Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 Preview

SharePoint 2013 Preview Site

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Put social to work: Share ideas, discover answers and keep track of what your colleagues are working with new social features throughout SharePoint.

Share your stuff: Publish content to SharePoint from any Office application and share with people inside and outside your organization in a few simple clicks.

Take SharePoint on the go: Share documents, update your activity feed and keep in touch with your colleagues from your mobile phone or tablet.

Keep projects on track: Organize all your projects and tasks to get visibility into upcoming deliverables across SharePoint, Outlook and Microsoft Project.

Keep your team connected: Set up a new team site in minutes track meeting notes and bring together all your team's email and documents in one place.

Store and sync your docs: Sync your content in SharePoint to your desktop with SkyDrive Pro, so docs are just a mouse click away, even if you're offline.

Find experts you never knew existed: Connect with people across your organization and easily discover interests, past projects and documents they've worked on.

Discover insights and answers: Turn raw data into gorgeous interactive reports with Excel 2013 and publish to SharePoint to share insights with the people you work with.

Find what you're looking for: Customize and narrow your search to deliver more relevant results, and get recommendations on people and documents to follow.

Download SharePoint 2013 Preview

Monday, 16 July 2012

Microsoft Exchange 2013 Preview

What's New in Exchange 2013 Preview

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Preview brings a new rich set of technologies, features, and services to the Exchange Server product line. Its goal is to support people and organizations as their work habits evolve from a communication focus to a collaboration focus. At the same time, Exchange Server 2013 Preview helps lower the total cost of ownership whether you deploy Exchange 2013 Preview on-premises or provision your mailboxes in the cloud. New features and functionality in Exchange 2013 Preview are designed to do the following:

  • Support a multigenerational workforce   Social integration and making it easier to find people is important to users. Smart Search learns from users' communication and collaboration behaviour to enhance and prioritize search results in Exchange. Also, with Exchange 2013 Preview, users can merge contacts from multiple sources to provide a single view of a person, by linking contact information pulled from multiple locations.
  • Provide an engaging experience   Microsoft Outlook 2013 Preview and Microsoft Office Outlook Web App have a fresh new look. Outlook Web App emphasizes a streamlined user interface that also supports the use of touch, enhancing the mobile device experience with Exchange.
  • Integrate with SharePoint and Lync   Exchange 2013 Preview offers greater integration with Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Preview and Microsoft Lync 2013 Preview through site mailboxes and In-Place eDiscovery.
  • Help meet evolving compliance needs    Compliance and eDiscovery are challenging for many organizations. Exchange 2013 Preview helps you to find and search data not only in Exchange, but across your organization. With improved search and indexing, you can search across Exchange 2013 Preview, Lync 2013 Preview, SharePoint 2013 Preview, and Windows file servers.
  • Provide a resilient solution   Exchange 2013 Preview builds upon the Exchange Server 2010 architecture and has been redesigned for simplicity of scale, hardware utilization, and failure isolation.

Download Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Preview
Exchange Server 2013 TechNet Documentation

Lync 2013 Preview

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​​Multiparty HD video and content sharing

Video gallery: The video gallery simultaneously displays up to five different participants’ videos, identifies the active speaker, and associates names with faces. HD photos represent all additional meeting participants.

H.264 SVC support: Lync uses open standards, including H.264 SVC, to enable HD video conferencing across a range of devices.

Presenter controls: Lead meetings professionally with presenter controls that are accessible but don’t distract, and that are designed to optimize for the type of meeting, audience size, and the content and/or video sources available to participants.

Optimized for an immersive Windows 8 experience: Reimagined for Windows 8, Lync provides fast, natural, hands-on control of communications across the entire range of Windows 8 devices and architectures.

Lync Web App: Both PC and Mac users can now join a Lync Meeting from a browser and enjoy the rich Lync Meeting experience, including multiparty HD video, voice over IP (VoIP), instant messaging, and desktop, application, and PowerPoint sharing.

Lync Mobile: Lync Mobile enables communication with anyone, no matter where you are. Send an IM, make a Lync call, or even join a Lync Meeting with just one touch—from a Windows Phone, or an iOS or Android device. Stay productive on the go with voice and video over IP, PowerPoint sharing, and more collaboration capabilities.

Federation with Skype: Connect with anyone on Skype, which enables rich communications among hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Extension of Lync presence, instant messaging, and peer-to-peer voice capabilities to Skype users: Extend your reach by connecting Lync users with Skype users. Lync-to-Skype federation opens a new communications door for enterprises searching for inventive and differentiated opportunities for new customer acquisition, customer retention, and business-to-consumer communications.

Preview web site available here.

Download Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Preview

Microsoft Office 2013 (Consumer Preview)

Video Launch on Monday July 16th.

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Official Office 2013 Web Site.
Office Next Blog

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Word 2013 Preview

New Read Mode   Text reflows automatically in columns to make it easier to read.

Object Zoom   When you view tables, charts, images, or online videos, a finger tap or mouse click lets you see the detail. When you’re done, another tap or click returns them to their original size.

Resume Reading   Word automatically bookmarks your last-visited spot. Enjoy your reading, take a breather, and then pick up where you left off—even on a different PC or tablet.

