My Two Bits

Thank you and goodbye!

2011-06-30T06:12:42Z

After six years at Microsoft Egypt, I’ve decided to move on. I’ve enjoyed writing this blog and adding to it. The origins of this blog were quite simple. I wanted to keep customers and partners up to date, so I used to send out newsletters. After a call with one of my colleagues, she suggested that I move to a blog so the audience would not be limited to the ones that I happen to email.

As MS blogs go, this one’s been quite active, and attracted a good number of hits/month. I hope you found it useful.

Thank you all, for your visits and for motivating me to keep sharing.

Best wishes!

My personal blog where I put all my food recipes and other bits of info is at http://kailashkalyani.wordpress.com – I’ll post any updates there from now on.

Microsoft to Acquire Skype!

2011-05-10T12:59:50Z

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2011/may11/05-10CorpNewsPR.mspx

Just out! Looks like we’ll be rocking our UC business bigtime! Watch out competitors…

Time Zone Update

2011-04-26T13:42:46Z

Update – April 28

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2543367

A hotfix has been released and you may download it via the support article listed above.

After application, please ensure you see the following in your Date & Time settings.

Original Post:

The Egyptian government announced on Wednesday 20 April 2011 that summer daylight saving time (DST) will be canceled in Egypt. By default, all windows platforms configured with Egypt time zone (GMT+02:00) Cairo will start the DST by the last Thursday of April by adding one hour at 28 April 2011 @ 23:59:59.

In response to that, we’ve immediately initiated the creation of an update (hotfix) to help accommodating this new change.

Due to the very limited lead time provided to us for creating this update, we are being challenged by the hotfix release mandatory testing and packaging procedures. Unfortunately we couldn’t kick off the hotfix creation earlier because such widely impacting updates must be supported by an official government decree.

As a workaround, to deactivate daylight saving settings and avoid adding an hour by the last Thursday of April, the “Automatically Adjust Clock for Daylight Saving” checkbox needs to be unchecked. Automated ways for Windows 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows 2003 are listed below. Unfortunately, there is no automation in toggling this checkbox in Windows 2008 and Vista, it will need to be done manually.

Please contact your Technical Account Manager for more details, assistance or further inquiries ….

Best regards,

Microsoft Egypt Premier Support Team

Issue:

Windows Daylight Saving Time (DST) Will be canceled in Egypt

Symptoms:

Your computer's clock may start the daylight saving time (adding 1 hour) on the last Thursday of April at 23:59:59, and it may end the daylight saving time (deducting 1 hour) on the last Thursday of September at 11:59:59 PM.

However, in Egypt, daylight saving time has been canceled, and there is no need to add or deduct this 1 hour.
The behavior will only occur if the Date/Time Properties settings are set to the following:

•	Time Zone is set to (GMT+02:00) Cairo. -and-
•	The Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes check box is selected.

Business Impact:

· Active Directory Replication fails.

· Users will be unable to join / logon to all Active Directory Domains.

· The Global Catalog server is unavailable, and the Exchange services cannot be started.

· Users are not able to access their e-mail as the Exchange Server services are down.

· The Free/busy calendar information will show the old time (One extra hour).

· Calendar appointments will be off by 1 hour.

Resolution:

Any of following resolution can be used:

· Microsoft Windows7 and Microsoft Windows server 2008 R2

“Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes” can be disabled by using a built-in command line utility called Tzutil.exe:

- Tzutil.exe /s “Egypt Standard Time_dstoff”

The above command will clear the DST checkbox. You can run this command in a script file to force the change on all Win7/2k8 R2 machines. It’s recommended that you re-type this command rather than copy/paste from email.

· Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003

“Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes” can be disabled by using the below commands with TZChange.exe:

- reg.exe add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation /f /v DisableAutoDaylightTimeSet /t REG_DWORD /d 1

- TZCHANGE.exe /C "Middle East Standard Time"

- TZCHANGE.exe /C "Egypt Standard Time"

· Microsoft Windows Server 2008 / Vista

“Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes” checkbox needs to be manually disabled.

Prerequisites

The following list contains prerequisites for this solution:

• Windows XP SP3

• Windows 2003 SP2

• Windows 7 RTM

• Windows 2008 R2

Applies to

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit x86)

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (32-Bit x86)

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition (32-Bit x86)

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, when used with:

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, when used with:

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit x86)

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (32-Bit x86)

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition (32-Bit x86)

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition

Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

• Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3, when used with:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Microsoft Windows XP Professional

• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, when used with:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Microsoft Windows XP Professional

• Windows 7 Ultimate

• Windows 7 Enterprise

• Windows 7 Home Premium

• Windows 7 Home Basic

• Windows 7 Starter

• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Edition

• Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit Edition

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition

• Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter

Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

Windows Web Server R2 2008

Thank you,

Microsoft CSS Team

Lync resources online

2011-04-19T08:45:26Z

Some updates from our amazing Khaled Zeid:

“Lync 2010 - Bandwidth Calculator” has just been published. In addition “Lync Server 2010 - Capacity Calculator” which has been published earlier.

