Cloud giant Google has taken aim at Slack with the launch of
Google Spaces. Google, which has headquarters in Mountain View, California, United States, offers a wide range of cloud-based solutions, most notably Google Apps for Work, a collaboration and communication suite that includes Gmail (with company specific ‘@yourcompany.com’ email), Google Drive, Google Hangouts, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. Google Spaces fits nicely next to Google’s portfolio of services that target business.
Launched May 16, 2016, Google Spaces enables small group discussions and messaging. Being a cross-platform solution it can be run from a PC or any mobile device using the Windows, Mac, Android, or iOS operating systems. It is clearly intended as an alternative to Slack and allows users to share content in "spaces" dedicated for specific groups. The solution allows users to easily share video, text, images and website links and users can invite friends and colleagues to join a particular ‘space’, nicely compartmentalizing workplace projects and other areas of work. It also conveniently separates communications between work and social groups, helping you manage your non-work communications effectively.
“Group sharing isn’t easy,” explained Google’s blog when announcing the launch. “From book clubs to house hunts to weekend trips and more, getting friends into the same app can be challenging. Sharing things typically involves hopping between apps to copy and paste links. Group conversations often don’t stay on topic, and things get lost in endless threads that you can’t easily get back to when you need them. We wanted to build a better group sharing experience, so we made a new app called Spaces that lets people get people together instantly to share around any topic.”
Have you tried Google Spaces yet? What do you think about it? Let us know your thoughts. Add your comments below.
