Office 365 Newswire: Cloud war declared! – 1.6.2012

We’ve been publishing the newswire now for close to two months. I don’t know about you but I’m enjoying myself. You have probably deduced by now that the newswire allows me to work out some of my thoughts and issues that bounce around in my head. I have followed the Office universe for almost 25 years. I love the platform and what provides in possibilities to businesses of all sizes. So, I admit to a bit of bias in favor of Microsoft.

Despite my love of Microsoft technology I believe I am fairly objective (and sometimes objectionable – depends who you ask!). I do a fair amount of development work on my Macbook Pro. I have built apps for the iPhone in addition to one for Windows Phone 7. I dabble with PHP. I use VMware instead of Virtual PC… etc. The point is, I like to tinker with technology… of all kinds. I like to take the various languages, OSs, & gadgets for a spin just to see what’s possible. This is why I can be objective and critical while also being a bit of a MSFT fan boy. Just know that when I respond to comments on this blog I typically do so from an iPad.

I’m complicated… and a wee-bit snarky. Hopefully my editorial comments add to your morning news-perusing. If not, please let me know and I promise to make it better.

Now… to the news! Office 365 News Items. Let’s do this!

• California rejected Office 365 – what it means to you :: If you read last week’s Office 365 Newswire then you are 99% current on this topic. But given it was a slow week and we are all getting back in the saddle this week after the New Year, I thought I would lead with this item. This is my way of providing some continuity between last year and this year. Besides, if you haven’t read the items from last week, you can read this article in less than a minute and know everything there is to know about it.
• Cloud could rain on Microsoft’s profit parade :: This catchy article title comes to you courtesy of Forbes.com . It has alliteration and a pretty good pun. I like it. The author raised a good question too about MSFT’s profit margin for Office 365. Will it ultimately starve the Office cash cow? I dunno. I have an Office 365 account and I think I pay $6/user plus small fees for Office 365 and additional storage for SharePoint Online. It’s a different model than Office on-premise (I think this is what I have decided to call the traditional Office application suite). If you want to read more on this subject, you can find additional commentary here.
• Office 365 cloud product includes fully customizable SharePoint Online :: This is a solid overview of how you can configure (the author says modify but I think configure conveys a better meaning) SharePoint Online to meet the needs of your company. In fact, since I’m on the subject, be sure and check out this brand-spanking-new, super-duper-awesome video that explains how to configure solutions for SharePoint Online. What’s that? Why should you watch the video instead of reading this article? Very good question… I’ll be happy to answer it. Besides the fact, that it is an Add-in Express Productions Exclusive… it will take you less time to watch the video than to read the article. My bet is you learn more from the video but I’ll let you decide.
• Cloud war declared! :: Are you looking for sure sign that a market exists for cloud-based Office suites (and for that matter cloud-based solutions in-general)? Looks like there is a new sheriff in-town and his name is Do.com. What exactly does do Do.com do? It "makes it easy for you team to get work done". It’s from Salesforce.com. Not sure how it competes with Office 365 but they do share the same stratosphere.
• Why Google Apps needs to get better :: I can tell you why they need to get better but I won’t. I’ll need to save it for another day. This author raises the point that it’s been 2 years since this last major update of Google Apps… two year! What gives?

Office 365 tips

I’m working to add some meat to this section. My goal is to have 3-5 tips and tricks. I might poach from the Office newswire if I have to.

• Multiple email signatures in Office 365 :: I have multiple signatures within Outlook… for the same email account. But also have multiple accounts in Outlook and have setup signatures for each. So how does one Office 365 Forums member handle multiple signatures? Click to find out.
• Troubleshoot Lync for Mac issues in Lync Online for Office 365 :: See! This item is a direct result of the fact that I dabble in Apple technology. And yes, sometimes you need to troubleshoot Lync. Link is great. It’s a major improvement over Live Meeting but it’s software… meaning occasional troubleshooting is required.

Office 365 developer tips

• Office 365 podcast featuring Steve Fox :: Honestly, I just ran across this podcast. Steve Fox is a long-time card-carrying MSFT evangelist of Office developer topics. Anything he has to say is worth reading or hearing if you are interested in Office topics.
• What’s new for BCS development in SharePoint Online :: The BCS is still considered new to Office 365. Its implications are huge given it is a major vehicle for integrating external data to SharePoint Online. This article from MSDN includes some much needed code samples. Looking for more? Here is another blog post that includes additional code samples for developing with SPO + BCS.
• Query people search in SharePoint Online :: Nice post explaining how to query SharePoint search for people data.
• Integrating an Azure app with SharePoint :: If you are reading the Office 365 newswires then you are probably interested in Azure topics as well. This article combines the two for the double fun. This article discusses a basic example and communicates the point fairly well.
• Combine SharePoint Online with Windows Azure & LOB Data :: What’s better than one SharePoint + Azure news item? That’s right… two SharePoint + Azure news items… and this one includes the integration of line of business data. I paraphrased the actual article title because the actual title is too wordy. Be sure and read this one… it’s authored by Steve Fox.
• Where can I find end-user training for Office 365? :: From the community forums… an honest question. Sometimes the plethora of content published by Microsoft makes the simplest of questions difficult to answer. I’d to think that this Office 365 Newswire is a place of help and solace. Seriously, this link contains links to a significant amount of good information.
• Visual Studio Toolbox: manual testing (with Robert Green) :: This item is completely off-topic. But… if you 1) are a developer and 2) use Visual Studio… this video is relevant. Testing is not to be ignored. Watch this and hear some thoughts from one of the good guys in the MSFT Developer community (Robert Green).

Office 365 tools

• SharePoint Online post-transition guide: BPOS to Office 365 (must read) :: Are you on BPOS and soon-to-be-migrated to Office 365? Have you recently migrated? As the title says, this news item is a must read!
• Signature Deployment and Training Kit :: This link will take you to a page filled with links to several MSFT-provided resources for Office 365. These resources promise help with planning, deploying, adopting, and managing Office 365.
• Office 2010 – get excited posters :: I say this in the MSFT downloads section and just knew I had to fit them in somewhere. I mean… if you can’t get excited about Office 365 (or Office 2010) then you need these posters! Get Excited! They might be a bit campy but they are filled with good information. I am almost always interested in how Microsoft boils-down their product marketing to fit on a single page. If anything, these posters will help you understand Office’s feature set.
• Tools and diagnostics wiki available now in the Office 365 community :: I think this news item is really helpful. Visit this link and you will find tools to help you plan and service Office 365. You will also find videos, articles, and tools. You read the official announcement here.

That’s it and that’s all for today

I didn’t have anything on the cutting room floor… can you believe it!

Have a great weekend everyone.