In the next article we are going to take a look at Slack. This is one real-time chat and collaboration app. It is a popular program with major companies around the world. Ubuntu users already had the option of installing it on our system using a .deb package. Now in addition, it has been packaged and released as a snap app in the Ubuntu store.
This application focuses on the cloud, offers us tools and services for team collaboration. Slack started out as an internal tool used by its creator's company, but ended up being distributed to the world as Slack is vibrant, dynamic, and fast. In the end, dozens of well-known companies and teams or creatives use it, as do many open source projects.
The application itself is something similar to email mixed with IRC and WhatsApp, roughly. It will allow the teams distributed in different places keep in touch and be aware of what the other members are doing. For this, it allows you to use text, emoji, hashtags, files and much more. All this in real time.
Slack gather all the communication of your team in one place, giving everyone a shared workspace where conversations are organized and accessible.
When we see it from the point of view of companies, they will be able to create your own space «slack» and create separate "channels", as many times as necessary. Seeking with it the debate or the supervision of specific topics.
An interesting feature that it offers us are the third-party applications. These will give users the possibility of integrating external productivity services such as Dropbox, Github, Twitter, Gmail and many more. I also want to mention that these tools will allow us to archive each message and each bit of communication for future searches. With this we can always find what was said "such a day."
In order to enjoy all the features of this application, we will have to resort to the version "enterprise".
Install Slack
Slack using a .deb package
Slack is not new to Ubuntu. Is available as .deb package on his website, as in his day a colleague in a published article in this blog. Therefore, installing this program in our operating system is as simple as installing the typical .deb package. But today, the app packaged as Snap will ensure that it will be kept up-to-date with future versions when they are released, automatically. For this reason, perhaps the following installation option is the best option.
Install Slack via Snap Package
Today we already have a official Slack app in Snap format. We can find it available at Ubuntu Store. This means that we have another good option to do a simple installation on Ubuntu and other Gnu / Linux distributions as well.
We can install Slack in Ubuntu using the software application from Ubuntu.
If instead we prefer install the applications using the command line, we will only have to execute this command in the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T):
sudo snap install --classic slack
Whichever shape is chosen, this is all there is to it. Once the package has been downloaded and installed, we can find Slack in its applications menu and launch it.
Open the application, we will have to follow the instructions shown on the screen to create or configure and join any Slack workspace available.
I mean when we open an account, we will have to confirm by email creating the account.
When we start the application, it will offer us a little tutorial. With it we can get an idea of the interface that is presented to us.
Uninstall Slack
We can get rid of this program by opening a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and typing in it:
sudo snap remove slack
If you want to know more about this project, we can always consult the project website.