Office 365 Newswire: Windows 8 Release Preview – 6.1.2012

I’ve been hanging out at coffee shops this week. I needed to remove myself from the office and surround myself with strangers and the strong smell of coffee. Going “mobile” like this requires me to use my laptop, a 4.5 year old Macbook Pro. Its sacrilege, I know… to use an Apple product while being a Microsoft fan is not how it is supposed to be. But I like my Macbook Pro. Did I mention that I run Windows 7 on it 80% of the time?

Lately, I have become more curious about the Mac side of my Macbook Pro. I have Office 2011 for Mac installed, which includes Lync. I am now a regular Lync user so when I booted to Mac yesterday, I opened Lync and proceeded to waste 15-20 minutes trying to login.

I relented and checked the Office 365 forums to learn that extra steps are required to configure Lync for Mac 2011 for Office 365. Here is the screenshot of the change I had to make:

I don’t understand why the screen doesn’t look like this:

Actually it does look like the image above. What I don’t understand is why Lync can’t figure out on its own that I’m using an Office 365 account instead of an on-premise Lync account. Why do I need to configure anything?

Using Lync should be this easy(er). Maybe my expectations are too high after fiddling around with my Macbook. What do you think?

Office 365 score keeping

I tried not to include the score board this week but as you will see below… it was a battle.

• Google Apps for Business receives major security boost :: 1 point for Google Apps
• Office 365 in action at the Olympics :: 1 point for Office 365
• Google Apps get ISO certification :: 1 point for Google Apps
• Microsoft rolls out Office 365 for Government :: 1 point for Office 365
• Google Apps for Education to replace MIX email system :: 1 point for Google Apps
• Google launches in-app subscriptions for business developers :: 1 point for Google Apps
• YO! Sushi adopts Office 365 and cuts costs by 40% :: 1 point for Office 365

Office 365 news & editorials!

• Windows 8 Release Preview: The Ultimate Delta Guide :: The final pre-release is here! I believe certain established tech journalists received an advanced copy. How else do you explain this super-informative guide written by Paul Thurrot? I’m downloading Windows 8 now and look forward to forming my own opinions.
• Office 365 for Government puts Microsoft squarely on Google’s turf :: It’s Office 365 but with more security in its data storage methods. At its simplest, Office 365.gov does not share data storage with Office 365.consumer. I have a hunch that this type of arrangement can, and will, be made between MSFT and larger corporations that have annual revenues larger than some countries annual GDP.
• Microsoft set to revamp Office 365 channel set-up :: When MSFT talks licensing, I intentionally stick a finger in each ear and scream “la la la la la la la la” as loudly as possible. MSFT licensing details shrink my brain. It hurts. But, I couldn’t ignore this item. From what I gather, MSFT is trying to make Office 365 easier for partners to understand and sell.
• Three reasons why the Cloud isn’t ready for prime time :: The reasoning in the 1st paragraph made me giggle. A giggle is not on par with a LOL but it is audible. Despite my sense of humor, the article is okay as it has 3 valid points. But I disagree with the author’s premise. I doubt we will be 100% on the cloud anytime soon. The cloud is a tool I like to use from my DESKTOP! So, I guess I agree with him.

Office 365 tips, tricks & tools

• Moving lists from hosted WSS 3.0 to Office365 – the manual way :: It can be done. It is painful. And there is a tool that makes it easy(er). The tool is not free… sorry Open Sourcers.
• Office 365 password expiry notifications in Outlook :: Good news for anyone that has had their password expire and experienced the pain of this situation… like me.
• Sharing a SharePoint Online site with external users is easy :: That is, if you know how to do it. So why not learn how today and start using SharePoint Online to share data with your customers and/or vendors.

Office 365 developer items of note

• Search driven applications with Office 365 :: This item caught my eye because there is not a lot of info (at least that I have seen) covering development using SharePoint Online search. The short of it is you can do it by making use of the tagging feature.
• Increase productivity with Visual Studio extensions :: A good overview of the more popular Visual Studio extensions. I always read these just in case there is a new tool to give a little boost to my productivity when using Visual Studio.
• Building quick jQuery grids connecting to SharePoint list :: Build a jQuery grid that connects to SharePoint list data in under 10 minutes? This author claims it can be done.
• Details regarding Visual Studio 11’s Dark Theme :: Lots of details regarding the “dark theme”. Lots of details and lots of screenshots.

Cutting room floor

• Did Microsoft just give up on Windows 8 for Businesses?
• Microsoft’s upgrade avalanche a challenge for IT Pros