MS Teams - Is there a new preview or version for Business M365?

[britechguy]

Here at home, I don't have the business version of Teams, and I am not currently working any jobs where I see the M365 Business version of Teams at all frequently. Elsewhere, someone said, "I decided to try the new Teams offered by Microsoft," and other than that, I've not heard any buzz about a New Teams.

Is anything in the process of rolling out. If so, how is the look and feel different between "old" Teams and "new?"

 

[britechguy]

I did find this:

Switch to the new Microsoft Teams​

It's a bit of a shock to see this date from last October. Either I've been living under a rock as far as the tech press and venues like this are concerned or this is one of the "least trumpeted updates" Microsoft has initiated recently. I've heard way more about Outlook for Windows Preview, which replaces Mail, People, and Calendar apps, than I ever heard about this. Even web searches are primarily finding a few pages direct from Microsoft with no broader discussion to speak of.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yup for the past several months...lots of client calls/tickets about "The New Teams" and/or "The New Outlook".
Myself....I still keep disabling both new versions!

 

[trevm999]

Well, the old Teams app was pretty horrible. I use the new one it and it's at least much better for resource usage, but I just use it for video calls/meetings.

 

[SAFCasper]

Yup for the past several months...lots of client calls/tickets about "The New Teams" and/or "The New Outlook".
Myself....I still keep disabling both new versions!

Just in case unaware - 31st March everyone is getting "New Teams" whether they like it or not.

End of availability for classic Teams client - Microsoft Teams

Learn about the end date for support and the end of availability for classic Teams client in regard to various groups of Teams users.

learn.microsoft.com

 

[britechguy]

And soon enough everyone who happens to use the Mail (and/or People and/or Calendar) apps on Win10 or 11 are going to get the new Outlook for Windows (the next entry in the endless parade of Outlook branding that confuses all). I'm expecting an avalanche of calls from my client base when that occurs with claims of, "I had no idea that was happening!," even though the Mail App has been giving fair warning for some time now.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Well, the old Teams app was pretty horrible. I use the new one it and it's at least much better for resource usage, but I just use it for video calls/meetings.

We live and breath in it heavily every day, we were early adopters and I get clients to heavily collaborate in Teams too!
I look at resource usage complaints with a raised eyebrow like when people complain about a browser or accounting app or Outlook using lots of resources. Way way back when I first got into supporting business clients only for a career (Windows 95a and 95b was the norm)...the guy I worked under taught me to design/build clients networks based on being "application driven". That is...don't take any old typical generic computer/server/network and shoehorn line of business apps into it, rather...find out what it takes to optimally run those LOB apps...and build/install based on that. Thus I formed the habit of not going with "minimum specs". Anyways, right now..on a laptop that has not rebooted in weeks, just had the lid open/closed a hundred times...Teams is hovering around 850 megs of RAM use. Sometimes it can balloon over a gig. But RAM is cheap....my laptop has 16 gigs and all apps run smooth as buttah!

 

[trevm999]

We live and breath in it heavily every day, we were early adopters and I get clients to heavily collaborate in Teams too!
I look at resource usage complaints with a raised eyebrow like when people complain about a browser or accounting app or Outlook using lots of resources. Way way back when I first got into supporting business clients only for a career (Windows 95a and 95b was the norm)...the guy I worked under taught me to design/build clients networks based on being "application driven". That is...don't take any old typical generic computer/server/network and shoehorn line of business apps into it, rather...find out what it takes to optimally run those LOB apps...and build/install based on that. Thus I formed the habit of not going with "minimum specs". Anyways, right now..on a laptop that has not rebooted in weeks, just had the lid open/closed a hundred times...Teams is hovering around 850 megs of RAM use. Sometimes it can balloon over a gig. But RAM is cheap....my laptop has 16 gigs and all apps run smooth as buttah!

I've got 32GB. 1GB is still a lot for an app sitting there not doing anything that's not a part of your main workflows. Sometimes running Visual Studio, VSCode, WSL2, minikube, etc. so it's not like I can just let any app take 1GB without noticing.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I've got 32GB. 1GB is still a lot for an app sitting there not doing anything that's not a part of your main workflows. Sometimes running Visual Studio, VSCode, WSL2, minikube, etc. so it's not like I can just let any app take 1GB without noticing.

What has your max RAM usage actually been though? Have you averaged above 85% consumption of your RAM?
Right now I'm just doing some morning surfing and browsing real estate, Teams (classic) running..in the background, not actively in a "meeting" or running any apps from within Teams...she's just using 367 megs. Nothing I'm fretting over...just IMO...

 

[trevm999]

What has your max RAM usage actually been though? Have you averaged above 85% consumption of your RAM?
Right now I'm just doing some morning surfing and browsing real estate, Teams (classic) running..in the background, not actively in a "meeting" or running any apps from within Teams...she's just using 367 megs. Nothing I'm fretting over...just IMO...
View attachment 15813

I rebooted last night, and don't have everything I normally use going. Old Teams used to get up to 1GB+ just sitting there, but new Teams has been good

 

[trevm999]

Old teams was also a PITA to get working properly in an RDS Farm using FSLogix, but I don't know if new Teams is any better. If it was up to me they would have just uses it via web browser in that case. The thing is you design for the LoB application, and then new things come along.

 

[trevm999]

Design decisions are all about tradeoffs, you can't always have the optimal setup for every app. Which is nice when a vendor plays nice... with their own other products.

 

[britechguy]

Design decisions are all about tradeoffs, you can't always have the optimal setup for every app.

Design decisions about operating systems (all of them) are the ultimate in tradeoffs. Can you imagine just how many arguments have to be made at Microsoft and Apple and at the many Linux distro producers about how to balance the wants and needs of the target demographics they intend to serve? It boggles the mind.

Software that is commercially produced is "off the rack," not bespoke. It's up to the purchaser to "make alterations" to the extent the software allows and deal with what it doesn't.

 

[John Kennedy]

That is...don't take any old typical generic computer/server/network and shoehorn line of business apps into it, rather...find out what it takes to optimally run those LOB apps...and build/install based on that.

An excellent philosophy of IT, and one I share. As far as old Teams vs new Teams for my business clients (and myself for my tiny use case), I prefer the old one. The new one is similar to new Outlook. Some functionality is missing, runs almost like it does in the web browser anyway. It seems like these new ones aren't traditional applications at all. I also find new Teams to have some compatibility issues with some camera hardware vs old Teams. Full fat programs seem to run better than these new ones. I miss MS Office apps that weren't click-to-run. So much more stable with less issues in licensing.

I'm eventually not going to have the choice I'm sure. Until then, I'll prefer stability to performance in LoB apps any day.

 

[trevm999]

An excellent philosophy of IT, and one I share. As far as old Teams vs new Teams for my business clients (and myself for my tiny use case), I prefer the old one. The new one is similar to new Outlook. Some functionality is missing, runs almost like it does in the web browser anyway. It seems like these new ones aren't traditional applications at all. I also find new Teams to have some compatibility issues with some camera hardware vs old Teams. Full fat programs seem to run better than these new ones. I miss MS Office apps that weren't click-to-run. So much more stable with less issues in licensing.

I'm eventually not going to have the choice I'm sure. Until then, I'll prefer stability to performance in LoB apps any day.

I have some news for you, old Teams was an Electron app, so not a traditional app. Both old and new are like fancy web browsers