Re:Slack Is Buying HipChat from Atlassian
by realusername on Friday July 27, 2018 @03:09AM
(#17624053)
I could also add to your list that Slack actually works in other platforms than Windows. Yes it's Electron but at least it's guaranteed to work, unlike Skype for Linux or Skype for Mac.
Funny enough I use Linux and am using the new Skype. The old Skype on Linux wasn't perfect but it was leagues and bounds ahead of the current Electron-based garbage.
Re:Slack Is Buying HipChat from Atlassian
by Uberphallus on Friday July 27, 2018 @04:42AM
(#17624472)
Oh, it has history... in Outlook, that's like Edge saving your bookmarks in Excel kind of absurd.
But I agree it works like shit, half the conversations aren't there and I can't figure out a pattern or why.
> Information density isn't configurable
Just zoom in/out with Cmd-+ / Cmd--, it's just a browser after all.
Re:Slack Is Buying HipChat from Atlassian
by pavel_lishin on Friday July 27, 2018 @10:46AM
(#17626326)
That address font size issues, but not relative sizing or spacing issues.
* it has a history I can actually search. Skype used to have this, but removed it when they rewrote it in Electron. !@#$ you to whoever at Microsoft decided to get rid of that; I used chat history search every day as part of my workflow.
* it has an API/plugin ecosystem. Admittedly, that's a walled garden so it's a double-edged sword. But for businesses that's awesome. Skype used to have an API but that's been deprecated. Conjecture: from abuse?
* it has security. I can log on to a private Slack and know that the people in there belong there. I can search for people on Slack and know that I'm communicating with who I intended to communicate. On Skype, you search for your coworker by typing in their name and you end up finding some other person instead. Hope you didn't just reveal corporate secrets to China.
Slack doesn't come without its own set of gripes, for sure. Let me enumerate some of them:
* Information density isn't configurable. I want a teeny tiny font. It's better than what Skype has become but still not as configurable as chat clients from the 90's
* Resource hog. Seriously, we've gone so far backwards it's appalling. Chat clients from the 90s didn't need anywhere near as much memory or CPU as Electron does and they were just as functional (sans audio/video/link preview).
I'm sure there's others but I'm tired