4 ms·

Yes. It's only a matter of time before there is a backlash to Slack. I won't understand the backlash when it comes, just as I didn't understand the excitement.

Yes. It's only a matter of time before there is a backlash to Slack. I won't understand the backlash when it comes, just as I didn't understand the excitement. Slack is just a chat client. Chat has been around forever. Corporate chat clients have been around forever. What am I missing?

ineedasername 6y ago
Yeah, from 2005-2009 I had a boss who insisted all staff be on AOL IM, with groups etc. There was an option to automatically save all chats. Slack has more features, but I don't see it as fundamentally different.
overgard 6y ago
Honestly it's just the little details... which are huge. For better or worse emoji reactions and gifs really change the tenor of conversations. You can say its just chat, and that's true, but people are complicated and the smallest of chat features changes interactions so much. Just as an example, "heres a new feature" vs "heres a new feature (+100 thumbs up emoji)", for better or worse that changes people.
- macspoofing 6y ago
  >For better or worse emoji reactions and gifs really change the tenor of conversations. As did emoticons. I miss emoticons.
ponker 6y ago
An iPhone is just a phone. The Beatles are just a band. Michael Jordan is just a basketball player. I don’t get the excitement.
- macspoofing 6y ago
  I get what you're trying to say, but ... I still don't see it. I introduced slack at work a few years ago. It's fine, it's modern and has nice UI (UX on the other hand ... is just OK). I also used chat clients and IRC since the 90s. I don't see slack being the Michael Jordan of Chat clients. I don't see how it is a fundamental change the way the iPhone was.
  - ponker 6y ago
    It has charm. Emoji reactions, animated GIFs, pleasant notification sounds, etc. Makes a big difference.
jokethrowaway 6y ago
Totally agree! We recently migrated from HipChat to Slack - everyone was very excited because Atlassian is not as hip as Slack. Well, turns out emoticons are so small you can't see them, karma works better on HipChat, the client is RAM heavy for no reason. Overall it is pretty much the same but a small downgrade in experience and increase in cost. Oh, well.

ineedasername 6y ago

Yeah, from 2005-2009 I had a boss who insisted all staff be on AOL IM, with groups etc. There was an option to automatically save all chats. Slack has more features, but I don't see it as fundamentally different.

overgard 6y ago

Honestly it's just the little details... which are huge. For better or worse emoji reactions and gifs really change the tenor of conversations. You can say its just chat, and that's true, but people are complicated and the smallest of chat features changes interactions so much. Just as an example, "heres a new feature" vs "heres a new feature (+100 thumbs up emoji)", for better or worse that changes people.

macspoofing 6y ago
>For better or worse emoji reactions and gifs really change the tenor of conversations. As did emoticons. I miss emoticons.

ponker 6y ago

An iPhone is just a phone. The Beatles are just a band. Michael Jordan is just a basketball player. I don’t get the excitement.

macspoofing 6y ago
I get what you're trying to say, but ... I still don't see it. I introduced slack at work a few years ago. It's fine, it's modern and has nice UI (UX on the other hand ... is just OK). I also used chat clients and IRC since the 90s. I don't see slack being the Michael Jordan of Chat clients. I don't see how it is a fundamental change the way the iPhone was.
- ponker 6y ago
  It has charm. Emoji reactions, animated GIFs, pleasant notification sounds, etc. Makes a big difference.

jokethrowaway 6y ago

Totally agree! We recently migrated from HipChat to Slack - everyone was very excited because Atlassian is not as hip as Slack. Well, turns out emoticons are so small you can't see them, karma works better on HipChat, the client is RAM heavy for no reason. Overall it is pretty much the same but a small downgrade in experience and increase in cost. Oh, well.