What Sarah said. ☺ My reasons are the same, in general.
And I agree with you, Howard. Slack could describe the benefits of the product
on their landing page. But they’re available from the
Product<https://slack.com/is> link on that page: https://slack.com/is.
I mentioned channels, private channels, direct messages, and native apps
yesterday. But Slack also offers drag and drop file sharing. Organizations (the
target market) need to upgrade to a paid version for bigger features, such as
10GB or 20GB file storage per team member, instead of the 5GB total for the
whole team that we have in the free version.
Cheers,
Nick
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sarah Maddox
Sent: Tuesday, 31 May 2016 7:23 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Slack "AusTechWriter" team
Hallo Howard and all
I can only speak for myself here - I'm guessing some people feel the same way
and others don't. There are 2 primary reasons I dive in and try things like
Slack. The first reason that it's a new technology (or in other cases, a new
medium if not new tech) and tech is my business (the thing that earns me my
bread and butter) as well as being fun (the thing that keeps me at my
keyboard). The second reason is that there are other people trying it out too,
and so I may get to meet new tech writers.
Sometimes I like the new thing, and add it to my list of tools for
communicating. In other cases, I try and then get out because the tool doesn't
suit me. A recent example of the latter is "Ello". I gave it my best shot, but
it didn't speak to me. I've heard that it's changed a lot since I was in there,
and has become a hangout for artists who populate it with beautiful imagery.
That's great to hear. I'm not particularly tempted to try again, as my artistic
skills are scarily lacking.
Cheers
Sarah
On 30 May 2016 at 13:50, Howard Silcock
<howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
This reminds me of the experiences I've had trying to find out more about
certain software applications. I go to their website, thinking I'll be able to
read about what it does and what benefits it might bring. But all I see is an
invitation to download a trial version. It's as if they're unable to tell me in
words what it might do for me, what benefits others have found. It doesn't
really take much to pique my interest, but surely you need something!
This invitation seems similar to me. What do we know about Slack? It's a
messaging application for teams. It's new, not from the 1990s. It uses a
proprietary protocol and JSON. You can ignore some conversations. Is that all
you can tell me? Yes, I could sign up and give it a go, but there are masses of
things I could sign up for. Why should I bother?
Howard
On Tuesday, 31 May 2016, Sarah Maddox
<sarahmaddoxmail@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:sarahmaddoxmail@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hallo Reg and all
That's a good point, Reg, about access to Slack being unavailable at some work
locations. There's a mobile app, but some work places may prefer us not to use
that either.
I'm currently on both Slack and this email list. Every now and then I've
considered leaving the latter, because of the tone of many of the replies. But
that has nothing to do with the recent appearance of Slack.
Slack uses a proprietary protocol, as I understand it, with JSON in the middle.
Evidently you can connect via IRC and XMPP:
https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/201727913-Connecting-to-Slack-over-IRC-and-XMPP
Cheers
Sarah
On 30 May 2016 at 06:51, r.hardman <zut@xxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:zut@xxxxxxxxxxx>>
wrote:
This seems to be just a fancy graphic front end to IRC !! Anyone here old
enough to remeber that, it is 1970s technology? It still serves me well
(#english channel), but at my current work site, access to IRC is blocked, as
it is to Slack.
Reg
Le 30 mai 2016 à 15:36, SUNTER Bede
<Bede.SUNTER@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:Bede.SUNTER@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> a écrit :
Hi Nick
I don’t know you, so please don’t take this personally.
But this is the inherent tomfoolery of innovation.
The Austechwriter list serves me perfectly well the way it is. I don’t care
that it’s 1990’s technology.
I’m still driving a car – that’s 19th century technology. Nothing wrong with
that.
Innovation is a good thing, but it’s a means to an end not an end in itself.
If innovation delivers something better, that’s great. If it simply delivers
something different, I may not be interested.
So, I’m a white man of a certain age who hangs with other white men of a
certain age. Phooey!
Bede
From:
austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nick Shears
Sent: Monday, 30 May 2016 1:41 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: atw: Re: Slack "AusTechWriter" team
Damn! Sorry, I did say I was new to Slack. ☺
You’ve now been invited. I’ll invite others using addresses from ATW emails I
still have on file.
Thanks,
Nick
From:
austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sonja McShane
Sent: Monday, 30 May 2016 1:37 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: atw: Re: Slack "AusTechWriter" team
Slack told me it “To start using Slack, you'll need to be invited by your Team
Administrator.”
Sonja McShane
From:
austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nick Shears
Sent: Monday, 30 May 2016 1:23 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: atw: Re: Slack "AusTechWriter" team
Ah, but in the ATW list, there’s no subset of channels. So you can’t choose to
focus on a conversation, or deliberately ignore it. ☺
From:
austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob T
Sent: Monday, 30 May 2016 12:58 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: atw: Re: Slack "AusTechWriter" team
You send messages (chat) within a channel, or privately (direct to another
person).