Microsoft held an event today announcing a number of changes and upcoming
launches. Two of the major pieces of news include a consumer version its
communication and collaboration software "Teams" coming this year and its
Office 365 suite rebranded as "Microsoft 365" plans.
Microsoft Teams for consumers
As the competition between <https://9to5mac.com/guides/slack/> Slack and
the major tech giants heats up,
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-teams/id1113153706> Microsoft Teams
has become a popular choice for communication and collaboration in the
enterprise. Now the service that brings together Microsoft's widely used
apps, chat, video calling and more will be arriving in a new consumer
version that will land sometime later this year (via
<https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/30/microsoft-teams-is-coming-to-consumers-bu
t-skype-is-here-to-stay/> TechCrunch).
The app will allow users to easily move between personal and work accounts
and let families connect with calendars, photos, to-dos, chat, and video.
Just like you can switch between work and personal accounts in Outlook, you
will soon be able to do the same in Teams. The personal teams view will look
a little bit different, with shared calendars for the family, access to
OneDrive vaults, photo sharing, etc., but it sits on the same codebase as
the business version. You'll also be able to do video calls and shared to-do
lists.
Even though Teams will land for the masses, it won't be replacing Skype.
Here's how Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's corporate VP for Modern Life, Search and
Devices sees Teams and Skype as different products:
"Skype continues," he said when I asked him about the future of that
service. "We remain committed to Skype. Skype today is used by a hundred
million people on a monthly basis. The way I think about it is that Skype is
a great solution today for personal use. A lot of broadcast companies use it
as well. Teams is really the more robust offering, as you will, where in
addition to doing video and chat calling, we also bring in rich
communications and templates [.], we have things like dashboard and it also
helps you pull in a richer set of tools."
Microsoft 365 plans
As for Office 365, it will be rebranded as Microsoft 365 for personal and
family plans next month. Pricing stays the same at $7 or $10/month,
respectively and will officially debut on April 21st.
<https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/30/office-365-becomes-microsoft-365-and-gets
-new-personal-and-family-plans/> TechCrunch got a quote from Microsoft on
the change:
"We are basically evolving our subscription from - in our minds - a set of
tools to solutions that help you manage across your work and life," Yusuf
Mehdi, Microsoft's CVP of Modern Life, Search and Devices, told me ahead of
today's announcement.
More
Further changes for Microsofts apps and services will include improved
writing through AI with Microsoft Word online, the ability to link bank
accounts in Microsoft Excel, a presentation coach for PowerPoint, and
improved functionality for Outlook on the web like integrating personal and
work accounts.
In related news,
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/02/19/unified-microsoft-office-for-ios-app-exits-b
eta-with-word-excel-powerpoint/> Microsoft launched its unified Office suite
for iPhone last month bringing together Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote
in a single app.
By <https://9to5mac.com/author/michaelpotuck/> Michael Potuck
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