Microsoft Teams: The Disconnect between Users and Features

August 5, 2022

I have mentioned that “free” Microsoft Teams does not work on my Mac Mini which I use for Facetime, Zoom, and WebEx meetings. The Massachusetts Attorney General knows about my problems first hand. Let’s just say that there were fewer than 30 investigators who recognized that Microsoft and Apple are not exactly in sync.

I read “Microsoft Says It Added More Than 450 New Teams Capabilities in the Past Year.” In the past year, there have been some issues with Windows updates killing printers and a few trivial security gaffes. Hey, who is trying to make a league table of Microsoft software vulnerabilities? Not me.

The write up states:

officials also updated investors on Teams momentum a bit, saying they’ve added more than 450 capabilities over the past year.

Among the technological gems added, according to the write up, were in the words of the write up, “It is unclear what “Teams capabilities” means, but that can cover things across chat, meetings, integrations with Microsoft Viva, and a lot more.”

Okay, unclear. I did a quick search on Swisscows.com for Microsoft Teams features. Here are a few of the precious stones presented to me:

Adjust filter brightness
Background blur
A horizontal participant gallery
A customer lockbox
Day view in calendar
Anonymous meeting join across clouds

And more than 440 more important additions.

My view is very simple. Why not get Teams to work for those who are using Mac Minis? You know. Basic functional reliability. Microsoft Teams, like Zoom, is essentially a telephone call, right? And why not get that printer thing fixed? And security? I think that particular issue is unfixable. Sorry but that’s just my opinion, not a PowerPoint about Microsoft’s security capabilities. PowerPoints are easy. Delivering what customers and users want is much more difficult.

Do the MSFT priorities pursue the trivial, not the substantive?

Stephen E Arnold, August 5, 2022

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Business strategy, Microsoft, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.