Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications

    Flock Moves Quickly to Woo HipChat Users Away From Slack

    By
    David Needle
    -
    August 1, 2018
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      collaboration app

      Flock, which offers a popular team messaging app, is giving HipChat and Stride users the chance to move to Flock Pro for free for a year. The news comes less than a week after Slack announced it had bought the intellectual property behind chat and messaging service HipChat and Stride, another chat and collaboration service launched last year. Both HipChat and Stride are owned by Atlassian.

      Slack said it will offer HipChat and Stride customers an easy migration path to Slack, its popular namesake messaging service. Atlassian said both products will be discontinued early next year.

      In a statement sent to eWEEK, Slack’s Chief Product Officer April Underwood detailed the reasons why the two companies are teaming up.

      “Slack and Atlassian have worked closely together for many years, and Atlassian’s tools, including Jira, Trello, and Bitbucket, have already been installed by hundreds of thousands of Slack teams. This deeper partnership exemplifies our shared belief that the world of enterprise software is moving to a model in which people are building their own technology stack with the highly specialized, interoperable tools that best suit their needs. Atlassian is doubling down on its extremely successful suite of products for IT, as Slack cements its position as the hub for all kinds of work—an open platform that serves as one interface where an entire company’s tools, knowledge, and human capital come together.”

      Ninad Raval, Flock’s director of product and design, argued that Flock should appeal more widely to companies that want messaging services for all their users, not just engineers and technical staff among whom Slack has gained a lot of fans and early buzz.

      “People who grew up with IRC [Internet Relay Chat] and the early internet know what channels are and what tools like Slack can do,” Raval told eWEEK. “But we have a much wider appeal for those people who are new to these technologies. Our core sweet spot is wider than Slack’s in places like the HR and marketing departments.”

      Raval said at the end of the free year, Flock Pro users can downgrade to the free version if they don’t need all the features. “We understand chat is important, and we don’t want to keep people out, so unlicensed members can still do basic messaging,” he added.

      Analyst Charles King said he is not surprised by Flock’s move.
      “Any time one vendor is acquired by another, competitors will look for opportunities to peel off unhappy or dissatisfied users,” King, principal analyst with Pund-IT, told eWEEK via email. “The pickings can be especially rich when the acquiring company decides to kill or prematurely sunset popular products or services. That’s the scenario that Flock is aiming towards and the company’s pairing easy to use migration tools with a year’s worth of free service is likely to find some willing takers among HipChat and Stride users.” (Editor’s note: Technically, it’s Atlassian, not Slack, that will stop supporting the products next year.)

      Meanwhile, even as Slack, Flock and others move to pick up former HipChat and Stride customers, Microsoft is making significant progress in the same corporate messaging/chat space with its Teams collaborative chat application. Teams only debuted two years ago but is available to 135 million Microsoft Office 365 subscribers. Microsoft also offers a free version, just as Slack, Flock and others do.

      Facebook also offers a rival service called Workplace.

      David Needle
      Based in Silicon Valley, veteran technology reporter David Needle covers mobile, bi g data, and social media among other topics. He was formerly News Editor at Infoworld, Editor of Computer Currents and TabTimes and West Coast Bureau Chief for both InformationWeek and Internet.com.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×