Reply Comment   Place comments next to the text you’re discussing so it’s easy to track the conversation.

Simplified Sharing   Your documents are saved online to SkyDrive or SharePoint by default. Send everyone a link to the same file, along with their viewing and editing permissions, and be assured that everyone sees the latest version.*

Present Online   Share your document with others even if they don’t have Word. Send them a link, and as you read through the document on your screen, they can follow along in their browsers.

Alignment Guides   Align charts, photos, and diagrams with your text for a polished, professional look. Handy guides pop into place when you need them and disappear when you’re done.

Live Layout   Text reflows instantly as you drag a photo, video, or shape to its new position. Release the mouse button, and your object and surrounding text stay where you want them.

PDF Reflow   Open a PDF in Word, and its paragraphs, lists, tables, and other content act just like Word content.

 

Excel 2013 Preview

Recommended Pivot Table   Excel summarizes your data with previews of various pivot-table options, letting you select the option that tells your story best.

Flash Fill   Here’s the easy way to reformat and rearrange your data. Excel learns and recognizes your pattern and auto-completes the remaining data, with no formulas or macros required.

Recommended Charts   Let Excel recommend the charts that best illustrate your data’s patterns. Quickly preview your chart and graph options, and then pick the option that works best.

Quick Analysis Lens   Discover a variety of ways to represent your data visually. When you like what you see, apply formatting, sparklines, charts, and tables with a single click.

Chart Formatting Control   Fine-tune your charts quickly and easily. Change the title, layout, and other chart elements—all from a new and more interactive interface.

Simplified Sharing   Your workbooks are saved online to SkyDrive or SharePoint by default.* Send everyone a link to the same file, along with their viewing and editing permissions, and be assured that everyone sees the latest version.

Post to Social Network   Share selected portions of your spreadsheets on the web by simply embedding them on your social network pages.

Present Online   Share your workbooks and collaborate with others via a Lync conversation or meeting. You can also allow others to take control of your workbook.

 

Outlook 2013 Preview

Exchange ActiveSync Support   Connect Outlook with Exchange ActiveSync, and you’ll receive push-based email, appointments, and contacts via the most popular email servers and services.

Navigation Bar   Continue to enjoy quick and convenient ways to open your email, calendar, contacts, and tasks.

Social Connectors   Get the very latest updates automatically from people in the social networks you rely on most—LinkedIn, Facebook, and others.

Peeks   Grab a quick glance at your schedule, an appointment, or details about someone you’re emailing—without having to rearrange windows or lose your train of thought.

People Card   Seamlessly integrate multiple contacts into a single view, while presenting social context and removing needless duplication.

Share Your Calendar   Make your calendar available for others to view, so that scheduling meetings and responding to meeting invitations is easier and more convenient for everyone.

Weather Bar   View the forecast right in Outlook, and let the coming weather inform how you plan your day’s schedule or your next trip.

Search   Quickly find email, attachments, calendar appointments, and contacts through improved search.

Fast Filters and Context Commands   With a single click, instantly see what’s on your calendar today, next week, or next month. Filter, arrange, and work with your email in a number of intuitive ways.


MSDN Download Available.

Office Professional Plus 2013 Preview (x86)
Release Date: 7/16/2012
625 MB
File Name: en_office_professional_plus_2013_preview_x86_887709.exe

Office Professional Plus 2013 Preview (x64)
Release Date: 7/16/2012
703 MB
File Name: en_office_professional_plus_2013_preview_x64_887710.exe
SHA1: C802D1067CF2230B01241638433A6E10A5953B8F

Friday, 13 July 2012

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (videos)

Learn how to use;
- Application Virtualisation (App-V)
- Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM)
- Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT)
- Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM)

MDOP Videos can be located here;

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Windows Server 2012 Beta Essentials

Windows Home Server 2011 is dead, Long live Windows Server 2012 Essentials.

Q: Will there be a next version of Windows Home Server?

A: No. Windows Home Server has seen its greatest success in small office/home office (SOHO) environments and among the technology enthusiast community. For this reason, Microsoft is combining the features that were previously only found in Windows Home Server, such as support for DLNA-compliant devices and media streaming, into Windows Server 2012 Beta Essentials and focusing our efforts into making Windows Server 2012 Beta Essentials the ideal first server operating system for both small business and home use—offering an intuitive
administration experience, elastic and resilient storage features with Storage Spaces, and robust data protection for the server and client computers.

More information can be found here.

Sunday, 8 July 2012

Z-Hire Employee Provisioning App

Z-Hire automates the IT account creation process for Exchange mailbox, Active Directory, Lync accounts and Office 365 cloud deployments. With just a click of the button, your Exchange mailbox, and Active directory and Lync accounts will be created simultaneously.

Z-Hire Employee Provisioning App

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Lync 2010 Jump Start (Free Training)

Microsoft have just released the following “Free” Lync 2010 Jump Start training videos which in my opinion are very good.

Main Site is located …

Video Content is located …

Windows Server 2012 Jump Start (Free Training)

Microsoft have just released the following “Free” Windows Server 2012 Jump Start training videos which in my opinion are very good.

Main Site is located …

Video Content is located …
Other Jump Start Videos for {Office 365, Cloud 101 etc.} can be found here