Lync 2013 for Windows 8 and RT

Microsoft have just released the new Lync 2013 app fro Windows 8 and Windows RT.

More information can be found here;

Lync Server 2013 now available on MSDN

Lync Server 2013 (x64) - DVD (English)
Release Date: 10/24/2012
Size 1271 MB
File Name: en_lync_server_2013_x64_dvd_1043673.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: 69D1B1C42C2580AFAB170B7AAF30EDC76401F9C6

SharePoint 2013 now available on MSDN

SharePoint Server 2013 (x64) - DVD (English)
Release Date: 10/24/2012
Size 2453 MB
File Name: en_sharepoint_server_2013_x64_dvd_1121447.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: 7c0af157cf2e0c2ec5288e4c52d91cea86816010

Exchange Server 2013 now available on MSDN

Exchange Server 2013 (x64) - DVD (Multilanguage)
Release Date: 10/24/2012
Size 3451 MB
File Name: mu_exchange_server_2013_x64_dvd_1112105.iso
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese-Brazil, Russian, Chinese - Traditional, Chinese - Simplified
SHA1: E9DDE6F776876B281215BEEDD7E2DB3AD525281F

Microsoft Office 2013 now available on MSDN

Office Professional Plus 2013 (x64) - DVD (English)
Release Date: 10/24/2012
Size 769 MB
File Name: en_office_professional_plus_2013_x64_dvd_1123674.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: 377f1f97dbe99104cf053df3632377f07c9310c7

Office Professional Plus 2013 (x86) - DVD (English)
Release Date: 10/24/2012
Size 667 MB
File Name: en_office_professional_plus_2013_x86_dvd_1123673.iso
Languages: English
SHA1: 36a70d4d1a2f42282f4d7175a37264a57da35a91

Lync 2010: October 2012 Cumulative Update Package

Updates are;
Download the Lync.msp x86 package.
Download the Lync.msp x64 package.

Download the LyncServerupdateInstaller.exe package.

KB; http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2737155
Don’t forget after your server install to run the following PowerShell script;

Install-CsDatabase -Update -ConfiguredDatabases -SqlServerFqdn <EEBE.Fqdn> -UseDefaultSqlPaths

Where <EEBE.Fqdn> is you’re frontend server when running the Standard edition and the SQL server when running in Enterprise edition; for example …

Install-CsDatabase -Update -ConfiguredDatabases -SqlServerFqdn myserver.domain.com -UseDefaultSqlPaths

Microsoft Surface with Windows RT UK Pricing

More information can be found here; looks reasonable to me?

Microsoft Surface Advertisement’s

Windows 8

Surface

Makiing Surface

Surface by Microsoft

Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 CTP

New Features in Visual Studio 2012

Below is the list of features found in the Update 1 CTP. Going forward, for more information using these features please see the Visual Studio Team blog

• Build applications targeting Windows XP
• Support for debugging mixed managed and native Windows Store Applications
• Improvements for loading symbols and source
• IntelliTrace collection for SharePoint Applications
• Memory Profiling for JavaScript Applications
• Shut down MSBuild processes when Visual Studio shuts down
• The ability for the Test Explorer to group and filter tests
• Enables building code maps to easily understand relationships and navigate between disparate locations (in your managed code Right click "Show on Code Map")
• Visual Studio integration with System Center for IntelliTrace analysis of APM exception alerts
• JavaScript Memory Analysis tool which enables developers to inspect the memory usage in their Windows Store Applications written primarily in JavaScript and be able to diagnose potential leaks

More information can be found here;

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Planning Tool

The Microsoft Lync Server 2010, Planning Tool asks you a series of questions about your organization and the features that you are interested in. The planning tool will then use your answers to recommend a topology based on the tested Microsoft Lync Server 2010 user model.
 
What’s New in the Planning Tool for Lync Server 2010?

• You can select virtualized server roles for your topology.
• The Planning Tool offers more granular capacity guidance than in earlier releases.
• You can customize individual branch site information.
• The topology pages display site information, such as number of users and number of enabled users for various modalities.
• The Planning Tool invites you to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), helping make the planning tool better.
• You can view your edge network diagram and enter FQDNs and IP addresses and view the certificates, DNS settings, and firewall settings for your edge network in the central sites when using DNS Load Balancing or Hardware Load Balancing for Edge Servers. You can also import this information to Topology Builder. You can also export the diagram and the data to the Microsoft Visio drawing and diagramming software.
• You can export your topology file to Topology Builder for a faster, easier Lync Server setup experience.
• You can export the global topology, with its corresponding branch sites, as well as the number of concurrent calls connecting each central site, to the PSTN into Visio. The Visio output contains improved drawings for each of the site topologies.
• The Planning Tool exports a list of the hardware for all sites, including branch sites, to a Microsoft Excel worksheet.
• The Planning Tool accommodates more supported topologies for Enterprise Voice and dial-in conferencing.
• Navigation between topologies and server information has been improved.
• You can resize or maximize the Planning Tool window to better accommodate your screen resolution.
• The Planning Tool provides a menu bar and a toolbar for available actions.
• The Planning Tool incorporates new Microsoft Lync Server 2010 features and topology recommendations.
• Users are now evenly distributed among the Front End pools.

More information can be found here;

Lync 2013 RTM

We wanted to let all of our blog readers know that the engineering team has signed off on the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) build of Lync 2013, as-of today, October 11th, 2012!

General availability is planned for the first quarter of 2013. Starting October 19, any customer purchasing Office 2010 in retail will receive the new Office for free upon availability. Customers will see a preview version of the new Office on Windows RT devices, beginning with the Windows 8 launch on October 26.

