Microsoft is delaying the Teams Classic app’s retirement date to give users extra time to switch to the new Teams app.
The Teams Classic app was initially due to be shuttered at the end of March 2024, but that deadline is now being pushed back to July 1, 2024.
The extension will give Commercial and Educational users who will not be able to meet the necessary requirements to transition to the new Teams App by April 1 this year.
Microsoft has confirmed that it is providing more time for users to make the transition via its Microsoft Learn technology education platform: “We’re aware of the concerns around our timeline.
“Classic Teams users who have encountered issues moving to new Teams or who don’t meet the prerequisites to upgrade will still have access to the classic Teams client until July 01 2024 at the earliest.
“This will give admins more time to address any issues encountered during this process.”
The extension appears to be an acknowledgement of the user feedback that Microsoft has received, urging it to give them more time to prepare for the new Teams client.
From March 2024, classic Teams users who have not switched to the new Teams will be shown an informational banner at the top of the page within the main Teams client window, which will remind them about the Microsoft AutoUpdate timeline.
Microsoft urges admins to update the new Teams app as soon as possible because new features are no longer being added to the old Teams.
CoPilot Comes to Teams
Microsoft Teams has more than 300 million active users, making it one of the most popular communication and collaboration applications available right now.
Its popularity is only expected to grow further through the upcoming addition of Copilot AI to the platform, which is available with a Microsoft 365 subscription plan.
Microsoft’s AI Copilot works alongside Teams users to assist them with tasks by providing conversation summaries, summarising key discussion points in meetings, and locating relevant information buried in documents, presentations, emails, calendar invites, notes, or contacts.
In July, 2023, Microsoft unveiled new Copilot capabilities for Teams Phone and Teams Chat, including phone call and chat conversations features.
The New Teams App
Before its general release, Microsoft rolled out new Teams in preview, which yielded some impressive results, including being twice as fast while using 50 percent less memory.
Microsoft says it has made considerable progress since the launch of Teams in preview, as it now offers full feature parity for nearly all features, such as third-party apps, call queues, 7×7 video, breakout rooms, PSTN calling, custom- line-of-business apps, contextual search in chats and channels, and more.
It offers a streamlined and simplified user experience, with enhanced personalisation options that enable Windows and Mac users to have greater control over the user interface.
The latest iteration of Teams also promises to be more flexible, allowing for seamless cross-tenant communication and collaboration, greater productivity features, and more.
Microsoft announced the general availability of the new Teams app last month: “Today, we are excited to announce the availability of the new Microsoft Teams app for Windows and Mac, including education customers.
“We’re also beginning to roll out new Teams to public preview for our Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and government cloud customers (GCC, GCC-H, DoD).
“Earlier this year, we ushered in a new era of Microsoft Teams with the public preview of the new Teams app.
“Our goal was to reimagine Teams from the grviound up to deliver a faster, simpler, smarter, and more flexible app to help you stay productive and collaborate more effectively.”
The new Teams app was made generally available for Windows and Mac in October last year.
Switching to the new Teams is quick and easy, with no migration required.
To make the change straight away, users simply need to click the toggle button in the top left-hand corner of the classic Teams app, which has “New Teams” written next to it. In a single click, classic Teams will become New Teams.
