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I'm one of the co-founders of Screenhero. I'm really sorry that you won't be able to continue to use Screenhero. This isn't just PR/marketing-speak, as someone

I'm one of the co-founders of Screenhero. I'm really sorry that you won't be able to continue to use Screenhero. This isn't just PR/marketing-speak, as someone who has spent many years of his life working on this product (that I love), it really does pain me to know that someone who also loved what we'd built will no longer be able to use it. However, in the grand scheme of things, I (and our team) feels that this is the best step forward for everyone involved (including Screenhero users). Slack is on its way towards becoming the de facto communication tool used by teams (both big and small), and an integrated Screenhero + Slack product just makes the most sense for the most people. I would love to learn more about why your team can't use Slack, and what we can do to mitigate the issues you've outlined and others that you may not have outlined yet. Please feel free to add me to Screenhero (j at slack-corp.com) and let's have a deeper conversation about this, if you're open to it.

dharma1 12y ago
We use slack (distributed team), and I was thinking of starting to use Screenhero. When can we get Screenhero features in Slack? Any beta testers required? :)
- tptacek 12y ago
  There already is a Screenhero integration for Slack. If you pay for Slack, you can set it up in like 3 minutes, from slack.com/screenhero.
  - fixedd 12y ago
    Tried this, didn't work... no Linux support.
    - tptacek 12y ago
      Did Screenhero ever have Linux support?
      - JonoBB 12y ago
        No. Its still a major blocker
hammerdr 12y ago
We actually use slack (and hipchat, and jive, and whatsapp, and groupme, and skype, and who-knows-what-else.. ugh) for communications that we would consider sanitized for public consumption (so, no discussion about client IP, for example). The only approved chatroom/im tool that we use is GChat, though. The reason for that is that our internal team is comfortable with Google Apps as a (relatively) secure platform for communication. They also approved of screenhero (I can guess why, but it would be a guess). They have not approved of slack, hipchat, etc. for client-related communications because they are nervous about having that much liability not under our control. It also makes it difficult for our contracts team that would then be required to explain that client data could now be in either Google Apps or Slack. I would say that these decisions are going to be SOP for a consultancy of a certain size. I don't necessary agree with all of these decisions, but I understand and try to empathize with the other parties that would be inconvenienced. Edit: I think what happened is that screenhero got a verbal and passionate following within our consultancy that the decision to use screenhero was 'encouraged' into being adopted. We started using it under-the-radar when it was free and when it became paid, the organization realized how many people were using it successfully. It was a ground up effort. It makes me sad that a tool we found so useful across our organization (which you can see above is incredibly fragmented) is being made inaccessible. I know you're trying to do right by your users and we're just a weird edge case, so no bad feelings. Just wish it were not so :(
- codefylabs 12y ago
  >>>"(and hipchat, and jive, and whatsapp, and groupme, and skype, and who-knows-what-else.. ugh)" I agree with your sentiment at the end of this sentence. I've gone through this as an individual. Sometimes you just need to cut the slack and regroup using a standard toolset for the organization (or group, or sub-group, etc.). Otherwise, org-wide (or group-wide) communication simply becomes too difficult. Or "fragmented", to borrow your diction. I haven't used Slack or Screenhero, but I hope Screenhero thought through some of these potential "second order" effects on their customers that the acquisition would have before signing on the solid line. Hopefully the founders didn't just have $$$ in their eyes. That's one of the primary risks of using/adopting a new service/system/product, in my view. Will the people building the product, and actively selling people on the idea, actually defend the product once "acquisition is in the air"...
fennecfoxen 12y ago
> I'm one of the co-founders of Screenhero. I'm really sorry that you won't be able to continue to use Screenhero. You know what you need to do, to keep these teams happy? You need to continue have a minimal tool that does the thing that people need -- screen sharing -- and does it well, instead of bludgeoning them with a massive general-purpose communications suite that they don't want, which is essentially what you were just cheering about in your recent email. I'm sure you'll make more money this way, but you needn't expect the people you're abandoning to be happy.
- jsherwani 12y ago
  Around 90% of the response we've gotten has been positive — our users love the fact that we're merging with a product that they already use and love. The combined user experience is going to be far better than the experience we have today. Maintaining a minimal tool for screen sharing is a nice idea in theory, but I know from experience that we do best when we're able to focus on one thing. And we really want to do a great job of making the integrated communication + collaboration experience as awesome as we can. Based on many conversations with our customers, I know that communication of the sort Slack provides was something that most of our users either needed or already used within Slack. Agreed, that it's most and not all of our users, but we can't really make everyone happy all of the time. I do believe we are making the most people the most happy through this, though.
- mathgeek 12y ago
  > You know what you need to do, to keep these teams happy? You need to continue have a minimal tool that does the thing that people need -- screen sharing -- and does it well, instead of bludgeoning them a massive general-purpose communications suite that they don't want, which is essentially what you were just cheering about in your recent email. This is absolutely, 100% the way I feel. I look back to AOL Instant Messenger as a classic example of a product that forgot to do one thing well... and that's why I bet you hadn't thought of AIM for quite some time before reading this. That said, best of luck to Screenhero going forward. Video chat w/ screen sharing is a crowded space and I'm sure they needed to hedge their bets.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
staunch 12y ago
> Slack is on its way towards becoming the de facto communication tool used by teams... Silicon Valley hubris. Slack rose quickly and it can fall just as quickly. Being anointed by Silicon Valley doesn't make real success a foregone conclusion.
- contingencies 12y ago
  This one's on the money!
- pearknob 12y ago
  I still don't get how Slack is different than HipChat. In fact, I think Slack just copied the latter. Seriously, am I missing something?
  - ryanSrich 12y ago
    Have you used both? Hipchat was basically unusable for me. Constant crashes, sloppy integrations, poor search, and a notification system that did more harm than good. Slack is completely different. Pre built integrations mean I don't have to spend time writing a bot. Starred search means I can find that message from a few months ago with the click of a button. Auto responses mean I can inject some humor into conversations during the work day. Image comments mean I can use slack to gain feedback on wireframes. I could go on but theses are just some of the things that make slack far better than Hipchat.
  - toolz 12y ago
    I use hipchat at my place of work. It has so many issues. People appearing offline at least every other day when they aren't. Auto reconnect may have never worked even once for me that I can recall. Even worse, when trying to auto-reconnect and it's not reconnecting, the only thing you can do is close the app and open it again.
  - hkmurakami 12y ago
    From what I understand, Slack came out of the gate with integration with a bunch of other apps, whereas Hipchat had to play catch up on that front.