3 other documents that have been recently published on TechNet :

1.Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit (13 April, 2011)

2. Lync Server 2010 Security Guide (13 April, 2011)

3. Lync 2010 Client Virtualization (14 April, 2011)

Blogging just got better!

2011-04-14T07:27:15Z

I found an email in my inbox today showing me how to share Excel sheets and presentations on blogs!

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/embed-an-excel-spreadsheet-on-a-web-page-FX102602477.aspx

I’ll try it out right now…

I looked through this to customize what shows up in the window…Learn how to customize your embedded Excel workbook

So firstly to get things viewable, you need to understand 2 things

You can have the whole sheet viewable.
You can share a specific range of cells.
You may share an object (like a chart or pivot table).

I had a bit of a tough time coz I wanted to share a table range and a chart. To share the table name I had to go back to the sheet and ensure that it had a defined name. Name Manager in the formulas tab. Read more here.

Since my chart had a space character and despite trying to rename it in excel, the name wouldn’t change, I had to look up how to refer to the space character (%20) – read more here.

So here are what my tags look like…

<iframeheight="160" src="http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidExcelEmbed?su=1420144883323114991&Fi=SD13B55E3F441015EF!1143&Item=MyChart&AllowInteractivity=False" frameborder="0" width="380" scrolling="no"></iframe>

<iframeheight="160" src="http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidExcelEmbed?su=1420144883323114991&Fi=SD13B55E3F441015EF!1143&Item=Chart%201&AllowInteractivity=False" frameborder="0" width="490" scrolling="no"></iframe>

I had to fiddle with the iframes width and height.

Lync Readiness for End Users

2011-04-13T12:33:20Z

Hi all, we’ve got some great resources for partners & customers to ready end-users on Lync!
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=f01a17e2-bec0-42c7-b1ce-fd4842ab1c91

So what have we in this package?

What's New articles and videos,
Quick Start Guides,
Work Smart Guides,
Short Videos, and
Training PowerPoint Presentations

How can you use these?

If you’ve got SharePoint, or another intranet solution, put the videos up on the intranet!

Use the decks to customize your trainings and as leave behinds
Work Smart pages… things to add to your intranet

Good luck!

Online privacy

2011-04-11T09:53:30Z

Among some cool features that protect your privacy online, IE9 now offers Tracking Protection Lists:

http://iegallery.com/en/trackingprotectionlists/

These lists can be downloaded from the add-on gallery or you can create your own. The format’s pretty simple.

Here’s a cool post that discusses it in some depth: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2010/12/07/ie9-and-privacy-introducing-tracking-protection-v8.aspx

Hero sessions in March

2011-03-22T10:46:03Z

HERO March Sessions ^*^µ

Date	Event	Presenter	Online Registration Link	On-Site Registration Link
Monday March 28, 2011	Virtualization, Management, and Partner Solutions	Sherif Talaat (Microsoft), Representatives for HP, Citrix, and Virsto
Tuesday March 29, 2011	Overview of the Windows Phone 7 Application Platform	Mohamed Nar (Microsoft)
Wednesday March 30, 2011	Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) for Windows 7	Reem Osama (Microsoft)
Thursday March 31, 2010	Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2011	Ahmed Ezz (Delta Group)

^*All sessions are from 10:00 – 3:00. Further session information is available at the registration pages.

Thanks to Kareem Salah for this table

What motivates us?!

2011-03-03T17:18:55Z

Found a thread at work which shared this video! Loved it!

MS lights a LAMP?

2011-02-28T16:34:54Z

Just today I ran into WebMatrix. And as I scratched my head wondering what it was, I had some really confusing ideas of what it could be. A DotNetNuke thingy? perhaps. Or something closer to SharePoint? maybe. But now that I’ve had a chance to review this page – not in a lot of depth, mind you – I realized that it was a LAMP replacement and more.

So in basic terms, if you want to build a website with a regular hoster, or if you’d like to actually do some data collection on it, then WebMatrix may be the right thing for you. Take your site, build it at home and then publish it online. And looks like WebMatrix is a platform you can just copy onto the hoster’s site. I guess you’d need .NET hosting enabled. Have a look and let me know!

Win Next (8?)?

2011-02-28T16:22:53Z

I’ve heard of Mary Jo Foley. “She’s got the run of the campus,” according to a colleague of mine in Redmond. And it shows! Here’s what she’s published about Win 8. And knowing that Steven Sinofsky’s the Windows lead. He’s a stickler for timing. He delivered Office 2007 and took over the development of Win 7, post Vista.

Mary’s not too happy with the Windows Phone 7. I’m actually quite impressed with it. Maybe that’s MS favoritism, but it’s a neat device. I hate the fact that Tasks are not synced OOB w/Outlook, but that’s the price we’re paying for mistakes past and for trying to come in ahead with a consumer device. And make note of that WP7 is first and foremost a consumer device and a business device after, for now.

A thought for the day: “A minute’s thought would solve the issue, but thinking’s too painful and a minute’s too long.” Thank you Mr. Crerar for that thought. I hope you’re well wherever you eloped to, with our librarian.

