Fourwaves
Fourwaves follows its participant inbox with a week of admin fixes and security hardening.
Comparison · Meetings
HOMER vs Microsoft Teams
A side-by-side editorial comparison of HOMER and Microsoft Teams — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
HOMER vs Microsoft Teams: at a glance
What is HOMER?
HOMER 11.0.369 fixes S3 auth on Ceph-based storage and stops compaction memory growth.
HOMER's 11.0 line is still hardening its DuckDB tiered-storage layer. 11.0.368 retries incomplete tier moves and fixes tiered queries that missed lake tables. The 11.0.369 pre-release stops sending the AWS session token with static S3 keys, which broke Vultr/Ceph RGW, and keeps DuckDB's file cache off on write paths so compaction memory plateaus. Security fixes (bound tiered lookup parameters, hono bump) ride alongside.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams adds automated trust scoring for apps and agents in the admin center.
The standout Teams release in the recent window is the Organization Trust Score, which automates evaluation of every app and agent against admin-defined security, privacy, and compliance requirements. Adjacent to that, a new Teams Admin Center dashboard tracks voice and face profile enrollment metrics that feed AI-enhanced meeting experiences. Most other recent entries in the feed are Microsoft Learn and documentation page scrapes rather than Teams shipments.
HOMER vs Microsoft Teams: editorial side-by-side
HOMER
5.0MEETINGS
HOMER 11.0.369 fixes S3 auth on Ceph-based storage and stops compaction memory growth.
◆ Current state
HOMER's 11.0 line is still hardening its DuckDB tiered-storage layer. 11.0.368 retries incomplete tier moves and fixes tiered queries that missed lake tables. The 11.0.369 pre-release stops sending the AWS session token with static S3 keys, which broke Vultr/Ceph RGW, and keeps DuckDB's file cache off on write paths so compaction memory plateaus. Security fixes (bound tiered lookup parameters, hono bump) ride alongside.
◆ Where it's heading
Almost every release since early October fixes the parquet lake: compaction, cache behaviour, tiering and S3 compatibility. The storage rewrite is being shaken out in production on more varied object stores. Feature work, such as OTLP log events on the call ladder, has paused while this stabilises.
◆ Prediction
Expect 11.0.369 to be promoted from pre-release, followed by more storage fixes for non-AWS object stores before feature work picks up again.
Microsoft Teams
3.8MEETINGSCOMMS
Microsoft Teams adds automated trust scoring for apps and agents in the admin center.
◆ Current state
The standout Teams release in the recent window is the Organization Trust Score, which automates evaluation of every app and agent against admin-defined security, privacy, and compliance requirements. Adjacent to that, a new Teams Admin Center dashboard tracks voice and face profile enrollment metrics that feed AI-enhanced meeting experiences. Most other recent entries in the feed are Microsoft Learn and documentation page scrapes rather than Teams shipments.
◆ Where it's heading
Teams is hardening governance for the agent and app ecosystem before pushing more agentic features into the meetings and chat surface. The pairing — automated trust scoring on the policy side, biometric enrollment visibility on the AI-meeting side — signals Microsoft's posture: AI-driven Teams capabilities will keep arriving, but admin controls land first to keep enterprise tenants comfortable saying yes.
◆ Prediction
Expect deeper extensions of Trust Score (live re-evaluation on app updates, integration with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps) and more biometric-driven meeting capabilities like personalized noise suppression and speaker-aware transcription tied to enrolled profiles.
Alternatives to HOMER and Microsoft Teams
Other Meetings products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either HOMER or Microsoft Teams.
Element Call
Element Call starts moving to new LiveKit transports and falls back to remote SFUs when needed.
JW Player
JW Player moves CMAF VOD into the dashboard, adds AV1, and opens Broadcast Live to audio-only feeds.
rtpengine
rtpengine opens the mr26.3 branch with a rollback message and leaner call state.
Nextcloud Talk Desktop
Nextcloud Talk Desktop 2.3.3 adds accessibility options and bundles Talk v25.0.6.
Nextcloud Talk
Nextcloud Talk patches v22 and v23 while v25 stable sits five weeks past its last RC.
See all HOMER alternatives → · See all Microsoft Teams alternatives →
Recent activity from HOMER and Microsoft Teams
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.371: B2BUA legs in exports, Smart Search fix
- 3d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.369 fixes Ceph S3 auth and compaction memory growth
- 6d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.368 fixes tier moves and tiered-query table coverage
- 8d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.367 disables DuckDB file cache for local lakes
- 9d agoHOMERHOMER 11.0.366 bumps DuckDB to 1.5.6, pins Go build
- 15d agoHOMERBlocks DuckDB file reads and rejects placeholder JWT secrets
- 6mo agoMicrosoft TeamsWe use optional cookies to improve your experience on our websites, such as through social media connections, and to display personalized advertising based on your online activity. If you reject optional cookies, only cookies necessary to provide you the services will be used. You may change your selection by clicking “Manage Cookies” at the bottom of the page. Privacy Statement Third-Party Cookie
- 6mo agoMicrosoft TeamsSign out
- 6mo agoMicrosoft TeamsVoice and face profile enrollment dashboard for admins: This feature provides admins the visibility and insight for voice and facial prof…
- 7mo agoMicrosoft TeamsAll product documentation Azure documentation Dynamics 365 documentation Microsoft Copilot documentation…
- 7mo agoMicrosoft TeamsAll training Azure training Dynamics 365 training Microsoft Copilot training Microsoft 365 tr…
- 7mo agoMicrosoft TeamsOrganization Trust Score automates app and agent evaluation ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between HOMER and Microsoft Teams?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. HOMER is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 3.8), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is HOMER better than Microsoft Teams?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. HOMER is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 3.8), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Meetings products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to HOMER?
Top HOMER alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "HOMER alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/homer-voip for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Microsoft Teams?
Top Microsoft Teams alternatives in Meetings are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Microsoft Teams alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/microsoft-teams for the full list with editorial commentary on each.