dharma1 12y ago

We use slack (distributed team), and I was thinking of starting to use Screenhero. When can we get Screenhero features in Slack? Any beta testers required? :)

tptacek 12y ago
There already is a Screenhero integration for Slack. If you pay for Slack, you can set it up in like 3 minutes, from slack.com/screenhero.
- fixedd 12y ago
  Tried this, didn't work... no Linux support.
  - tptacek 12y ago
    Did Screenhero ever have Linux support?
    - JonoBB 12y ago
      No. Its still a major blocker

hammerdr 12y ago

We actually use slack (and hipchat, and jive, and whatsapp, and groupme, and skype, and who-knows-what-else.. ugh) for communications that we would consider sanitized for public consumption (so, no discussion about client IP, for example). The only approved chatroom/im tool that we use is GChat, though. The reason for that is that our internal team is comfortable with Google Apps as a (relatively) secure platform for communication. They also approved of screenhero (I can guess why, but it would be a guess). They have not approved of slack, hipchat, etc. for client-related communications because they are nervous about having that much liability not under our control. It also makes it difficult for our contracts team that would then be required to explain that client data could now be in either Google Apps or Slack. I would say that these decisions are going to be SOP for a consultancy of a certain size. I don't necessary agree with all of these decisions, but I understand and try to empathize with the other parties that would be inconvenienced. Edit: I think what happened is that screenhero got a verbal and passionate following within our consultancy that the decision to use screenhero was 'encouraged' into being adopted. We started using it under-the-radar when it was free and when it became paid, the organization realized how many people were using it successfully. It was a ground up effort. It makes me sad that a tool we found so useful across our organization (which you can see above is incredibly fragmented) is being made inaccessible. I know you're trying to do right by your users and we're just a weird edge case, so no bad feelings. Just wish it were not so :(