Bread Baking issues resolved

2011-02-18T18:10:00Z

Sorry - this is off topic - it was supposed to be posted to my personal blog. I hope you enjoy it anways :)

Fresh yeast has helped loads! I’ve baked bread twice in the last week. Perhaps it’s the feeling of hope or a return to normality.

I tried adding some roasted lentils to it and its turned out well! I’m super happy.

Ingredients:

250 g Dinkel / Spelt (a type of wheat)
50 g roasted lentils
200 g white flour
300 ml water (37 deg. Celcius)
10 g fresh yeast
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Recipe:

4 mins kneading in the Thermomix.
45 mins rest
some kneading
20 mins more
30 mins baking in a gas oven at high temperature

Worked beautifully. It’s a modified recipe from one I found online. Will try and post a link to it another time.

WP7–I’m excited!

2011-02-16T09:58:41Z

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9209361/Major_Windows_Phone_7_upgrade_to_offer_IE9_cloud_support

Excellent article!

1. March – we’ll get copy paste functionality and more
2. 2011 2nd Half – we’ll get major enhancements (IE9 browser, multi-tasking, plus more!)

IE9 hits RC– important note for Admins

2011-02-16T09:54:34Z

IE9 will be hitting our automatic updates soon. I’ve been very pleased with IE9 testing this far, but for those who wish to stop this hitting their end-users please use Toolkit to Disable Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 9

More info on the RC here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/02/14/internet-explorer-9-release-candidate-available-via-automatic-update.aspx

Have I thanked ClearContext enough?

2011-01-25T19:01:55Z

On an internal DL I came across ClearContext. I was intrigued enough to try it out. I’d strongly recommend it. For a price tag of approx 89USD (support etc extra) – it’s a neat software. Things I like:

Filing add-in
Follow-ups
Project View
Task Organizer view

I think there are amazing ways to use this product and on their website they do have some great info on how to use the tool. A few tips like, “start your day with task organizer” can really get you on the track to picking up all the fallen projects and tasks.

Darn, I’m sorry it sounds like an infomercial. I’ve not been paid by them and nor have they solicited this feedback.

There are several things that could be improved:

sluggish performance (esp start-ups)
unexplained outlook crashes
poor visualization of the all-up workload that’s due on any given day
filing suggestions sometimes don’t work as expected and you end up with misfiled mails

Downloads 21/12 (fixed links)

2010-12-22T06:34:41Z

Apologies for the mixup on my end. I royally messed up with the links. Thanks for leaving a comment to ask for a fix. Here it is.

 Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Help

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Documentation Help File

 System Center Service Manager 2010 SP1 Product Documentation

 Exchange 2010 Tested Solutions: 9000 Mailboxes in Two Sites Running Hyper-V on Dell M610 Servers, Dell EqualLogic Storage, and F5 Load Balancing Solutions

 Exchange 2010 Tested Solutions: 16000 Mailboxes in a Single Site Deployed on IBM and Brocade Hardware

 Exchange 2010 Tested Solutions: 500 Mailboxes in a Single Site Running Hyper-V on Dell Servers

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Client and Device Deployment Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Deployment Guide

 Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Edge Server Deployment Guide

 Enabling Quality of Service with Microsoft Lync Server 2010

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Active Directory Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Deployment Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group Deployment Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Announcement Deployment Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Deployment Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Reference: Call Data Recording and Quality of Experience Database Schema

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Supportability Guide

 Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Lync Server 2010

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Administration Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Getting Started Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Device Management and Troubleshooting Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition Deployment Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Call Park Deployment Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Voice Deployment Guide

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Archiving Deployment Guide

 Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 Best Practices Analyzer

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Administration Guide

 Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Monitoring Management Pack

 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Technical Overview

 Multilingual User Interface Package for Microsoft Lync 2010 (64 Bit)

 Multilingual User Interface Package for Microsoft Lync 2010 (32 Bit)

 Update Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2010 (KB2407113)

Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Help

Brief Description

This download contains a standalone version of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Help.

Overview

Use Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Help content to help you plan, deploy and manage your Exchange 2010 SP1 organization.

Note: This Help content is also available online from the Exchange 2010 TechCenter.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=2685440c-8e55-463a-ab96-102eddf8a7c4

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Documentation Help File

Brief Description

This download contains a compiled help file (chm) of all the available Lync Server 2010 IT professional documentation on the Technical Library.

Overview

This download contains a compiled help file (chm) of all the available Lync Server 2010 IT professional documentation on the Technical Library.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9720c3f1-ddd4-426b-b98a-f1205561ce00

Exchange 2010 Tested Solutions: 9000 Mailboxes in Two Sites Running Hyper-V on Dell M610 Servers, Dell EqualLogic Storage, and F5 Load Balancing Solutions

Brief Description

In the Exchange 2010 Tested Solutions white papers, Microsoft provides examples of well-designed, cost-effective Exchange 2010 solutions deployed on hardware offered by some of our server, storage, and network partners.

