Riot is a free instant messaging program designed to allow teams to collaborate. Broadly speaking, this means that you won't find fancy doo-dads such as games and big avatars. But you will find strong end-to-end security, as well as the power needed to integrate with IRC, Slack and other software workplace staples.

For A Better Team

Riot is fundamentally useful, not for having fun or 'rioting' as you might imagine from the name. It's useful for software-based professionals who collaborate from city to city, home to workplace. Teams can use it to tie together their IRC and Slack presences, to use its group chat features on their own, or even to place video calls. It is extremely secure, ensuring that the information you disclose while talking to your co-workers can remain a trade secret. In exchange for all of this, it sacrifices some of the interface fidelity and bells and whistles that commercial IM clients offer.

Technical In Features, Technical In Use

Overall, despite its raucous name, Riot is of most use to software developers and Internet businesspeople working in small teams. It is extremely well-made, meaning it meets the high standards software engineers would often prefer to hold their tools to. Though it lacks some more 'normal' messaging features, within its intended use case, Riot is a fantastic piece of software.