1. 1-on-1 messaging
2. Private and public chat rooms
3. A client that works on mobile, desktop, and web.
No matter where I am, I'm connected to my team.
4. Persistent and searchable history.
5. Real-time notifications if someone mentions
you while offline.
6. You can copy and paste screenshots directly into
the room. We use this all of the time for gui
mockup discussions.
7. Integration with most online services like
GitHub, etc...
8. Easy file transfers.
9. No servers to manage.
10. Easy user management.
11. Video calls.
12. Voice calls.
13. Screen sharing.
Most importantly, it all just works. We could get IRC to do much of the above, but it'd be a hodgepodge of a solution and require someone to spend time setting it all up and maintaining it. At $2/user/month HipChat is a no-brainer. Why waste engineering resources trying to solve problems that someone else already solved for us?
Edit: And custom emoticons. Can't forget those. That's the best part of HipChat.
Out of the box you get:
Most importantly, it all just works. We could get IRC to do much of the above, but it'd be a hodgepodge of a solution and require someone to spend time setting it all up and maintaining it. At $2/user/month HipChat is a no-brainer. Why waste engineering resources trying to solve problems that someone else already solved for us?Edit: And custom emoticons. Can't forget those. That's the best part of HipChat.