Microsoft is poised to shut down Skype-for-business, while Whatsapp upset millions of users by extending their data sharing with Facebook, a company that recently abused phone numbers given for other purposes for ads. Nextcloud has announced Talk 12 to replace the big tech platforms with a privacy-respecting and decentralized alternative, introducing a range of popular features for both private and enterprise use.

Nextcloud Talk provides users with all the common features of instant messaging apps, such as one on one chat, group chat, video calls, message replies, voice messages, emojis, media sharing, read status setting and a lot more available on the web and mobile. Security and respect for privacy are the biggest advantages of Nextcloud Talk, putting users in control of their data.

According to the company, Nextcloud Hub 22 offers a complete collaboration alternative that is 100% on-premises, without vendor lock-in or (meta) data leaks. It offers a wide range of features Skype-for-Business does not. Among those are persistent chat, which offers a record of earlier conversations that is easily searched from within Nextcloud’s Unified Search.

It is easy to create conversations, search and join conversations from other teams or invite guest users with a public link. Talk offers robust meeting capabilities, complete with moderation, a lobby, document sharing and collaborative editing and more. External users can join easily from a browser, without having the installation of an app forced on them.

Nextcloud Talk 12 expands on its integration with business workflows, allowing users to turn a chat message into a task, or share a task in a conversation.

Nextcloud Talk 12 is available in the Nextcloud app store immediately, and hosted solutions are offered by major hosting providers including IONOS, Deutsche Telekom and others.

The Sendent Nextcloud Outlook add-in is available through Nextcloud, a free version can be found here.