People are making the valid comparison of Hipchat and Slack, which is to be expected. But, this is a deeper move by Atlassian.
Atlassian's business model is still "All roads lead to JIRA/Confluence." It's why so many of their products are free. This isn't as much a Hipchat v. Slack/IRC/Google/Campfire move, as adding another road to JIRA.
What absolutely killed HipChat for our team was the fact that its not possible to use HipChat for multiple teams. Need to be logged into multiple accounts at the same time (i.e your own team and your client's team)? Not possible.
Their suggested solution is to use multiple different clients (i.e. one native, one browser) at the same time, which is beyond ridiculous.
I just switched our team to JIRA for this exact reason. We were already on Bitbucket for repos and using Sourcetree for git access, so might as well get issue tracking from the same place.
Honestly my feelings on it are mixed so far. Doing a "good" job of administering projects and issues seems to have a pretty steep learning curve if you want to use more than about 10% of JIRA's functionality.
Yep, and that's not a bad thing. I'm not convinced that there would be much of a profitable market for a group chat tool, but if it convinces a couple of organisations to look more closely a Jira, then it's worth it for them.
HipChat is probably under fire from Slack. That's why I think they are making this change, because I just made the transition a few weeks ago and Slack has been amazing. Once you go Slack, you never go back.
I disagree. We tried Slack on our 26-person team and left it after a week. It had a few fans, but most people found the interface to be more complex and noisy than HipChat. Lots of red icons and blue banners that could not be disabled. No ability to see at a glance who is in a room without clicking the list and scrolling through it. The integrations were nice and the search was amazing, but those things were less important to us than the frictionless communication tools, which HipChat has nailed. Additionally, Slack lacks a distinction between @all and @here, which is frustrating when you want to announce something in a room without emailing everyone present.
We were diehard HipChat users at my company, then one day I discovered Slack.com. Within a week it was our dominant messaging platform, not least because we could invite the entire company to use it for free (instead of just the development team).
From a product design standpoint, Slack is streets ahead of the conservative HipChat.
We were looking for something better than campfire and tested slack and flowdock. Settled with flowdock, which in my opinion is much better, but is less hyped.
I really liked slack but in the end we went for hipchat for a two main reasons.
1. It's 25% of the cost (although that has now shifted). This may not be a big deal for small teams but if you want to have 100 users on either service, the difference is between $2,400 a year or $9,600 a year. That's a big difference.
2. Hipchat has a self hosted option in the works which should be available within a month or two (per them). This is essential for any company that deals with potential PHI on their IM systems. Slack says they plan to offer a self hosted option but it's a long way out.
Those are two things slack just couldn't overcome, beyond the fact that I generally liked slack better (it's prettier, much better message searching, better integrations, etc). The fact that hipchat also has voice chat is a big plus too though we've not found it reliable. Presumably at some point it will get better though and make it a more valuable feature.
They are definitely feeling pressure as users are demanding and expecting more from their communication tools. Slack's done a good job at bringing more to the table, but we're really just at the start of a renaissance in business communication.
If you think about "chat" in generations, you started with IRC, AIM (which is still used in many companies) and then came HipChat. Not much development there for a couple years so Slack put some lipstick on the last generation of chat product. There's a whole new class of communication platforms being developed now that are taking things even further, by enabling true cross-company communication (meaning both internal & external), things like customer support integrated with internal team communication, etc.
Any thoughts/justifications for pricing? The only thing holding us back is that Slack costs 4x as much ($8 instead of $2). While this isn't a big spend at the end of the day, we're sort of anchored at $2. There's nothing terribly wrong with hipchat, seems to address all our (simple) chat needs, and switching to slack doesn't seem to give us 4x as much value.
So far the best reasoning I have is that we're a mostly-dev team, and that there's something for non-devs that is appealing in Slack, but surely it's not a prettier interface? I'm genuinely curious, as I'd like to justify switching to the prettier product. :)
Can we run multiple organizations from the same client of Slack? That and an ability to refer to a specific comment/message (like Flowdock's threaded messages) are two things that can make me switch from Hipchat.
Slack surely is putting HipChat on its toes. Competition is really good.
I use and enjoy HipChat. The feature I love about it is the ability to temporarily invite someone (edit: a non organization person) to a room.
It would be nice if it was possible to have it open all day and have it like an IRC. It would be perfect for having support rooms for an app.
One thing i'd like HipChat to improve on is the timeout that happens to their desktop app. As long as it is open, I do not want to have to "reconnect".
Nice one guys. And Nice one Slack. Surely, no slackers.
This could be a significant issue for some, both morally and legally.
