Microsoft has launched an IFTTT-like automation tool called Flow
LEAKED: Microsoft is working on a new tool to help automate your life — Meet Microsoft Flow: A free way to connect all of your cloud services — including Slack, GitHub, Twitter, and Google Drive — together in new and novel ways.
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft's Flow leak lands two years after reports of a different project wearing the same name — a lightweight email app called Flow — making this the second time the brand has surfaced inside Microsoft's consumer pipeline. The tool itself is positioned as a free rival to IFTTT, wiring together Slack, GitHub, Twitter, and Google Drive through automated recipes.
The follow-on coverage shows this was no abandoned experiment: within months Flow shipped an iOS app and then reached Android, confirming Microsoft committed real product resources to competing head-on in consumer automation.
First-order effects
- Microsoft moves directly against IFTTT by offering a free cross-service connector backed by its own cloud, putting pressure on a standalone startup whose core product is now a feature of a platform giant.
Second-order effects
- By bridging rivals' services — Google Drive alongside GitHub and Twitter — Flow forces those providers to decide whether their data flows through a competitor's automation layer or risk being left out of user workflows.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, service-to-service glue consolidates around platform vendors that can bundle automation for free, squeezing independent connectors and turning workflows into another front in the cloud ecosystems' contest.
The trend: Consumer automation is shifting from standalone startups like IFTTT toward free workflow layers bundled by major cloud platforms, with mobile delivery deciding reach.