Client is looking for a IM program.

[computertechguy]

What do you like to use for a small office 10 people or so NOT using any Microsoft Office applications and want it on the desktop and not necessarily a mobile device. Group chat would be a key. I looked at ICQ and it looks like you need to register via an SMS message (we don't want the employees to need to input a phone number but an email address.

Free would be awesome..

 

[DataMedics]

I don't recall needing a cell phone to register with ICQ. But, then again I haven't used it for about a decade.

What about Skype?

 

[computertechguy]

I don't recall needing a cell phone to register with ICQ. But, then again I haven't used it for about a decade.

What about Skype?

Yeah Skype is a thought..

 

[computertechguy]

However I am thinking if they use a paid service it would prevent the staff from adding their friends to the IM... A proprietary service would prevent that.?

 

[gpg]

Take a look at https://rocket.chat/ community edition.

gpg

 

[glennd]

https://telegram.org
it requires a cell phone to set up but then you can choose to use it on the phone or on a web browser.

 

[nerd2u]

Slack?

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[Sky-Knight]

Funny how the first thing he says is... no O365... and then the first suggestion is Skype... when Teams IS Skype...

Anyway, my favored IM tool, is also a bit of magic for those that want to be off the grid so to speak.

https://signal.org/

Encrypted IM to keep out prying eyes, while also being rather easy to use. I pay nothing for it, the only downside in a commercial environment is technically the accounts are personal and not centrally managed.

I'll also echo Nerd2u's suggestion of Slack, in many ways it's better than Teams, but it's not free.

 

[trevm999]

Mattermost - an open source Slack alternative.
If you use the GitLab integrated version you can get AD integration in with only using CE

 

[cyabro]

Used this at a couple of sites:
http://lanmsngr.sourceforge.net/

Works well.
Hasn’t been updated in a while but works fine with win10.

 

[Your PCMD]

Do they want an internal - private - IM? If so, Openfire and Spark.

I have the Openfire running on a Dell R210 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for over 2 years without a hitch at a business. Its running version 4.3 with Spark 2.7.7. They love it. Best of all, its free.

Also, they have a version for Windows as well if you want to go that route.

 

[DataMedics]

unny how the first thing he says is... no O365... and then the first suggestion is Skype... when Teams IS Skype...

All he said was...

NOT using any Microsoft Office

Never said they were opposed to using a MS application. You don't need to be using full O365 suite to install a desktop instance of Skype.

 

[nerd2u]

All he said was...


Never said they were opposed to using a MS application. You don't need to be using full O365 suite to install a desktop instance of Skype.

My guess is the users wording was meant to encompass Microsoft offerings as a whole and they simply don't understand the depth of software/services offered by MS.

My guess is it's a cost thing

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[Sky-Knight]

@DataMedics You don't have to have a paid subscription to use Teams either...

So yeah in my case ruling out O365 removed this rather obvious choice:

https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/free

But that was still me not reading correctly...so my bad.

 

[mh348]

Slack is awesome, we've been using it for the past 2 years and haven't had any issues.

 

[JoeMcDonalds]

Why dont try teams if the Client is using Office 365 as their Email provider

 

[JoeMcDonalds]

So did you selected any good one.

 

[Umbra]

Flock: Desktop, Browser and Android platform.

 

[ryan_fts]

Slack, Discord, Skype. Although admittedly Discord is geared towards gamers, but it works extremely well and would get the job done for an office.

 

[Umbra]

if you are a privacy paranoid, Slack is the last thing you want...