If you are using / are going to use Hipchat with this enabled, at least make sure you are aware of any legalities you need to conform to because of this. E.g. gather consent from employees.
I don't see where it says it's already a feature. The note itself (not that post) says it might be available in the future but it's not there right now:
Messages and files shared in 1-1 chats are only browsable and searchable in HipChat by the two people involved.
"While admins do not have access to browse or search 1-1 chats through functionality within HipChat, this is an option we may provide in the future for organizations to opt-in to. If made available, it will not be retroactive, and we will be sure to address how affected users can be notified that their chats are subject to viewing by their admins"
http://help.hipchat.com/knowledgebase/articles/358098
It does say the organization can email them and ask for that so while technically possible it's not so easy for the admin to snoop.
I mentioned earlier in this thread, privacy was already kind of broken. Given your account was registered with organization email, admin could reset your password and look at your private chats (like when you leave a company). Doing that would perhaps be violation of terms, but I don't think many would care particularly in developing countries where legalities of such things are joke.
if said service is provided by the employer, they own the data/communications and have every right to monitor the service. same goes for work email: employers have access to this. it isn't illegal for them to access these communications done on a work account.
My company recently started using HipChat and I really like it. I expected to prefer IRC because of the standard, open protocol and the choice of clients, but the HipChat application works much more smoothly on my Linux desktop than any IRC client I've tried, and it's been adopted more widely across my organization than IRC ever was - making it much more useful, even if that really just comes down to marketing it to appear more accessible. It's working really well.
We switched to Flowdock and never looked back. The SNR advantages of the integrated conversation threads and "email-like" inbox model are amazing. I never knew what I was missing with IRC/hipchat.
Same here. We "inbox" everything from support, to social media shares, some analytics, as well as code pushes. Love the way Flowdock handles those items and lets you make reference to them while talking in the main thread.
Yep - the way that flowdock handles multiple "flows" and the nice simple interface was the selling point for us. Slack has a bit of a nasty interface that is just not "clean" enough.
Garret from HipChat here. The previous discussion on this topic made a lot of assumptions about this change, so I'd like to quote some additional detail from our help doc (http://help.hipchat.com/knowledgebase/articles/358098) before the same happens here;
In order for an organization to access 1-1 chats occurring
after May 27, 2014 or later, the organization will need to
make a request by emailing [email protected]. As stated
in the HipChat-specific terms, the requesting entity must
have consent from their affected users in order to obtain
access to those users' 1-1 chat history. The typical way
that an entity would have the right to access employee
communications is through the entity's employee policy.
It is standard practice among businesses to state in their
policies that the employer has the right to access
communications occurring on workplace systems. You should
speak with your employer if you have questions about their
specific data access policies.
So what? If your company ever used Openfire/Spark or any sorts of private IM services they're able to view private messages. Some of you act like this is some mind blowing travesty. You should expect the possibility of your company monitoring their services and communications.
This was the reason my company moved to Slack. There's no way for our boss to turn off the ability to read our PMs, so there's no way for us to know he's not.
No one in the company wants this—we expect PMs to be private.
I don't get the point of HipChat. It's a closed, proprietary Jabber server, with closed-source clients, intentionally no OTR support but the explicit ability to spy one-on-one conversations instead.
I just recently compared Slack and Hipchat and Slack seems to be the more advanced of the two at this point.
The magic bullet in collaborative chat like this seems to be presence awareness. We used to use GTalk for this but since moving to hangouts we can't ever tell who is at there desk when we need them.
Here's to hoping one of them gets it right; especially when you install on your desktop and your mobile device.
First I entered in my own details but neglected my lastname... didn't say I had to. It's a single name field. It rejected my submission and zero'd out the fields. Strike one.
Then it asked for my team members names and email addresses. It had a skip button, that was nice. I added their emails and used again their first names... let them add their last name or preferred name. Again it failed and removed all the data I entered. Strike two.
Then I attempted to download the client. It wouldn't let me till I verified my account. It will let me send solicitation emails to team members... but not download a client. Ok. Odd. I downloaded the client to my mac entered credentials and after about 4 minutes it failed to launch with a debug window displayed. Strike three.
Last I tried HipChat, it was a terrible experience simply because I wanted to not run yet another application and instead use Adium. They do support XMPP but to get it working you have to do magic. After I did the magic, I had chat up and running but lo and behold: file transfers did not work. Thankfully, this is when our team decided the experiment was over. We went back to using IRC. What fundamental problem do these new chat protocols solve that are not already addressed by IRC and XMPP?
1. 1-on-1 messaging
2. Private and public chat rooms
3. A client that works on mobile, desktop, and web.
No matter where I am, I'm connected to my team.