Overview

This white paper provides an example of how to design, test, and validate an Exchange 2010 solution for customer environments with 9,000 mailboxes deployed on Dell server and storage solutions. The step-by-step methodology in this document walks through the important design decision points that help address key challenges while ensuring that core business requirements are met.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c89c9e7b-9b70-4370-8db9-593cbe518791

Exchange 2010 Tested Solutions: 16000 Mailboxes in a Single Site Deployed on IBM and Brocade Hardware

Brief Description

Overview

This white paper provides an example of how to design, test, and validate an Exchange Server 2010 solution for customer environments with 16,000 mailboxes in a single site deployed on IBM and Brocade hardware. The step-by-step methodology in this document walks through the important design decision points that help address key challenges while ensuring that the customer's core business requirements are met.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=987882fb-5286-48a6-800f-64665a278613

Exchange 2010 Tested Solutions: 500 Mailboxes in a Single Site Running Hyper-V on Dell Servers

Brief Description

Overview

This white paper provides an example of how to design, test, and validate an Exchange 2010 solution for customer environments with 500 mailboxes or less deployed on Dell server and storage solutions. One of the key challenges with designing smaller Exchange 2010 environments is being able to provide large mailboxes that are highly available at a reasonable price point. Another key challenge is examining the server and storage options available and making the right hardware choices that provide the best value over the anticipated life of the solution. The step-by-step methodology in this document walks through the important design decision points that help address key challenges while ensuring that core business requirements are met. After we have determined the optimal solution for this customer, the solution undergoes a standard validation process to ensure that it holds up under simulated production workloads for normal operating, maintenance, and failure scenarios.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e0e93251-fc04-4a18-8aa0-23817b6d0c97

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Client and Device Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This download guides you through the process of deploying client software and devices for Lync 2010.

Overview

The Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Client and Device Deployment Guide guides you through the process of deploying client software and devices for Lync 2010. It contains deployment information for the following products:

Lync 2010
Online Meeting Add-in for Lync 2010
Lync Web App
Lync 2010 Attendee
Lync 2010 Attendant
Lync 2010 Phone Edition

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=39d317af-3b6e-43cd-a53c-a0ef561e3355

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Server.

Overview

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Server. You can use Monitoring Server to collect numerical data describing the media quality on your network and endpoints, usage information related to Voice over IP (VoIP) calls, instant messaging (IM) messages, audio/video conversations, meetings, application sharing, and file transfers, and call error and troubleshooting information for failed calls.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=8ad1bdf1-c43a-4dd4-af07-52027a4bcaeb

Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010

Brief Description

This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

Overview

This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ffc27548-1bc5-45ac-98aa-48f0dbd25827

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Edge Server Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 edge servers and Directors.

Overview

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 edge servers and Directors.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=85c62b26-e509-435e-811f-71c8c89dca83

Enabling Quality of Service with Microsoft Lync Server 2010

Brief Description

Overview

If your Windows Server network supports Quality of Service (QoS) management, you can take advantage of this functionality to optimize media traffic in your Microsoft Lync Server 2010 deployment. This guide shows you how to use Group Policy objects on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008 based computers to simplify the process.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=1d27de6c-a21a-498c-9cda-7eb5aae42f23

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Active Directory Guide

Brief Description

This document guides you through the process of preparing Active Directory for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and includes the Active Directory schema reference.

Overview

This document guides you through the process of preparing Active Directory for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and includes the Active Directory schema reference.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=513c46db-adc3-4d62-8acc-5f0ee27f1f9c

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing for Lync Server 2010.

Overview

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing for Lync Server 2010..

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=4cf4bed4-2f76-4b99-adcb-60653521cc70

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Response Group feature for Enterprise Voice.

Overview

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Response Group feature of Enterprise Voice. Response Group allows you to route and queue calls to groups of agents, such as for a help desk or general telephone support for a department.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=14f32cca-1ef2-4283-8a80-3e444248c065

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Announcement Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Announcement call management feature for Enterprise Voice.

Overview

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Announcement call management feature of Enterprise Voice. The Announcement feature allows you to configure how incoming phone calls are handled when the dialed number is valid for your organization but is not assigned to a user or phone.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9bb9cdf3-6a75-4700-a91c-6286bd3f778b

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This document guides you through the process of migrating and deploying Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components that are required to let organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing geographically distributed teams to better collaborate with one another while preserving organizational knowledge.

Overview

The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Deployment Guide is to guide you through the process of migrating and deploying Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components, such as might be required to meet regulatory compliance requirements. These components are required to support organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing geographically distributed teams to better collaborate with one another while preserving organizational knowledge. This document provides step-by-step procedures and other information that you need to set up Lync Server group chat support, including the procedures and information you need to meet the hardware and software prerequisites for migrating and deploying the group chat components, install the required Lync Server and other software for all group chat components, and complete the initial configuration required to support group chat.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=cd79d0a0-b7fb-4ed1-83e8-61acf5a69f78

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Reference: Call Data Recording and Quality of Experience Database Schema

Brief Description

This document describes the call detail recording (CDR) and the Quality of Experience (QoE) databases schemas in Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

Overview

This document describes the call detail recording (CDR) and the Quality of Experience (QoE) databases schemas in Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=de71b0a5-f164-46a1-b706-b6018dc7ccc4

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Supportability Guide

Brief Description

This guide provides a central, high-level reference for supported server topologies and configurations and supported client configurations. It is also intended to answer frequently asked questions. This document identifies supported topologies, configurations, and scenarios described in detail in the Lync Server deployment and planning documentation.

