Skype isn't just for pimply-faced teens to talk while playing video games. It is an actual telephony/video service worthy of business. Don't yet believe it? Microsoft's Skype in the Workspace could prove you wrong. This service is just moving out of beta and now has some 500 customers.
Skype is becoming a useful tool for business on its own and through integration with Lync, is a pretty interesting enterprise option.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/16/20121 comments
Lync as a unified communications tool is right up Verizon's alley. The carrier just released a new set of services for Lync that include deployment, planning and architectural help.
Once your Lync is set up, Verizon can also do performance analysis, monitoring and maintenance.
Finally Verizon can help integrate your UC install with partners who aren't on Lync.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/16/20120 comments
Microsoft is an amazing company with one huge but (fortunately) not fatal flaw -- it stinks at naming things.
The older names were fine: Word, Office, Windows. It's really lately that the names have been utter nonsense. Now forget the fact that it keeps renaming perfectly good products to keep us all confused. It even changed Hyper-v to Hyper-V (was this just to keep copy editors in business?).
Now Windows 8 has a new interface. This means the old interface can no longer just be called the Windows interface but is now called "Desktop." OK.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/16/20124 comments
Steven Sinofsky was a strong, disciplined executive who ran the Windows group. He helped usher in Windows 7, a great upgrade to Vista. And he managed Windows 8. Along the way he enforced a powerful discipline that wouldn't allow Microsoft folks to talk about Windows 8 features that were already disclosed. I found it odd and frustrating but reckoned it was his call to make.
Now Sinofsky has been unseated shortly after Windows 8 hit the market. The timing is about as odd as the resignation of a certain four-star general you may have heard about.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/14/20123 comments
Windows 8 and Windows RT may be brand new but that doesn't mean they are perfect. Just yesterday Microsoft fixed four flaws in the new OS tag team.
The flaws really revolve around the Windows kernel and as usual can invite remote code execution attacks.
IE also gets a critical fix. And since browsers are such a common attack target, experts suggest you patch this one tout de suite.
Posted by Doug Barney on 11/14/20120 comments
Andrew Brust is a guru's guru, at least when it comes to Microsoft development. So while I've written plenty about Windows 8 and you've had your say through your e-mails and postings, platforms ultimately live or die based on their apps. In the early day it was that one killer app -- VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3 or, on the case of Windows, Excel.
These days it's quantity and quality -- and Microsoft wants both to work with Windows Store Apps.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/09/20126 comments
I've never used Windows Messenger. My only experience is it kept trying to get me to set it up, which I never did. It finally stopped bothering me.
Now Messenger is getting its ticket punched, and having its core function added to Skype. Skype already has an IM–type tool but presumably Messenger is more robust.
This move has more to say about Skype, which has a bright enterprise future. Just yesterday I attended a Lync 2013 Developer's Workshop and one of the presenters connected through Skype. Worked like a charm.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/09/20120 comments
Recently we brought you news of a hidden price hike in Windows volume license renewals, a possible increase of 43 percent.
License consultancy Pica Communications, which did the Windows analysis, is now digging deeper into Enterprise Agreements (EA). Specifically, it's looking at Platform EA bundle in particular, a grouping that includes Office Professional Plus, Windows itself and Client Access Licenses (CAL).
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/09/20121 comments
A key responsibility of database administrators, or DBAs, is to ensure they're adequately backing up their databases. This can be overwhelming to some DBAs, who often stepped into those roles by chance. That's what happened to Grant Fritchey, a product evangelist at Red Gate Software Ltd and upcoming sessions speaker at this year's Live! 360 event. Grant takes some time to answer some of my questions on his backup experiences.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/07/20120 comments
Redmond magazine just published a survey of you, the Redmond print and/or online reader on Microsoft's Surface tablet. Results show a fairly keen interest in Surface with some 63 percent saying they are "very interested" in the recently released Microsoft hardware.
Because you are IT pros most of you were far more interested in the more enterprise-ready Intel-based versions, which can connect to AD, run existing apps (but blow their batteries a bit more quickly than on ARM).
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/07/20123 comments
SharePoint is no longer a niche product, but nearly as mainstream as Exchange and SQL Server. There are two very different groups bringing SharePoint to your shop, your own IT staff and departments that have been installing apps guerilla style.
This is all well and good, 'til someone adds up the bill. It seems that SharePoint often costs more than we expect.
Osterman Research recently queried 110 SharePoint shops, and found a great like for the tool. But SharePoint takes work and money to become effective. Only 14 percent found the tool meeting expectations when first installed.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/07/20120 comments
I love smartphones for basic e-mail and yes, I still make actual phone calls on the darn thing as well. But two things are too small for my aging fingers and eyes: the keyboard and screen. I even find the iPad too small for effective Web work (and that thing is four times the size of my phone).
That's why I'm not jumping up and down over news that Windows Phone 8 will come equipped with Office. Word on a phone? Best break out a Columbo-sized magnifying glass to use this thing.
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Posted by Doug Barney on 11/07/20123 comments