People have been wondering what SkyDrive Pro is. SkyDrive Pro is the latest rebranding of SharePoint Workspace. With SkyDrive Pro, enterprise users can sync SharePoint libraries to their computers. Below is a quick look at how it works.
SkyDrive Pro asking for location to sync to. (Similar to consumer counterpart)
SkyDrive Pro preparing to sync.
Syncing has begun and path to files is shown.
SkyDrive Pro integration with Windows Explorer.
I thought I’d share something that I ran into after I installed the Office 2013 Customer Preview on a Windows 8 system.
Before Office 2013 was available, I’d been using the Mail Metro-style app. After I installed and configured Outlook 2013 I noticed something strange. When I’d click on e-mail addresses in messages from Outlook 2013, I’d be prompted to either open the Mail app or use them in Outlook 2013. This got annoying fast. Fortunately, there is an easy fix.
From the start screen, show Charms (either swipe or press WinKey-C) and click Search. Search for “default.” Click on Default Programs.
Click on Set your default programs
Click on Microsoft Outlook and then click on Set this program as default
At a press event in San Francisco today Microsoft announced the Customer Preview of Office 2013.
Office 2013 has been built around what Microsoft calls “the modern office.” People want to work where they want, when they want, and they want their data to be available from anywhere they are. With Office 2013, SkyDrive and SharePoint integration is baked deep into the entire suite of products.
One of the more important scenarios with Office 2013 is what I’m calling the Better Together scenario. With Windows 8 on the horizon, Microsoft has put much time and emphasis on touch and inking support, integration with Windows RT, and is bringing OneNote and Lync to Windows 8 as Metro-style apps.
As I mentioned earlier there is a huge focus on the cloud. Just like on Windows 8 your settings travel with you. Settings you make on one computer such as dictionaries, templates, and recently opened documents are synced to all your other computers. By default, documents are saved to your SkyDrive. This means that your documents are available wherever you are.
For the enterprise users, Microsoft will be integrating Yammer (a recent acquisition) into its SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics products. Skype is being integrated with Lync. If you are a Lync user you can bring Skype contacts into Lync and call or instant message them. Lync 2013 feature HD video conferencing with the ability to show and markup presentations.
The Office 2013 Customer Preview is available from http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en and I highly encourage everyone to check it out.
Yesterday in New York City, Steve Ballmer announced the general availability of Microsoft Office 365.
Office 365 is the long-awaited successor to Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS). BPOS at the core was Exchange Server 2007 and SharePoint Server 2007 in the cloud. Also included was Office Live Meeting which could be used for hosting conference calls and presentations.
Office 365 in some ways is an evolution of BPOS, but there is so much more to Office 365 that I see it as an entirely new offering. The offerings in Office 365 are much improved from a cloud services architecture standpoint I’ve included a chart below listing the differences between the two products.
With Office 365, collaboration and communication are on a whole other level. By combining Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync in a cloud solution, Microsoft has made it easy for small businesses to have access to enterprise size technologies at a reasonable price and without having to deal with any of the infrastructure, licensing, and personnel overhead.
What do I mean by enterprise size technologies? Let’s take a look.
Best part about Office 365 though, is that they have a pricing model to fit everyone’s needs. Starts out at $2/user all the way up to $27/user based on the services provided. For small businesses and individuals, it’s only six bucks a month!
I’m currently in the process of migrating my single person Google Apps account to Office 365 and will then be migrating my personal e-mail over and then I’ll be relying entirely on the cloud. So far so good. The only hitch I have run into is that I signed up as a partner and there is a bit of a lag between account setup and when the actual licenses show up and are available to be used. Not a big deal. Other than that, I strongly recommend that users keep control of their DNS settings and manually set the appropriate Office 365 settings. I’ve seen too many comments in the Office 365 forums about inability to modify when MS Online has control.
Once I start using Office 365 on a daily basis, I’ll post more of my thoughts, but so far, it’s been pain free.
For more on Office 365, visit http://www.office365.com
If by some chance, you’re a small business in Arizona, and want to talk more about Office 365 and how it might fit in your business, send me an e-mail. tom (at) tomontech (dot) com
Tom on Tech 