More information can be found here;

SharePoint 2013 RTM

Today, Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president in the Microsoft Office Division, announced that engineering work on the new Office and SharePoint is complete. For SharePoint, this means a few things:

We will begin rolling out new capabilities to Office 365 Enterprise customers in our next service updates, starting in November through general availability.

Volume Licensing customers with Software Assurance (SA) will be able to download SharePoint 2013 on-premise through the Volume Licensing Service Center by mid-November. For business customers without SA, it will also be available on the Volume Licensing price list on December 1.

You can read more about it on Office News, thank you for following us!

More information can be found here;

Exchange 2013 RTM

Today we reached an important milestone in the development of the new Exchange.

Moments ago, the Exchange engineering team signed off on the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) build. This milestone means the coding and testing phase of the project is complete and we are now focused on releasing the new Exchange via multiple distribution channels to our business customers. General availability is planned for the first quarter of 2013.

Build number rumoured to be 15.00.0516.32

More information can be found here;

Microsoft Office 2013 RTM

The Office engineering team signed off on the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) build. This milestone means the coding and testing phase of the project is complete and we are now focused on releasing the new Office via multiple distribution channels to our consumer and business customers.

General availability is planned for the first quarter of 2013. Starting October 19, customers purchasing Office 2010 from local retailers or resellers will receive the new Office for free upon availability. Customers will also see a preview version of the new Office on Windows RT devices, beginning with the Windows 8 launch on October 26. 

Additionally, we have a number of programs that provide business customers with early access so they can begin testing, piloting and adopting Office within their organizations:

• We will begin rolling out new capabilities to Office 365 Enterprise customers in our next service update, starting in November through general availability.
• Volume Licensing customers with Software Assurance will be able to download the Office 2013 applications as well as other Office products including SharePoint 2013, Lync 2013 and Exchange 2013 through the Volume Licensing Service Center by mid-November. These products will be available on the Volume Licensing price list on December 1.
• IT professionals and developers will be able to download the final version via their TechNet or MSDN subscriptions by mid-November.

RTM List includes; Office 365, Office 2013 applications, Exchange 2013, Lync 2013, SharePoint 2013, Project 2013 and Visio 2013.

More information can be found here and here;

Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007 update rollups Re-Release

Here we go again ..

Microsoft have re-released the following Rollup Updates. These updates address an issue in which digital signatures on files produced and signed by Microsoft will expire prematurely, as described in Microsoft Security Advisory 2749655.

• Update Rollup 8-v2 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2756497)
• Update Rollup 7-v2 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 (KB2756496)
• Update Rollup 4-v2 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2 (KB2756485)

Exchange 2010 SP2 RU4 now includes an additional fix:

2756987: Outlook only returns one result after you click the "Your search returned a large number of results. Narrow your search, or click here to view all results" message.

More information can be found here; I suggest reading the comments too.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials RTM

Windows Server 2012 Essentials has reached the release to manufacturing (RTM) milestone and it will be generally available on November 1, 2012.

Some quick product highlights are:

• Enable a dynamic, modern work style with access from your devices by using Remote Web Access (RWA), and take advantage of Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 devices for a superior experience with rich modern “My Server” apps.
• Enjoy peace of mind knowing that your data is well-protected by complementing your on-site backups with Windows Azure Online Backup, as well as utilizing integrated support for the new Windows 8 File History feature.
• Choose the email and collaboration option that’s right for you, whether that’s in the cloud with Office 365 or a hosted service provider, or running on a local server.
• Quickly and easily respond to increasing data capacity needs with support for Storage Spaces, which allows you to create elastic, resilient storage for your files and folders.

More information can be found here;

31 Days of Windows Server 2012

A few of the Microsoft bloggers have decided to to dedicate October 2012 to daily posts on Windows Server 2012.

31 Days of our Favourite Things: The Windows Server 2012 Blog Post Series (Part 1 of 31)
31 Days of our Favourite Things: Windows Server 2012 Server Manager (Part 2 of 31)
31 Days of our Favourite Things: Windows Server 2012 and the shell of POWER! (Part 3 of 31)
31 Days of our Favourite Things: It’s like vMotion, but better. It’s Hyper-V. (Part 4 of 31)
The remaining posts can be found here.

Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter Solution Accelerator

The Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) Solution Accelerator is a Microsoft-supported, stand-alone solution for the IT pro or solution provider who wants to convert VMware-based virtual machines and disks to Hyper-V®-based virtual machines and disks.

MVMC provides the following features:

- Converts and deploys virtual machines from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts including Hyper-V on Windows Server® 2012. As part of the machine conversion MVMC converts the virtual disks attached to the source virtual machine. It also migrates configuration such as memory, virtual processor and so on from the source virtual machine to the converted virtual machine deployed on Hyper-V. It adds virtual network interface cards (NICs) to the converted virtual machine on Hyper-V.

- Converts VMware virtual disks to Hyper-V based virtual hard disks (VHDs).

- Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 4.1 and 5.0 hosts to Hyper-V.

- Note MVMC also supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 4.0 if the host is managed by vCenter 4.1 or vCenter 5.0. You have to connect to vCenter 4.1 or 5.0 through MVMC to convert virtual machines on vSphere 4.0.

- Offers fully scriptable command-line interfaces for performing virtual machine and disk conversions that integrates well with data center automation workflows and Windows PowerShell scripts.

- Has a wizard-driven GUI, making it simple to perform virtual machine conversion.

- Uninstalls VMware tools prior to conversion to provide a clean way to migrate VMware-based virtual machines to Hyper-V.

- Supports Windows Server guest operating system conversion, including Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 SP2.

- Enables conversion of Windows® client versions including Windows 7.

- Installs integration services on the converted virtual machine if the guest operating system is Windows Server 2003 SP2.

Download can be found here;