Overview

The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Supportability Guide is to provide a central, high-level reference for supported server topologies and configurations and supported client configurations. It is also intended to answer frequently asked questions. This document identifies supported topologies, configurations, and scenarios described in detail in the Lync Server deployment and planning documentation.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=73d7e282-bc2d-4c10-82f2-838d9c0332d6

Migrating from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Lync Server 2010

Brief Description

This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

Overview

This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=cae132e3-84ab-4110-885c-5bab0e64657e

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Administration Guide

Brief Description

This document guides you through the process of administering Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components that are required to let organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing geographically distributed teams to better collaborate with one another while preserving organizational knowledge.

Overview

The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Administration Guide is to guide you through the process of administering Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components, such as might be required to meet regulatory compliance requirements. These components are required to support organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing geographically distributed teams to better collaborate with one another while preserving organizational knowledge. This document provides step-by-step procedures and other information that you need to set up Lync Server group chat support, including the procedures and information you need to meet the hardware and software prerequisites for administering the group chat components.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=7af3e109-38ec-4f04-bf2f-3d35b6454a77

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Getting Started Guide

Brief Description

Descriptions of new features in Microsoft Lync Server 2010. Both server features and client features are included.

Overview

The document describes the features in Lync Server 2010 and Lync clients as well as what's new in both server and client.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e33765bc-9c5d-49b2-bb4f-ec8d42ccc1c7

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Device Management and Troubleshooting Guide

Brief Description

The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Device Management and Troubleshooting Guide is to provide guidance on how to manage and update devices. It is also intended to answer frequently asked questions. This document identifies supported topologies, configurations, and scenarios described in detail in the Lync Server device deployment and planning documentation.

Overview

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ca28982c-fb5c-4b79-b197-a3e25eb72323

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing.

Overview

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=787d6b9f-cbb3-4d6d-b292-34fe43e9afc3

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Call Park Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Call Park call management feature for Enterprise Voice.

Overview

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Call Park call management feature of Enterprise Voice. The Call Park feature allows you to put a call on hold and then retrieve the call from any phone.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e1cfd1dc-7ae0-4096-895b-101422146878

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Voice Deployment Guide

Brief Description

This download contains two documents: Deploying Enterprise Voice at Central sites and Deploying Branch Sites

Overview

This download contains two documents:

Deploying Enterprise Voice at Central sites guides you through the process of deploying voice over IP (VoIP for Lync Server 2010 in a central site.
Deploying Branch Sites guides you through the process of deploying survivable branch office appliance or branch office servers for branch office resiliency.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=af7cced8-e110-434e-97de-300b8a064e16

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Archiving Deployment Guide

Brief Description

Overview

The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Archiving Deployment Guide is to guide you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Archiving Server and the related components that are required to support archiving of instant messaging and web conferencing (meeting) content, such as might be required to meet regulatory compliance requirements. This document provides step-by-step procedures and other information that you need to set up Lync Server archiving support, including the procedures and information you need to meet the hardware and software prerequisites for deployment of the archiving components, design the archiving topology, install the required Lync Server and other software for all archiving components, and complete the initial configuration required to support archiving.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ff9f1066-c92c-4e74-9639-2f09f0bfaae9

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 Best Practices Analyzer

Brief Description

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 Best Practices Analyzer (Windows SBS 2011 BPA) is a diagnostic tool that is built on the Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer (MBCA) technology.

Overview

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 BPA (Windows SBS 2011 BPA) is a diagnostic tool that is built on the Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer (MBCA) technology. Windows SBS 2011 BPA scans a computer that is running the Windows SBS 2011 server software, and compares the existing server settings to a predefined set of recommended best practices.
Windows SBS 2011 BPA performs the following tasks:

Gathers information about a computer that is running the Windows Small Business Server 2011 server software
Determines if the server settings comply with a set of best practices that are recommended by Microsoft
Provides a report of the scan results, which identifies variances from the recommended best practices
Identifies conditions that may lead to problems with the server
Recommends solutions to potential problems

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=bbf35af9-f1ee-4397-b544-af3f31d7e32f

System Center Service Manager 2010 SP1 Evaluation

Brief Description

System Center Service Manager 2010 SP1 contains a number of bug fixes and performance improvements to the the System Center Service Manager 2010 release

Overview

Microsoft System Center Service Manager 2010 SP1 is available for download at the Microsoft Download website. This SP1 release is a rollup of fixes for System Center Service Manager 2010. It contains a number of bug fixes and performance improvements to the System Center Service Manager 2010 release. It is a full release that can be installed stand-alone or as an upgrade from System Center Service Manager 2010 RTM release.

