I want "Dear Slack, lol."
chromakode 10y ago
They should just respond with a giphy gif.
- overcast 10y ago
  I vote for Ace Ventura, "I have eexxxxxorcised the demons!"
filereaper 10y ago
"Dear Slack, resistance is futile."

urda 10y ago

What's even more amusing on their online posting, they have hidden responses: > The author has chosen not to show responses on this story. You can still respond by clicking the response bubble. So not only is the arrogance higher than ever, you can throw cowardly in there as well.

adamsoad 10y ago
I didn't appreciate this either...and am curious if the "image" of disabling comments was considered.