Slack co-founder and CEO Stuart Butterfield discusses why email remains resilient for external communication despite Slack targeting internal communication.
“Email crosses organizational boundaries very well. It's how we set up this conversation. It's how people like us will set up conversations like this 10 years from now in the future. And internet, I mean, sorry, email will probably be around You know, three, four decades from now, and it might even be like the cockroach of the internet, like it just won't ever be exterminated.”
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AssertionNot checkable as stated
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