Included in this release:

Consolidation of all language versions in a single release and readiness for simultaneous shipping at RTM.
Support for 10 additional languages (See documentation for details)
Integration of the Authoring Tool release and three cumulative updates
Performance fixes across the board in data access layer
Generic performance tracing in SDK
Performance enhancement for transforms
Usability and accessibility fixes throughout the product
Fixes in AD / OM connectors including support of importing Exchange 2003 distributed application
Notification issues related to multiple notifications
Localizability and globalization fixes throughout the product
Data, layout, and localization fixes in reports
Data warehouse enhancements including additional numeric datatype support for measures
Support of SQL 2008 R2
UI memory leak fixes
Intel Video Driver issue causing console crashes fixed by third party (Intel)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=5118055b-9cd7-45cd-bae6-7fc287d832d7

Infrastructure Planning and Design

Brief Description

The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) guides are the next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. The guides in this series help clarify and streamline design processes for Microsoft infrastructure technologies, with each guide addressing a unique infrastructure technology or scenario.

Overview

Infrastructure Planning and Design guides share a common structure, including:

Definition of the technical decision flow through the planning process.
Listing of decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.
Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.
Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.

These guides complement product documentation by focusing on infrastructure design options.

Each guide leads the reader through critical infrastructure design decisions, in the appropriate order, evaluating the available options for each decision against its impact on critical characteristics of the infrastructure. The IPD Series highlights when service and infrastructure goals should be validated with the organization and provides additional questions that should be asked of service stakeholders and decision makers.

IPD consists of the following downloadable packages:

New! Exchange Server
New! System Center Service Manager
Updated! Exchange Online—Evaluating Software-plus-Services
Updated! SharePoint Online—Evaluating Software-plus-Services
Active Directory Certificate Services
Active Directory Domain Services
DirectAccess
Dynamic Datacenter
File Services
Forefront Identity Manager 2010
Forefront Unified Access Gateway
Internet Information Services
IPD Series Introduction
Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6
Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V)
Print Services
Selecting the Right NAP Architecture
Selecting the Right Virtualization Technology
SQL Server
System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 with R2
System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 with SP1
System Center Operations Manager 2007
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008
Terminal Services
Windows Deployment Services
Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios
Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services
Windows Server Virtualization (for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V)
Windows User State Virtualization

The guides are available as individual downloads or as a single all-in-one package.

For more information about Infrastructure Planning and Design, read the Frequently Asked Questions.

Send questions or feedback to us directly at ipdfdbk@microsoft.com

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ad3921fb-8224-4681-9064-075fdf042b0c

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Administration Guide

Brief Description

This document contains procedures and guidance for administering a Lync Server 2010 deployment.

Overview

This document contains procedures and guidance for administering a Lync Server 2010 deployment.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=7141b219-5336-40e0-9529-83a6d53a3727

Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Monitoring Management Pack

Brief Description

The Lync Server 2010 Group Chat management pack supports health monitoring for the following Group Chat Server roles (Channel service, Lookup service, and Compliance service).

Overview

The Lync Server 2010 Group Chat management pack monitors the Group Chat Server event logs to detect any issues with the following Group Chat Server roles (Channel service, Lookup service, and Compliance service).

Feature Summary
The Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Management Pack monitors the following Group Chat Server services:

Channel service
Lookup service
Compliance service

Release History

12/16/2010 - Original release, version 4.0.7577.6

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=928ff5b8-0189-4783-8ab9-58d3a78eb41b

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Technical Overview

Brief Description

This download contains the Technical Overview chapter of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit book. This book is currently being developed. Chapters will be available for download while this book is being completed.

Overview

This download contains the Technical Overview chapter of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit book. This book is currently being developed. Chapters will be available for download while this book is being completed. For information about the continuing release of chapters, check DrRez.

Lync Server 2010 provides multiple server roles to scale to your enterprise's needs and purpose.

The Enterprise Edition scales up the capacity of the Standard Edition server to provide higher capacity and higher availability. The Director redirects user connections to the user's home server or home pool. The Edge Servers are deployed in the network perimeter to enable connectivity outside the organization's private network. A reverse proxy is required to expose Lync Web services to remote users. The Archiving Server performs server-side archiving of all IM communications. The Monitoring Server gathers CDR and Quality of Experience (QoE) data.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=4c780031-3e53-41be-9c65-2ca04be56bdb

Multilingual User Interface Package for Microsoft Lync 2010 (64 Bit)

Brief Description

This package adds Multilingual User Interface (MUI) functionality to Microsoft Lync 2010.

Overview

Microsoft Lync 2010 is a unified communications client, enhanced with the high quality VoIP platform on Lync Server 2010 and equipped to help users achieve new levels of productivity. Users can initiate conversations, conduct live video or audio meetings and share desktop applications with Web-connected colleagues worldwide.

By installing the Multilingual User Interface Package to an existing Lync 2010 installation, users can switch the user interface of Lync 2010 from one language to another.

