Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

The Indian government developed a messaging app for the government called GIMS, which stands for Government Instant Messaging System. Government officials refer to it as Sandes, which means "message" in Hindi. "Sandes is a secure, open source-based, the cloud-enabled platform hosted on government infrastructure, allowing the GOI to maintain strategic control. One-to-one and group messaging, file and media sharing, audio-video calls, and e-government program integration are some of its features.

As I’m writing this in January 2019, I suppose we can already talk about the tool using past tense. HipChat WAS a popular messaging and collaboration service owned by Atlassian, launched in 2010 (years before Slack!). HipChat was a decent Slack competitor for years. Even when Frisco-based SaaS was already picking up steam, HipChat managed to get ahead of its arch-rival a few times.

Location sharing can be seen in both a positive and negative light. Great in the sense that it provides an extra layer of safety and convenience to users. Ever tried finding your friends at a festival without location sharing? Impossible. A lone worker who wants the comfort of those back at base knowing where they are? Yes please. But, of course, it can also be a massive invasion of privacy and yet another opportunity for data mining and more ******* adverts.

FOSDEM 2022 took place on Matrix 5-6 February, seeing anyone enthusiastic about free and open source software - from anywhere across the globe - meet, share ideas and collaborate. For a full write up from a pure Matrix perspective, visit the Matrix blog post. Element was a sponsor of FOSDEM 2022 and our Element Matrix Services (EMS) team provided all of the chat infrastructure for this year’s event.

Internationalization in software development, known as “i18n” for its number of letters, is as vital as ever for modern companies. Web-based products and services are no longer tied to geographical and cultural boundaries and not every potential customer speaks English. You might have designed your app with your native region in mind, but you’ll eventually need to expand your supported languages and regions to cater to a global audience.

Want a secure custom branded web-based messenger, but don’t want to pay a fortune? You can have exactly that using Element Cloud, from just $15 per month! via GIPHY A branded Element web app is ideal for organisations and communities who want all the benefits of open and secure end-to-end encrypted messaging, but with a customised interface to make it look like their own.

Slack alternatives: why should you consider them and what are the best ones? There has never been so much talk about team collaboration software as nowadays. The world is witnessing a new working model and improving productivity while working hybridly has become high priority. Among so many options, we've noticed that organizations are looking for Slack alternatives.