[German]After a preview phase that started in spring 2023, Microsoft has now released its Teams 2.0 client for macOS and Windows in general. The promise: This new client is supposed to use fewer resources and also be faster than the old client. And some new features have probably been added.
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The announcement to completely rewrite the Teams client was made in March 2023 in this Techcommunity post. The background was probably massive user complaints about the resource consumption of the old Teams client. The goal of the rewrite was to make the new client faster, easier, and more flexible to work with.
The promise at the time of the preview release was that the new Teams app would start up to 2 times faster. The new Teams app has been optimized for more efficient use of system resources and consumes up to 50% less memory than its predecessor.
Furthermore, the new client offers support for users who collaborate across organizations and manage multiple work or school accounts. They can be logged into multiple organizations and accounts at the same time and receive notifications for all accounts, regardless of which one is currently in use. The new Teams is also expected to provide simplified IT management and improved data security, Microsoft said.
Microsoft Teams 2.0 client available
Now Microsoft has announced the general availability of the new Microsoft Teams app for Windows and Mac in the Techcommunity post Announcing general availability of the new Microsoft Teams app for Windows and Mac. The new Teams 2.0 client now has full feature parity for almost all functions, Microsoft writes. That includes custom line-of-business apps, third-party apps, group rooms, 7×7 video, call queues, PSTN calls, contextual search in chats and channels, cross-posting a channel conversation and more.
Teams 2.0, Source: Microsoft
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The new Teams client is also said to be ready for Microsoft Copilot. It is said that Copilot in Teams will help users keep track of their tasks. Copilot is supposed to allow users to update conversations, make meetings more effective, and bring everything together in one place. Currently, however, it's unclear to me how Microsoft Copilot in Teams 2.0 will be deployed for European customers.
According to this Microsoft page, the client will be available from October 2023 (i.e. immediately) and will be rolled out to users gradually over the coming months. Those who want to switch to Teams 2.0 immediately can do so via a "Try new Teams" button in the title bar – this also allows users to switch back to the Classic Teams client for a transition period. However, administrators in companies can control whether users get the new Teams client (see this post).
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