This MUI Package for Lync 2010 includes the following languages:

Arabic
Bulgarian
Catalan
Chinese - Simplified
Chinese - Traditional
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Estonian
Finnish
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Kazakh
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese (Portugal)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=18adebb8-459b-44b1-bf01-db52077e4145

Multilingual User Interface Package for Microsoft Lync 2010 (32 Bit)

Brief Description

This package adds Multilingual User Interface (MUI) functionality to Microsoft Lync 2010.

Overview

Arabic
Bulgarian
Catalan
Chinese - Simplified
Chinese - Traditional
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Estonian
Finnish
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Kazakh
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese (Portugal)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=b0038147-1396-4255-a7ba-a4b0f8f672c1

Update Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2010 (KB2407113)

Brief Description

Update Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2010 (KB2407113)

Overview

Update Rollup 5 for Exchange Server 2010 resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2010 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2010 customers.

For a list of changes that are included in this update rollup, see KB2407113.

This is a cumulative update rollup and replaces the following:

KB976573 Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2010 (KB976573)
KB979611 Update Rollup 2 for Exchange Server 2010 (KB979611)
KB981401 Update Rollup 3 for Exchange Server 2010 (KB981401)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=6fe15b0c-e27e-4c44-86f9-df0dd0eddad3

Intranets–what’s in it?

2010-12-14T09:31:52Z

I keep getting asked this question over and over again. At one point I did a whole bit of research and came up with an idea around how the intranet should be divided. I’ve shared this with customers and they seem to like the ideas. I’d love to see your feedback around what you’ve seen.

In general we can divide the intranet into the following areas:

Corporate
Employee
Community
Extending back office apps
Self Service

Corporate:

News about the organization
About the organization
Mission, vision, values
Org Chart
Departments (links to department sites (see communities))

Employee:

Role related information
Career development
Professional development
Access to business processes & guidelines
Handbook
Benefits

Community:

Department/Group site
Smaller team sites based on hierarchy and projects
Collaboration workspaces

Wikis & blogs

Document libraries and links to useful information
Employee facebook
Employee marketplace
Events
Photo libraries
Corporate Offers

Extending back office apps:

Access to reports from back-end apps based on function
Access to applications (Composite apps)
Search

Self Service:

Search
Helpdesk
Vacation Request
Workplace services

These areas can be intermixed into the site design. For example the employee page may have information for the employee as well as self-service areas

Organizing oneself, one page at a time

2010-12-08T20:01:48Z

So if you’re a big fan of GTD, you may be interested in managing your work in the way Allen suggests. How do you do it then? While I’m a big fan of computers and OneNote, I still find that crossing out a task on paper is a lot more satisfying!

MiracleBind does it by offering their notebooks which allow you to move the pages around.

Rollabind, Myndology, Levenger and Atoma seem to do the same thing. Of them, Rollabind seems the cheapest and I read somewhere that they hold the patent on the concept.

Here’s a great video that got me interested in the topic.

Making Journals & Planners

New customer/partner-ready media content from Microsoft IT

2010-12-08T17:32:54Z

Microsoft IT Showcase is pleased to announce the publication of four new customer-ready Work Smart productivity guides. Work Smart guides provide employees with scenario-based, best-use productivity aids on Microsoft products and technologies. Download customizable versions of Work Smart materials to use as samples and reusable templates that specifically address the scenarios and processes in your information worker environment.

· Microsoft Office 2010 User Interface Get Started

· Outlook 2010 Calendar Scenarios Get Started

· Office SharePoint Workspace Get Started

· Collaborating with SharePoint Server 2010 Get Started

Learn more about Work Smart and Microsoft’s approach to productivity training in this 10-minute Work Smart Video.

Awesome post on managing the mail monster!

2010-12-04T15:08:47Z

In my last post I’d done a search on minutes writing, and that got me more into thinking about writing. So I looked up the blog again (Lynn’s) and decided to search for newer posts. I found one which really did resonate with me. I’m enjoying her blog!

So here’s the one about email that drew my attention and frankly, some admiration too!
21 Ways to Shrink the Email Monster

Meeting Minutes–the why and what of it!

2010-12-04T15:01:56Z

Often, I find myself in meetings where I’m the only one taking notes. It surprise me to no end to find that people are comfortable with this. Note taking is such an important activity in my daily life. I make an effort to take notes in a meeting or generally insist the one of the participants does that.

Why? And how? What to use?

For the why and what… here’s a great article that talks about meeting minutes. After looking through some top hits on bing, I settled on this one:
http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/2006/01/tips_for_writin.html

As to how – I often carry my laptop and these days with my Lenovo 510, I have over 3 hours of battery life, which means it lasts longer than the meeting So note taking is certainly a pleasure using OneNote and then to turn that into an email is generally effortless. The good thing about electronic notes:

They’re easy to send out
Easier to search
Easier to edit and fix up
Filing and organizing is no pain

OneNote is the app I use. Search comes in handy, but I’m terrible at filing at this time. Need to improve this function and secondly how often I refer to my notes. I generally have a good memory, so notes are great for triggering my memories of the meeting.

