Windows: Soon there will only be one team

Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 version for the Windows Insider Programme (Build 26080). Among other things, the update contains a major adjustment to Teams, which will come later in the year with the 24H2 update for all users: the two versions "Teams for work, school and study" and "Teams for home" will be merged.

With the merger, Microsoft is also indirectly burying Skype and its successor. The private Teams version is based on this and is now being scrapped. By contrast, the business version has its roots in Lync, which later became Skype for Business - until the business Teams replaced it definitively in 2021.

The new teams promises the following innovations:

• Unified Teams usage thanks to only one version
• Seamless account switching within the app by clicking on the profile picture
• Select the account when joining new Teams meetings
• Participation in a Teams meeting as a guest (can be selected next to the accounts when joining)
• Revised, more detailed notifications with indication of which account they belong to
• Separate taskbar icons for private and business accounts

The unified Teams or Windows 24H2 update is expected to be rolled out to new devices from June and be available to the general public a few months later.

Microsoft has recently started distributing a new version of Teams, which can be distinguished from the previous business version by a "New" in the programme icon, among other things. Anyone who has already installed this version for the upcoming release of 24H2 will not have to reinstall it and will receive the new functions via a programme update. As Microsoft is already actively installing this new Teams on Windows 11 devices one by one without being asked, the majority of Business Teams users will probably be using it by then.

It is not surprising that Microsoft is taking the step of unification. On the one hand, because it improves the user experience. And on the other hand, because comparatively few people use Teams for private purposes. Perhaps this will change at least somewhat soon; after all, the fewer clicks away a function is, the more likely it is to be used. <p