Microsoft Teams is now officially bigger than Slack

guest · Jan 30, 2023

Here are some new features coming to Microsoft Teams in March
By Usama Jawad @UsamaJawad9 - January 29, 2023

A couple of days ago, we learned that Microsoft is adding insights like birthdays, career changes, and pending meeting invites to Teams profile cards soon.

For starters, Teams is getting "ultrasound howling detection" on Windows and Mac. Basically, when multiple people join a Teams meeting in the same room with their respective mics and speakers on, it results in echoes and "howling" sounds due to the audio feedback loop. Microsoft is solving this problem by automatically detecting when more than one laptop is in the vicinity for the same meeting and if at least one has their mic on.
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Moreover, Teams on Windows and Mac will also get support for an "Explicit Recording Consent" policy, which is exactly what the name implies. Before you consent, your audio, video, and content shared on your screen won't be recorded.
There are a few more nifty enhancements here and there too.

All of the aforementioned features are planned for general availability in March 2023 but it is important to understand that timelines mentioned on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap are tentative so they can slip.
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guest · Jan 31, 2023

Here are all the new features Microsoft added to Teams in January 2023
By Usama Jawad @UsamaJawad9 - January 31, 2023

Microsoft Teams gets new features and updates regularly, which makes sense given that it's one of the most used online communication and collaboration tools available. At the end of each month, Microsoft publishes a detailed changelog of all the new capabilities added to Teams and now, it has done the same for January 2023.
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Starting off with meetings enhancements, we have a paginated view for videos. This basically means that if your screen is not large enough to display the video streams from all the meetings attendants, you can utilize pages to see other attendants. Moreover, teachers and students can access meeting recording directly inside their Learning Management System (LMS).
Over on the webinars front, there is a better management experience with more customization options such as details, presenter bios, themes, and more.

Switching gears to Teams Rooms and Devices enhancements, a Whiteboard can be started in a Teams meetings through a Teams Rooms on Windows device. Meeting chats can be shown or hidden in various gallery modes and there are improvements to the notification experience as well.
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Last, we have some improvements for frontline workers and Government customers.
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Microsoft: What’s New in Microsoft Teams | January 2023

By Holly Lehman @Lehman__Holly - Januar 31, 2023
Welcome to the “What’s New” blog for January 2023. We are excited to share the latest enhancements made for meetings and webinar experiences. We love seeing the updates to whiteboard capabilities because this allows more collaboration experiences while both in or out of the office. And if you are an IT administrator, check out the updates for the Management category, which offer more and more ways to be efficient. Leave us your comments on this post!
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guest · Jan 31, 2023

Microsoft Teams brings new video filters to spice up your online meetings
By Rahul Naskar @NonsenseC_UAA - January 31, 2023

Microsoft's own Skype and rival platform Zoom have had the ability for years to make online video meetings much more interesting through several video filters. But for some reason, Teams was deprived of support for such visual effects for a long time. That changes today, as Microsoft has finally started rolling out new video filters for Teams.
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Video filters in Teams aren't exactly new, however. Teams desktop app allows you to tweak some basic stuff, such as the ability to control brightness. But Teams' latest video filter offering aims to take the whole experience to another level. Besides the brightness controller, Teams users will also be able to add different Frames and Styles to augment the video stream experience.

As noted by Microsoft, the new visual effects have some limitations:

The video filters can be enabled/disabled by app level from the Tenant Admin Center.

Feature is not available in EDU tenants

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Microsoft Teams video filters are expected to hit general availability in February.
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guest · Feb 1, 2023

Microsoft Teams Premium is now generally available, brings advanced webinars
By Usama Jawad @UsamaJawad9 - February 1, 2023

Back in December 2022, Microsoft announced a preview of Teams Premium, its new and more expensive SKU of Teams geared towards enterprises who want more functionalities when conducting webinars and large online gatherings. Later, we also found out that Microsoft is actually taking away some existing features from Teams and integrating them exclusively into Team Premium. Today, Teams Premium is generally available along with advanced webinars.
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The key selling points Microsoft is highlighting within advanced webinars is "dynamic and richer" experiences before and during a meeting. In terms of the setup, both Teams Premium and the existing webinars in Office 365 / Microsoft 365 now allow adding event details, co-organizers, presenter bios, brand theming, and custom questions. Registrations can be managed for up to 1,000 attendees and you can view their attendance status as well.

Custom registration start and end times for webinars can be configured, along with waitlists and approval queues. Organizers will also be able to send automated reminder emails from March 2023 to hype up attendees for an upcoming webinar.
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An exclusive feature coming to Teams Premium is also support Microsoft eCDN in Teams Live Events. This will reduce the load on the enterprise network without the need to install anything on endpoints.

