TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp., the Redmond, Wash., software giant, agreed to acquire Parlano, the closely held Chicago producer of MindAlign, an application that enables group chat for ...

Parlano sells MindAlign, a group chat application that allows groups of people in an enterprise to maintain a discussion over instant messaging that persists over time.

A startup called Ghost believes that putting in extra guardrails around the anonymous experience will allow users to have fun, without the usual downsides.

Microsoft’s work chat app Teams hit general availability on Tuesday, as part of the company’s push to compete with Slack, HipChat, Google and other players in the group chat market.