Improvements are coming to Microsoft Teams

What’s going on:  

Microsoft is gearing up for the launch of a freshly re-constructed version of Microsoft Teams next month, which is optimized to provide more efficient system resource consumption on PCs and laptops. 

After intensively testing this upgraded Teams client internally, Microsoft has announced plans to make a preview of the new version available to Microsoft Teams users in March.    

Why it matters:  

After years of development and improvement, the new Teams app should require 50 percent less memory, reduce CPU usage, and produce improved battery life on laptops. 

Windows 11 included some of Microsoft’s early work with Teams built-in for consumers, but businesses using Teams have been using the older version since there was a lot of effort required for Microsoft to recreate the client. The new app takes Teams off of Electron and uses Microsoft’s Edge Webview2 technology, and also utilizes React, a Javascript library, to offer further UI improvements to Teams in the upcoming months. 

How it’ll impact the future:   

One of the main grievances that people who work from home have is about the meeting technology. Zoom and Teams are the main work meeting apps, but they don’t come without their flaws, and improvements are much needed.  

The upcoming significant improvements should enable Teams to open much quicker and feel snappier when people are presenting during meetings or answering messages.  

The newly launched Teams app should be able to address many of the complaints and grievances around Teams performance, particularly for older laptops.