Remember when we all pretended to sit in a conference room together while actually wearing pajama pants? That was Together Mode, Microsoft Teams' pandemic-era feature that used AI to transplant your head and shoulders into a virtual meeting space with your equally pajama-clad colleagues. It was gimmicky - especially when you'd tap coworkers on the shoulder or exchange virtual high fives - but it did keep visual distractions at bay. Well, times have changed, and so has Microsoft's commitment to this digital illusion. The company is retiring Together Mode in favor of a more streamlined Teams experience.

The rollout is gradual, but the writing is on the virtual wall: the Together Mode toggle will vanish from the view menu, and its signature features, like scenes and seat assignments, will disappear with it. Microsoft cites the need to reduce fragmentation across platforms and a desire for a simpler interface with fewer options, less clicking, and less confusion. Translation: we're decluttering your digital life, one gimmick at a time. The company also claims this will free up resources to focus on improving video quality, stability, and performance - because nothing says 'progress' like removing the only thing that made meetings bearable.

So, as we bid farewell to Together Mode, let's take a moment to remember the virtual high fives, the awkward shoulder taps, and the collective illusion that we were all in the same room. It was a strange, fleeting era, but hey, at least we can now focus on the real meeting - which is to say, staring at our own faces in the grid view while trying to look engaged.