Microsoft prepares to launch its Slack competitor

Microsoft is preparing to launch its direct Slack competitor with the name of ‘Microsoft Teams’. This new service is expected to be unveiled in the Office event being held on November 2nd.

It has been rumored for a long time that Microsoft is working on a service similar to Slack. It was first named as Skype Teams in internal discussions at Microsoft. However, the verge report that Microsoft has finally settled on the name Microsoft Teams for its initial release.The leaked screenshots show its obvious resemblance to Slack. Microsoft teams support channels for groups, alongside private messages and the ability to embed emoji, giphy images, meme photos, and more. It also appears to integrate with Skype for video and audio chats, and Office 365 for access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.

The feature is expected to go live at teams.microsoft.com and is currently being tested by Microsoft employees. Some other users have also reported getting past the initial login screen to access the app download page.

Skype Teams = Microsoft Teams ? https://t.co/l8yVE3Ehkk pic.twitter.com/TdamYPLgcw

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) October 25, 2016

The feature, alongside with other big announcements for Office, will be unveiled at the November 2nd event being held at Microsoft headquarters. It remains to be seen if it will provide enough competition to Slack at its launch or if it will take some time to catch up to its competitors. We will be back with more details once the service is officially released by the Redmond tech giant.