4. Persistent and searchable history.
5. Real-time notifications if someone mentions
you while offline.
6. You can copy and paste screenshots directly into
the room. We use this all of the time for gui
mockup discussions.
7. Integration with most online services like
GitHub, etc...
8. Easy file transfers.
9. No servers to manage.
10. Easy user management.
11. Video calls.
12. Voice calls.
13. Screen sharing.
Most importantly, it all just works. We could get IRC to do much of the above, but it'd be a hodgepodge of a solution and require someone to spend time setting it all up and maintaining it. At $2/user/month HipChat is a no-brainer. Why waste engineering resources trying to solve problems that someone else already solved for us?
Edit: And custom emoticons. Can't forget those. That's the best part of HipChat.
I've found using hipchat with coworkers to be much nicer than using XMPP with coworkers mostly for it being closer to IRC: there are rooms where most discussion takes place, so you can get to know people by lurking there, and when you need to 1:1 message someone, you probably have some context about who they are, which makes a world of difference to an introverted new hire. The realtime team-wide chat just makes everything feel much more friendly, imho.
I'm sure it's possible to get that setup with XMPP, and it's definitely possible to get an equivalent setup with IRC (which I have an external server running ZNC for), but it's not out of the box, and there is something to be said for having a good configuration set up and working for everyone out of the box.
Persistence. It's nice to be able to see what conversations you missed while offline or overnight, especially if you have teammates distributed across the globe.
Persistence also allows you to search through or link people to old conversations.
The fundamental problem they "solve" is to be more hip and cool than the last, since no regular human being has heard of IRC, let alone many "hardcore programmers" that I know.
I wish IRC was overhauled SOMEHOW and made more accessible to the common person.
I've found Video Chat to be pretty terrible. I find it weird to market that as the upsell. Most of the time, we give up with Hipchat Video and switch to a Google Hangout.
My biggest issue with HipChat is the inability to run multiple organizations on the same client. The video and audio "premium" features are really a terrible idea as there's Skype, Google Hangouts, UberConference, and similar for that and they are free and core businesses and Atlassian cannot and should not attempt to compete with those!
I know it sounds ridiculous but for me the one thing HipChat's got over Slack is the ability to have custom emoticons https://blog.hipchat.com/2012/05/21/custom-emoticons-everywh.... Admittedly we use it mainly for banter and fun but its a sticky feature currently keeping me migrating over to Slack...
We moved from HipChat to Slack. HipChat desktop clients on OSX were crashing all the time. Most notably after waking up from a suspend. Slack is much more stable. The transition was pretty smooth.
[+] [-] aspir|11 years ago|reply
Atlassian's business model is still "All roads lead to JIRA/Confluence." It's why so many of their products are free. This isn't as much a Hipchat v. Slack/IRC/Google/Campfire move, as adding another road to JIRA.
[+] [-] JonoBB|11 years ago|reply
Their suggested solution is to use multiple different clients (i.e. one native, one browser) at the same time, which is beyond ridiculous.
I dont think that I have seen any uservoice votes above 6000 for any other product request before (see http://help.hipchat.com/forums/138883-suggestions-ideas/sugg...).
With no solution in sight, moving to slack or flowdock was a no brainer.
[+] [-] quasse|11 years ago|reply
Honestly my feelings on it are mixed so far. Doing a "good" job of administering projects and issues seems to have a pretty steep learning curve if you want to use more than about 10% of JIRA's functionality.
[+] [-] callmeed|11 years ago|reply
For a small team, there's no reason (for us at least) to move away from Trello, GitHub issues, etc.
[+] [-] matthewmacleod|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joeblau|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] freerobby|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] izolate|11 years ago|reply
From a product design standpoint, Slack is streets ahead of the conservative HipChat.
[+] [-] astrodust|11 years ago|reply
It's not clear if Slack has this too.
[+] [-] medwezys|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chadcf|11 years ago|reply
1. It's 25% of the cost (although that has now shifted). This may not be a big deal for small teams but if you want to have 100 users on either service, the difference is between $2,400 a year or $9,600 a year. That's a big difference. 2. Hipchat has a self hosted option in the works which should be available within a month or two (per them). This is essential for any company that deals with potential PHI on their IM systems. Slack says they plan to offer a self hosted option but it's a long way out.
Those are two things slack just couldn't overcome, beyond the fact that I generally liked slack better (it's prettier, much better message searching, better integrations, etc). The fact that hipchat also has voice chat is a big plus too though we've not found it reliable. Presumably at some point it will get better though and make it a more valuable feature.
