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...

In Lync 2013, as with the rest of the content, you can find program, monitor and desktop sharing options under the monitor icon. Here you can initiate a new session or quickly switch to recently presented content, listed conveniently in the same menu under Presentable Content . You can also Show the Stage if you want to have a look at a live preview of what viewers are seeing. If you used Lync 2010 you should be pretty familiar with most of the functionality but I’ll...

Introduction Accessibility was an important consideration we put our efforts into during Lync 2010 development. In addition to helping our customers with disabilities, these improvements also bring about broad usability enhancements in the product. We have made improvements in almost all accessibility areas (keyboard navigation, high dpi, high contrast, shortcut keys, global hotkeys, focus indication etc.). Additionally, we have made sure the initial level of accessibility...

“If only someone would build Lync for a conference room” Lync is at the center of one of the biggest transformations in the way we work since the advent of the PC. The workforce is more distributed, with more flexible working hours and getting things done increasingly relies on collaboration with people in multiple locations. Bill Gates was referring to this trend when he said at the launch of Lync 2010, “Lync is the most important thing to happen to the...

[Originally posted Fri Aug 24, 2012. UPDATED Tue Sep 18, 2012. Snom UC600 and Plantronics Calisto 800 series added to supported devices.] One of the most requested features for Lync for Mac 2011 is better device support. In the Windows client, any device that has been Optimized for Lync will be automatically set as the default device in Lync as soon as it is connected. In the Mac client, users must manually set the audio device as default in Mac System Preferences and then...

Now that you know the power of chat rooms. It is time to create one. Creating one will allow you to collaborate with the people who are important to you. You will be able to create a chat room if your Lync policy allows this. This policy is usually setup by the LYNC administrator. Creating a room is quick and easy: In the Lync main window, in the Chat Rooms view, click the "Add a room, + " button , then click "Create a Chat Room" on the dropdown menu. (If you...

In our busy work world, it is important to stay in touch with your colleagues, customers, and others.  With Microsoft Lync 2010 for mobile devices, you can keep Lync in your pocket and stay connected no matter where you are.  Being ‘always on’ in Lync will be a new thing for most people. After you sign into Lync on your mobile device, Lync Server keeps you signed in even when you are not using the app.  On Windows Phone, iPhone, and iPad, you will stay signed in...

Beginning this month, Microsoft will start helping Windows Live Messenger (WLM) users move to Skype, en route to eventually retiring WLM. Lync customers who are using federation with WLM will be mostly uninterrupted by this change but should be aware of some of the specifics. The movement of WLM users is enabled by the Skype 6.0 for Mac and Windows (released October 25, 2012) which allows signing in with a Microsoft Account (i.e., the same credentials as WLM). After simply...

The Lync team is happy to introduce the next update of Lync 2010 for iPad. This update enhances the Lync Meeting experience by bringing the ability to view uploaded Microsoft PowerPoint presentations within a scheduled Lync Meeting, as well as view the meeting participants’ list. When joining a Lync Meeting from the iPad, you will be prompted to join the audio portion of the meeting at the number already configured for the Call via Work feature (PSTN Callback). ...

As most of you know, earlier in the year we released Lync 2010 for Windows Phone , iPhone , iPad and Android .  What you probably also know is that we did not blog much about the releases… well that’s about to change.  From this point on this blog will be the best place to learn more about our Lync Mobile clients.  We are going to get started by talking about our current releases and what features they include.  So let’s get started! Lync 2010 for Windows Phone...