codefylabs 12y ago
>>>"(and hipchat, and jive, and whatsapp, and groupme, and skype, and who-knows-what-else.. ugh)" I agree with your sentiment at the end of this sentence. I've gone through this as an individual. Sometimes you just need to cut the slack and regroup using a standard toolset for the organization (or group, or sub-group, etc.). Otherwise, org-wide (or group-wide) communication simply becomes too difficult. Or "fragmented", to borrow your diction. I haven't used Slack or Screenhero, but I hope Screenhero thought through some of these potential "second order" effects on their customers that the acquisition would have before signing on the solid line. Hopefully the founders didn't just have $$$ in their eyes. That's one of the primary risks of using/adopting a new service/system/product, in my view. Will the people building the product, and actively selling people on the idea, actually defend the product once "acquisition is in the air"...

fennecfoxen 12y ago

> I'm one of the co-founders of Screenhero. I'm really sorry that you won't be able to continue to use Screenhero. You know what you need to do, to keep these teams happy? You need to continue have a minimal tool that does the thing that people need -- screen sharing -- and does it well, instead of bludgeoning them with a massive general-purpose communications suite that they don't want, which is essentially what you were just cheering about in your recent email. I'm sure you'll make more money this way, but you needn't expect the people you're abandoning to be happy.

jsherwani 12y ago
Around 90% of the response we've gotten has been positive — our users love the fact that we're merging with a product that they already use and love. The combined user experience is going to be far better than the experience we have today. Maintaining a minimal tool for screen sharing is a nice idea in theory, but I know from experience that we do best when we're able to focus on one thing. And we really want to do a great job of making the integrated communication + collaboration experience as awesome as we can. Based on many conversations with our customers, I know that communication of the sort Slack provides was something that most of our users either needed or already used within Slack. Agreed, that it's most and not all of our users, but we can't really make everyone happy all of the time. I do believe we are making the most people the most happy through this, though.
mathgeek 12y ago
> You know what you need to do, to keep these teams happy? You need to continue have a minimal tool that does the thing that people need -- screen sharing -- and does it well, instead of bludgeoning them a massive general-purpose communications suite that they don't want, which is essentially what you were just cheering about in your recent email. This is absolutely, 100% the way I feel. I look back to AOL Instant Messenger as a classic example of a product that forgot to do one thing well... and that's why I bet you hadn't thought of AIM for quite some time before reading this. That said, best of luck to Screenhero going forward. Video chat w/ screen sharing is a crowded space and I'm sure they needed to hedge their bets.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

staunch 12y ago

> Slack is on its way towards becoming the de facto communication tool used by teams... Silicon Valley hubris. Slack rose quickly and it can fall just as quickly. Being anointed by Silicon Valley doesn't make real success a foregone conclusion.

contingencies 12y ago
This one's on the money!
pearknob 12y ago
I still don't get how Slack is different than HipChat. In fact, I think Slack just copied the latter. Seriously, am I missing something?
- ryanSrich 12y ago
  Have you used both? Hipchat was basically unusable for me. Constant crashes, sloppy integrations, poor search, and a notification system that did more harm than good. Slack is completely different. Pre built integrations mean I don't have to spend time writing a bot. Starred search means I can find that message from a few months ago with the click of a button. Auto responses mean I can inject some humor into conversations during the work day. Image comments mean I can use slack to gain feedback on wireframes. I could go on but theses are just some of the things that make slack far better than Hipchat.
- toolz 12y ago
  I use hipchat at my place of work. It has so many issues. People appearing offline at least every other day when they aren't. Auto reconnect may have never worked even once for me that I can recall. Even worse, when trying to auto-reconnect and it's not reconnecting, the only thing you can do is close the app and open it again.
- hkmurakami 12y ago
  From what I understand, Slack came out of the gate with integration with a bunch of other apps, whereas Hipchat had to play catch up on that front.