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I know from a technical standpoint Slack is just a pretty UI on top of IRC. However, consider for instance, one of the Slack teams I use on a daily basis is a l
by nkw 10y ago
I know from a technical standpoint Slack is just a pretty UI on top of IRC. However, consider for instance, one of the Slack teams I use on a daily basis is a law firm. The difference of getting users at a non-tech company, such as a law firm, to use a chat client like Slack vs an IRC client is a huge chasm.
I've been guilty several times myself of saying UIs or veneers over long existing technology isn't that impressive and dismissing companies that do so, but companies have made billions doing just that.
- duderific 10y agoRight. Here on Hacker News, we look at things through techie lenses. Most companies are not tech companies, and cannot set up their own IRC. User experience is the only thing that matters to these companies. They don't care if you're using MongoDb or Postgres, or that you're using React instead of Angular. They just want something that works reliably and is easy to use. It is extremely hard to create a compelling and delightful user experience that is also maintainable so that new features can be added quickly. So to say "they just slapped a nice UI on IRC" is a little short sighted.
- hvs 10y agoYeah, but Hipchat or Campfire are just as easy to use. And Microsoft's will probably be as well.