Microsoft is launching a new version of the free Teams, but it won’t migrate your data over for you.
Microsoft
The popular Microsoft Teams is undergoing something of an overhaul and while there will still be a free version offered for those who want it, there are complications that need to be considered.
See, Microsoft is launching the new Microsoft Teams (free) which is similar to the old Microsoft Teams Free, but not quite. That old Microsoft Teams Free is now called Microsoft Teams Free (classic), too. Confused yet?
You will be.
Ars Technica notes that Microsoft has attempted to lay it all out on a support page on its website, but whether or not it actually succeeds, we’ll let you decide. But as messy as the whole thing is there’s one thing that you absolutely need to know – Microsoft says that none of your data will migrate from Microsoft Teams (classic) to Microsoft Teams (free).
That means that you’ll have until 12 April to download all of your data before it’s gone for good. Don’t want to do that? Well, your only other option then is to upgrade to Microsoft Teams Essentials and pay $4 per user per month. And that might not be something in the cards for a lot of people for various reasons.
That new Microsoft Teams (free) option is similar to the old version, even if it might not have any of your data left hanging around. You’ll get free video calls with up to 100 people that can run for an hour at the most. One-on-one calls can run for up to 30 hours should the need take you.
Freebie account holders will get 5GB of storage with which to play, which is more than double that of the previous free offering.
Those who do choose to pay their $4 per user per month will get upgraded to 10GB of storage and their group meetings expand to up to 300 people and can run for 30 hours, so there’s that.