Other times when I choose not to carry a laptop, I carry a notebook – preferably my trusty black notebook (can’t recall the brand right now) – it’s got these pages which you can shuffle around as needed, so you can keep things organized. Otherwise I’d go for a mini folder where I can reorganize the papers easily.

Win Phone 7 Development

2010-11-09T12:58:15Z

Found this in my mailbox today!

Free eBook: Programming Windows Phone 7, by Charles Petzold
This book is a gift from the Windows Phone 7 team at Microsoft to the programming community. Within its pages, you'll learn the basics of writing applications for Windows Phone 7 using the Silverlight and XNA 2D frameworks.

My recent use of SharePoint 2010

2010-11-05T10:34:45Z

Finally after a long wait (time hardly matters), the Center of Expertise is ready! I’ve got 4 amazing dudes working with me and they’re specialists in various technologies:

Name	Specialization
Amr Ammar	UC & Exchange TSP
Ashraf Mansour	SharePoint & Office TSP
Ibrahim Sedky	UC & Exchange SSP
Mohamad El Hawary	SharePoint & Office SSP

So with this team on the ground, I’ve hopefully got a lighter workload and we’re able to server our varied customers a lot better. They’ve already gotten off to a strong start, engaging with you, our customers & partners.

Recently at the Open Door event, our team was at the Immersion Experience booth, where we showed off our IW technologies all meshed together into one deployment. That was a crowd pleaser what with all the gadgets on display too.

Soon you’ll find that Ashraf and Amr will be revitalizing the UC, Exchange and SharePoint communities with some fresh ideas and helping people realize more from their investments in our technologies. I’ve seen so many amazing people lately who work with us that make me feel hopeful about the future of technology and business in Egypt. In Amr Ammar, Ashraf Mansour, Eman El Rouby, Mahmoud Magdy, Mina Nagy, Fady Eskander, Ayman El Hattab, Mohamed Yehia, Marwan Tarek, Mohamed Zakaria, Shady Khorshed, Mai Omar, Mahmoud Ahmed, Himan Ibrahim and other techies, I see the drive and passion to learn and explore. With people like Ahmed El Naggar, Kareem Shokry, Amir Anis, Khaled Kamal, George Fouad, Mohamed El Hawary, Ibrahim Sedky, I see the drive to excel and help customers excel. And with these drives and the attitude that goes with it, it makes me a feel a lot more positive about the future.

LOL, and all of that side tracked me in my recent use of SharePoint. So recently I got tired of keeping up with my team’s varied activities. So I set up an Issues List and have asked them all to report their updates through this tool. I customized a minor bit, but it seems to suit my purpose so far. Lets see how our adoption continues!

Great post on WM7

2010-11-04T15:03:57Z

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/windows-phone-7-everything-you-need-to-know/

Found it a great read. Full feature line-up with all the missed opportunities highlighted

BlogMS Updates

2010-10-12T06:36:50Z

http://blogs.technet.com/b/blogms/archive/2010/08/09/blogms-weekly-articles-published-2nd-august-2010-to-8th-august-2010.aspx

Office Applications
Office Access Website | RSS Feed
Video introduction to hybrid web applications - 08-Oct-2010
Office Excel and Excel Services Website | RSS Feed
Extending Excel® to Build Models for You - 08-Oct-2010
VLOOKUP: No more #N/A - 06-Oct-2010
Office Outlook Website | RSS Feed
Chat Live with Office and Windows MVPs - 07-Oct-2010
Office Project Support Website | RSS Feed
Microsoft Project Momentum 2010 – I’ll be there! - 05-Oct-2010
Project Server: Updating and Deleting Custom Fields using the PSI - 05-Oct-2010
Office Visio Website | RSS Feed
Microsoft Visio 2010: Business Process Diagramming and Validation (A Visio Book) - 08-Oct-2010
Office Word Website | RSS Feed
Live Chat with Office and Windows MVPs - 07-Oct-2010

Office Sharepoint MOSS and Groove
Groove Support Website | RSS Feed
SharePoint Workspace 2010 crashes on some systems that were upgraded from Office 2003 or earlier - 08-Oct-2010
SharePoint Developer Website | RSS Feed
Where are Assemblies in Sandboxed Solutions Deployed? - 06-Oct-2010
Getting Started with the SharePoint Developers Tools in Visual Studio 2010 - 06-Oct-2010
Check out SharePoint in Pictures - 05-Oct-2010

Unified Communications
Microsoft Exchange Website | RSS Feed
Released: Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2010 SP1 - 07-Oct-2010
So you want to change your expired passwords in OWA... - 06-Oct-2010
Exchange 2010 (RTM) public folder replica lists could be modified in unexpected ways if public folder was created when Exchange 5.5 was in the organization - 04-Oct-2010
Office Communicator Website | RSS Feed
Microsoft Lync 2010 Accessibility - 06-Oct-2010
Unified Communications Group Website | RSS Feed
LA Fitness Saves $500,000 Annually and Improves Customer Service with Communications Solution - 04-Oct-2010