back to article It's your walkie-talkie Teams mate, over. 'You don't have to say Over, over'. Copy that. Stop making the static noise, over and out

Welcome to the final round-up of the Microsoft news you might have missed before a cheery engineer pulls the plug on the Windows 7 freebie security fix machine for the last time. Walkie Talkie Teams Microsoft has long been keen to "empower" (aka trouser some subscriptions) from the "more than 2 billion" first line workers it …

  1. JetSetJim
    Headmaster

    "Over and out"

    Shirley it's either "over" (I've finished my message and am now wainting for your response) or "out" (I've finished my statement and I'm leaving the conversation now)

    (yeah, I imagine tongue was firmly in cheek by the sub-head writer)

    1. steven_t

      Re: "Over and out"

      I heard that "Over and out" gives the other party the last word, leaving no opportunity to reply. The accepted response is supposed to be "The drinks are on you. Out."

    2. Alister

      Re: "Over and out"

      Historically, "over and out" was the correct method of ending a conversation, but most modern users discard the "over and" bit and just say "out".

      1. DJV Silver badge

        Out

        That's what I say to my cat when the greedily wolfed-down dinner threatens to come back up all over the carpet.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "Over and out"

        FWIW: During my years in the military, twenty something years ago, it was either 'over' or 'out'. Roger is 'understood', wilco is 'understood and will act accordingly'. Also, the command post always ends the conversation.

        1. swm

          Re: "Over and out"

          "wilco" - will comply

      3. PeteS46

        Re: "Over and out"

        AFAIK 'Over and Out' was invented by Hollywood scripwriters who wanted their characters to sound 'official'.

        Correct procedure is 'Over' when a reply is expected or 'Out' when a reply is unwanted because the conversation is finished.

  2. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    WARNING...

    Walkie Talkies should never be deployed at Cricket Matches.

  3. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Incredible

    So we can now use smartphones to make direct voice "calls" indistinguishable from a rotary telephone - except for the initial 15minutes of "can you hear me?", "I can't hear you", "are you on mute?", "can everyone else mute, there is an echo" "I have to restart", "can you resend the invite", "I have updates", "you have to send me another invite I'm not in your group"

  4. Cynic_999

    So what's the difference ...

    I can already have imo, whatsapp, skype and a few other apps on my phone that allow both audio and audio/video conversations via WiFi or cellular data. Fully duplex.

    So what exactly is Microsoft adding to products that have been available for free for many years?

    1. JetSetJim

      Re: So what's the difference ...

      > So what exactly is Microsoft adding to products that have been available for free for many years?

      Integration (for some value of the word) with the rest of Office, I imagine. There is a new bandwagon, MS must jump on it or risk losing some market.

      Equally, is there really that much that could be added to existing Office products? They need to reinvent to keep market share, too

    2. Erik4872

      Re: So what's the difference ...

      "So what exactly is Microsoft adding to products that have been available for free for many years?"

      The ability to add random conversation snippets to the dystopian nightmare of the Graph API. The latest selling points for O365 that they're trying to drive home to businesses are "productivity enhancers." This surfaces all the connections between people in a workplace and, while useful, could easily be abused by micromanagers competing with each other for who has the highest "department engagement score" or whatever.

      The main goal isn't selling you Office licenses; it's allowing companies to collect and mine basically every scrap of electronic information trails workers leave behind.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So what's the difference ...

        If by "companies" you mean "Microsoft".

        Mere fee-paying subscribers don't get access to their data unless they pay extra.

      2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        Re: So what's the difference ...

        Exactly. Teams will record all of this, run speech-to-text (as it does for e.g. conference calls over Teams), and index all of it. Then if you're trying to, say, ask a question in a Teams channel, it will prompt you with rubbish dragged up out of random voice messages.

        I can guarantee this is something which will never go on any device I own. And if it ends up on any of my company-owned equipment, I suspect it will routinely fail to work.

    3. big_D Silver badge

      Re: So what's the difference ...

      A corporate version that is (more) compliant with regulations.

      WhatsApp is not GDPR compliant, so can't be used on business devices or devices with company data (BYOD) in Europe, for example, and Skype is not a business solution.

      Teams takes care of things like logging and archiving etc. that are legal requirements in many business areas and ensures the data remains compliant with local laws (if you ignore the bit about it having to reside in Europe or under equivalent protection and the US are still dragging their feet with getting Privacy Shield off the ground, for European users).

      1. JetSetJim
        Windows

        Re: So what's the difference ...

        > Skype is not a business solution.

        Then why does my Skype window say "Skype for Business"? It saves call logs, and IM conversations. Not entirely sure if it's compliant with everything you list, though.

        1. big_D Silver badge

          Re: So what's the difference ...

          Skype for Business is not Skype.

          Skype for Business is the forerunner from Teams and is just badged Lync.

          Skype (not for Business) is a whole other kettle of fish.

    4. Fred Dibnah
      Coat

      Re: So what's the difference ...

      They're adding half-duplex.

      Mine's the one with an Ethernet hub hidden underneath.

  5. sbt
    Headmaster

    "The best release ever" should always be true

    If you ever release something inferior to a prior version, you're doing it wrong.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This has been around for yonks with Zello

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