The Discord app will soon use less RAM and power, all without losing a single feature. Discord is rebuilding its desktop app in Rust, replacing the Electron-based client it uses today. Discord has used Rust in parts of its technology stack for years, but the desktop application itself has historically been built on Electron.

The new app is faster and more efficient, as demonstrated by Discord CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy. He showed the current Discord app and the new Rust client of Discord on a pair of Lenovo ThinkPads running Windows 11.

In that side-by-side comparison, the new Rust-based client launched more quickly than the current Electron version.

Electron apps often draw criticism because they use a lot of system memory. The apps rely on web technology, which means every single Electron app essentially ships with a mini browser. As a result, Electron apps are often more resource-heavy and less efficient than native desktop applications.

Some workloads can benefit from native code rather than web technologies, especially when performance and efficiency are priorities. That may make you question why Discord has had an Electron app for so long, but there are plus sides to the framework.

The biggest benefit of Electron is that it allows developers to use the same codebase across major platforms. Rather than maintaining separate applications for Windows, macOS, and Linux, developers can build a single application.

That advantage has kept Electron popular for years, powering everything from Discord and Slack to Microsoft Teams and Visual Studio Code. But some companies and developers have deemed the tradeoff too great and have migrated to other frameworks in pursuit of better performance and efficiency.

Discord's new app comes at a time when RAM is at a premium. Due to the ongoing RAM crisis, many people cannot upgrade to PCs. Even those looking to purchase new computers may have to pick models with only 8GB of RAM because of the increased cost of memory.

Microsoft is working to optimize Windows 11 for systems with 8GB of RAM. Alongside optimization efforts for Windows 11, Microsoft is reducing the memory needs of many of its apps.

Even with Windows 11 performing better on low-RAM devices, it's nice to see Discord ditch Electron and create a more efficient app. Discord has long been criticized for eating up memory and performing slowly. The new app should fix both those issues.

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Microsoft Teams meeting transcripts are about to become more profane, at least if your organization's admin enables a setting. This week, Microsoft rolled out the option to have profane words appear uncensored in meeting transcripts.

Depending on your workplace culture, the change may have little impact. Other organizations may discover that their meeting transcripts suddenly become a lot more colorful.

The feature applies to both live transcription and saved meeting transcripts. Profanity filtering remains enabled by default. Live captions work differently and continue to follow each participant's existing profanity settings.

The release notes do not indicate whether meeting participants will be notified when an organization chooses to disable profanity filtering in transcripts.

Censorship can be a sensitive topic, even in professional environments in which people have worked together a long time. Many people draw different lines when it comes to profane language, so it makes sense to have individual settings as well as organization-level settings.

There are situations in which exact wording matters. Internal investigations, HR complaints, legal disputes, or compliance reviews may benefit from an unfiltered transcript that reflects precisely what was said during a meeting.

Microsoft describes the feature in more depth in its release notes for admin features:

Microsoft Teams: Admins can control profanity filtering in meeting transcripts: Teams administrators will be able to use a meeting policy to control whether profane words are masked in live transcription and saved meeting transcripts. Filtering remains on by default. When an organizer is assigned a policy that turns filtering off, profane words can appear without masking in both the live and saved transcript, while live captions continue to follow each participant's existing profanity setting.

In addition to the profanity setting, Microsoft added a feature that pops calls in a new window to improve multitasking. The company also added a way to require pre-meeting consent for all participants of a meeting.

For most Teams users, this change probably won't alter day-to-day meetings. But for organizations that rely on transcripts for records, compliance, or investigations, having the option to capture conversations word-for-word could matter far more than a few colorful words.

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