Lastly, we have a couple of integrations. The first connects Teams to Meta Workplace Live, and we already know that it's being planned for March. The other is a new plugin for integration within the Elgato Stream Deck, and that is planned for general availability this month.
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Although the Teams Premium website on our end still doesn't indicate that the product is generally available, Microsoft claims in its blog post that is, so expect details on the website to change soon. The license is expected to cost $10/month/user, according to the FAQs.
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Microsoft: Delivering new webinar experiences with Microsoft Teams

By Amber Waisanen - February 1, 2023
As economic conditions continue to be uncertain and hybrid poses a unique challenge to keep people connected, organizations everywhere are asking the question “How can we do more with less?” and are looking to optimize and consolidate for cost savings and efficiencies while accelerating growth – and the virtual events space has been no exception.

Today, we’re excited to share how we’ve evolving the webinar experience in Teams, both the new advanced webinars within Teams Premium generally available now and existing webinars within Office 365 and Microsoft 365 offerings. Below, we’ll take a closer look at how Microsoft Teams is delivering new engaging and richer digital-first event experiences.
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guest · Feb 2, 2023

Microsoft Teams Premium ships with OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 technology
By Kevin Okemwa - February 2, 2023

After Microsoft released Teams Premium to general availability with new advanced webinars yesterday, there’s a notable feature that stood out from the rest. The tool is powered by OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 technology. The addition will by design make meetings “more intelligent, personalized, and protected”.
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Microsoft: Microsoft Teams Premium: Cut costs and add AI-powered productivity

February 1, 2023
At Microsoft, we’re working to incorporate new, AI-powered capabilities across our consumer and enterprise products, including Microsoft Teams.

As part of this continuous innovation, I’m excited to share that Microsoft Teams Premium is generally available. Built on the familiar, all-in-one collaborative experience of Microsoft Teams, Teams Premium brings the latest technologies, including Large Language Models powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, to make meetings more intelligent, personalized, and protected—whether it’s one-on-one, large meetings, virtual appointments, or webinars.1
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guest · Feb 3, 2023

You can now use hardware made for game streamers in Microsoft Teams with a new plugin
By John Callaham @JCalNEO - February 3, 2023

If you love to go on Twitch or YouTube to live stream your gaming session for anyone to see, you likely are familiar with the Elgato Stream Deck. It makes streaming your video easier with many shortcut buttons that you can use to go live quickly, switch cameras while still playing, interact with your followers, and more. Now Microsoft has released an official plugin for the Elgato Stream Deck that turns it into a device that works with Microsoft Teams.
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The new plugin was announced by Microsoft earlier this week but is now available to download. Microsoft's support forums offer more info on how to install and use it on the Elgato Stream Deck. You can use the device's shortcut buttons to turn your camera on and off while in Teams, blur your background, raise or lower your hand, and turn on and off other features like mute and record. You can even use it to display live reactions during a Teams meeting.
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guest · Feb 5, 2023

Free Microsoft Teams (classic) to be discontinued, data backup required by April 12, 2023
by guenni - February 5, 2023

Microsoft has announced, that the free offer of Microsoft Teams (classic) will be terminated. Companies should switch to the paid Microsoft Teams Essentials subscription. However, there is still a free option to use Microsoft Teams. But those who have been using Microsoft Teams (classic) for free until now will have to take action, as existing accounts will be deleted after the offer ends on April 12, 2023.
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Discontinuation effective April 12, 2023
The information that the free version of Microsoft Teams will be discontinued can be found on the Microsoft page Microsoft Teams Free (classic) is retiring.

That's a clear announcement, aimed primarily at companies that have used Microsoft Teams for their communications for free via a corresponding app.
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Microsoft: Microsoft Teams Free (classic) is retiring

After April 12, 2023, Microsoft Teams Free (classic), the legacy free Teams app for business, will no longer be available.

Upgrading to Microsoft Teams Essentials is the easiest way to continue using Teams and maintain access to all your chats, files, teams, and meetings. Teams Essentials also provides unlimited group meetings for up to 30 hours in length with up to 300 participants per meeting, and 10 GB of cloud storage per user—all for only $4.00 per user/month.1
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ronjor · Jul 27, 2023

EU opens Microsoft antitrust investigation into Teams bundling

By Tom Warren Jul 27, 2023
The European Commission will now carry out an in-depth investigation into whether Microsoft may have breached EU competition rules by tying or bundling Microsoft Teams to its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 productivity suites.
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