Back in March, it was reported that Microsoft considered buying Slack for $8 billion. In the end, the company decided not to purchase the messaging service, as it decided that it could make its own messaging service - Skype - better.
As it turns out, that strategy could be something called Skype Teams, which will aim to compete directly with Slack. First reported by MSPU, Skype Teams will be similar in terms of features to Slack.
What you see above is called "The Fun Picker", which users can utilize to send GIFs, images, and quite a bit more. You can also see that there"s a sidebar with shortcuts to different parts of the app. You can use Chat to find your different conversations, Teams to connect to different teams, Meetings to see your schedule, and Files to connect to your OneDrive.
The service will also include threaded conversations, which is very notably missing from Slack. This will allow users to directly reply to a message, and others to do the same. It"s similar to a commenting system.
According to the report, Skype Teams will come to Office 365 subscribers first, and it "may" come to other users later. There"s no reported timeline for an announcement or launch, but Microsoft"s Ignite conference is coming up later this month, so it"s possible that the firm might talk about it then. When it does launch, it will be available for Windows (including phones), iOS, and Android.
Source: MSPU