Microsoft Teams allows users upload their background images on video calls

Image courtesy of Microsoft

As it tries to catch up with rival Zoom, Microsoft is bringing new features to its Teams app. The latest addition allows you to upload your image of choice as your background or select from one of the latest collections of background that's now available online. Microsoft previews some of these backgrounds over at this blog post. The company previously introduced blurring effects and some preset images for the background, but this new addition expands your options. Microsoft cautions that blurring effect or a custom image might not stop others from seeing sensitive information. The tech giant says they use a "highly trained" model to separate the user from the background. And that background effects are only available for scheduled meetings.

On top of introducing this feature, Microsoft now allows free users to schedule meetings and send out invites instead of resorting to the Meet Now option. Free users can also add live captions to their calls. And in honour of Pride Month, there will be Pride-themed images in its collection of custom Teams backgrounds coming on June 16.

Microsoft will drop Skype for Business Online to ease the transition to Teams

Microsoft is slowly transitioning its business customers away from Skype to move over to Teams. The company will be closing Skype for Business Online on July 31, 2021. As you can tell, the change isn’t happening immediately. But new users who log on after September 1^st won’t be able to access Skype for Business Online. Instead, they’ll be redirected to Teams. Microsoft won’t be making changes to the Skype version used by consumers or the Skype Business server edition either.

"Over the last two years, we’ve worked closely with customers to refine Teams, and we now feel we’re at the point that we can confidently recommend it as an upgrade to all Skype for Business Online customers," James Skay, senior marketing manager for Skype for Business, wrote in a blog post. "Customers who have already made the move tell us that Teams not only has helped them improve collaboration generally, it has also provided a rare opportunity to rethink the way work gets done in their organizations."

Microsoft Teams is a chat-based workspace in Office 365

Microsoft's answer to Slack, which is Microsoft Teams, was announced earlier today. Microsoft Teams—the chat-based workspace in Office 365—is now generally available in 181 markets and in 19 languages. Since announcing the preview in November, more than 50,000 organizations have started using Microsoft Teams

Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Office, shared what’s new in Microsoft Teams and talked about how customers are using Office 365 to collaborate and deliver great results.

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