<story><title>Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead</title><url>http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/04/source-microsoft-mulled-an-8-billion-bid-for-slack-will-focus-on-skype-instead/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chollida1</author><text>I wonder if the outcome would have been different if Slack was incorporated outside of the US where Microsoft could use some of its non domiciled cash on the acquisition?&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ibtimes.com&amp;#x2F;microsoft-admits-keeping-92-billion-offshore-avoid-paying-29-billion-us-taxes-1665938&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ibtimes.com&amp;#x2F;microsoft-admits-keeping-92-billion-o...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also interesting to think that Slack could be worth so much.  Look at ICQ, Microsoft instant messenger, etc.&lt;p&gt;It seems as though slack like tools get eclipsed every 5-10 years as a new generation comes along with a new favorite tool.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d be interested in hearing from someone who would argue that slack will be a dominate communication tool in 5-8 years time and still exist in a meaningful way in 10 years time.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lmm</author><text>Frankly Slack&amp;#x27;s success is the utter failure of every alternative on the UX side. MSN messenger was perhaps wrong-footed by the shift to multi-device, but none of the other tools have such an excuse. It&amp;#x27;s not a generational thing, it&amp;#x27;s an incredible level of, there&amp;#x27;s no other word, incompetence on the part of the makers of major messaging software (Skype in particular).</text></comment>
<story><title>Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead</title><url>http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/04/source-microsoft-mulled-an-8-billion-bid-for-slack-will-focus-on-skype-instead/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chollida1</author><text>I wonder if the outcome would have been different if Slack was incorporated outside of the US where Microsoft could use some of its non domiciled cash on the acquisition?&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ibtimes.com&amp;#x2F;microsoft-admits-keeping-92-billion-offshore-avoid-paying-29-billion-us-taxes-1665938&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ibtimes.com&amp;#x2F;microsoft-admits-keeping-92-billion-o...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also interesting to think that Slack could be worth so much.  Look at ICQ, Microsoft instant messenger, etc.&lt;p&gt;It seems as though slack like tools get eclipsed every 5-10 years as a new generation comes along with a new favorite tool.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d be interested in hearing from someone who would argue that slack will be a dominate communication tool in 5-8 years time and still exist in a meaningful way in 10 years time.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gshulegaard</author><text>&amp;gt; It seems as though slack like tools get eclipsed every 5-10 years as a new generation comes along with a new favorite tool.&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#x27;ve definitely got a point there.  Although I do want to mention that part of the reason Slack eclipsed other tools was, in part, its Websocket based protocol.  They have created a fairly complete unified messaging application because of it (IMO).&lt;p&gt;They were the first movers in the area.  I don&amp;#x27;t know if I would provide much of a meaningful discussion regarding the longer term viability of Slack, but I think they have a chance to be meaningful, maybe even dominate in 10 years time.&lt;p&gt;They are already Websocket based and they are moving towards WebRTC support...if they take that direction and add P2P support to provide truly secure encrypted communications where certificates are negotiated P2P, then I think they will explode to even greater heights than they have already achieved.  Of course, this is not a simple task, but the business implications of truly secure communications channels would be compelling for most corporate enterprises.&lt;p&gt;Now this is not the same as 100% secure endpoints, but it would be a massive step in the right direction.&lt;p&gt;Edit: Forgot to add P2P link...
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;developer.mozilla.org&amp;#x2F;en-US&amp;#x2F;docs&amp;#x2F;Web&amp;#x2F;Guide&amp;#x2F;API&amp;#x2F;WebRTC&amp;#x2F;Peer-to-peer_communications_with_WebRTC&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;developer.mozilla.org&amp;#x2F;en-US&amp;#x2F;docs&amp;#x2F;Web&amp;#x2F;Guide&amp;#x2F;API&amp;#x2F;WebRT...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>