Microsoft Teams, the popular chat and collaboration platform, is getting a major overhaul in 2023. The company announced that the Windows version of the revamped Microsoft Teams will become the default later in 2023, replacing the current desktop app.
In an interview for the new Microsoft IT-based podcast UnplugIT, (via Petri), Anupam Pattnaik, Microsoft's Product Lead for new Teams says the company is currently tweaking things before Windows Teams becomes default next year.
“Right now, the classic Teams is the default because we do not have all the features that we support in classic Teams in the new Teams. That's the reason we have right now classic Teams as the default option, but sometime later this calendar year, we'll make the new Teams the default option when we have feature parity, and when we feel confident that users can switch to the new Teams.”
The new Microsoft Teams is built on a modern web stack and offers a faster, simpler, and more consistent user experience across devices. It also supports new features such as adaptive cards, live reactions, and fluid components.
New Teams Will Reach Preview This Year
According to Microsoft, the new Microsoft Teams will be available as a preview in early 2023 and will gradually roll out to all users throughout the year. Users will be able to switch between the old and new versions until the end of 2023, when the old version will be retired.
Microsoft Teams is one of the most widely used communication and collaboration tools in the world, with over 250 million monthly active users. It integrates with other Microsoft 365 apps and services, such as Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Power BI.
Microsoft Teams is also available for Mac, iOS, Android, and web browsers. The company did not specify if the other platforms will also receive the new version of Microsoft Teams in 2023. The new Teams experience for Windows was announced in March.
The new Microsoft Teams experience focuses on performance improvements more than adding a glut of new features. That's not really a problem as since 2021, Microsoft has rolled out new features at a rate of more than one per day.
Microsoft points out the team app will now install 3x faster on Windows and launch/join meetings two times faster. The app also has less of an impact on system resources, consuming 50 percent less memory and 70 percent less disk space.