[+] [-] chermanowicz|11 years ago|reply
If you think about "chat" in generations, you started with IRC, AIM (which is still used in many companies) and then came HipChat. Not much development there for a couple years so Slack put some lipstick on the last generation of chat product. There's a whole new class of communication platforms being developed now that are taking things even further, by enabling true cross-company communication (meaning both internal & external), things like customer support integrated with internal team communication, etc.
[+] [-] joshma|11 years ago|reply
So far the best reasoning I have is that we're a mostly-dev team, and that there's something for non-devs that is appealing in Slack, but surely it's not a prettier interface? I'm genuinely curious, as I'd like to justify switching to the prettier product. :)
[+] [-] subdane|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adricnet|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] namityadav|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ab|11 years ago|reply
Slack is really the best I've seen.
[+] [-] meritt|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] OoTheNigerian|11 years ago|reply
I use and enjoy HipChat. The feature I love about it is the ability to temporarily invite someone (edit: a non organization person) to a room.
It would be nice if it was possible to have it open all day and have it like an IRC. It would be perfect for having support rooms for an app.
One thing i'd like HipChat to improve on is the timeout that happens to their desktop app. As long as it is open, I do not want to have to "reconnect".
Nice one guys. And Nice one Slack. Surely, no slackers.
[+] [-] Deestan|11 years ago|reply
This could be a significant issue for some, both morally and legally.
If you are using / are going to use Hipchat with this enabled, at least make sure you are aware of any legalities you need to conform to because of this. E.g. gather consent from employees.
[+] [-] ltorresv|11 years ago|reply
Messages and files shared in 1-1 chats are only browsable and searchable in HipChat by the two people involved.
"While admins do not have access to browse or search 1-1 chats through functionality within HipChat, this is an option we may provide in the future for organizations to opt-in to. If made available, it will not be retroactive, and we will be sure to address how affected users can be notified that their chats are subject to viewing by their admins" http://help.hipchat.com/knowledgebase/articles/358098
It does say the organization can email them and ask for that so while technically possible it's not so easy for the admin to snoop.
[+] [-] truncate|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] djim|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TallGuyShort|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ak217|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] akoumjian|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JonoBB|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MartinCron|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] latchkey|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] powdahound|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrjatx|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mplewis|11 years ago|reply
No one in the company wants this—we expect PMs to be private.
[+] [-] jedisct1|11 years ago|reply
And people used to pay for that?
[+] [-] ChikkaChiChi|11 years ago|reply
The magic bullet in collaborative chat like this seems to be presence awareness. We used to use GTalk for this but since moving to hangouts we can't ever tell who is at there desk when we need them.
Here's to hoping one of them gets it right; especially when you install on your desktop and your mobile device.
[+] [-] hoopism|11 years ago|reply
First I entered in my own details but neglected my lastname... didn't say I had to. It's a single name field. It rejected my submission and zero'd out the fields. Strike one.
Then it asked for my team members names and email addresses. It had a skip button, that was nice. I added their emails and used again their first names... let them add their last name or preferred name. Again it failed and removed all the data I entered. Strike two.
Then I attempted to download the client. It wouldn't let me till I verified my account. It will let me send solicitation emails to team members... but not download a client. Ok. Odd. I downloaded the client to my mac entered credentials and after about 4 minutes it failed to launch with a debug window displayed. Strike three.
I did try.
[+] [-] IgorPartola|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sgk284|11 years ago|reply
Out of the box you get:
Most importantly, it all just works. We could get IRC to do much of the above, but it'd be a hodgepodge of a solution and require someone to spend time setting it all up and maintaining it. At $2/user/month HipChat is a no-brainer. Why waste engineering resources trying to solve problems that someone else already solved for us?Edit: And custom emoticons. Can't forget those. That's the best part of HipChat.
[+] [-] jacktoole1|11 years ago|reply
I'm sure it's possible to get that setup with XMPP, and it's definitely possible to get an equivalent setup with IRC (which I have an external server running ZNC for), but it's not out of the box, and there is something to be said for having a good configuration set up and working for everyone out of the box.
[+] [-] brown9-2|11 years ago|reply
Persistence also allows you to search through or link people to old conversations.
[+] [-] EC1|11 years ago|reply
I wish IRC was overhauled SOMEHOW and made more accessible to the common person.
[+] [-] phamilton|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kolev|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smethod|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nikhilpandit|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JGuo|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdschouw|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mavci|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bokglobule|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Dorian-Marie|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fekberg|11 years ago|reply
JabbR is also free to use, you can have private team rooms if you so like and it integrates with a bunch of auth services.