Putting people first. #microsoft #google #privacy

Google has announced changes that have a big impact on the way privacy of its users is managed. Microsoft has published a response on the Offical Microsoft blog :

During the last week or so, there has been a fair amount of discussion about how Google is making some unpopular changes to some of its most popular products. You can see some of the concerns and worries about lack of choice and so on in these links.

When we read the coverage last week, it was clear people were honestly wrestling with the choices that had been made for them and were looking for options or alternatives.

The changes Google announced make it harder, not easier, for people to stay in control of their own information. We take a different approach – we work to keep you safe and secure online, to give you control over your data, and to offer you the choice of saving your information on your hard drive, in the cloud, or on both.

Source : Official Microsoft Blog

IT Showcase On: #Microsoft #Lync Deployment

 

Microsoft IT (MSIT) replaced PBX systems in seven sites located in thethree major regions. MSIT implemented user adoption strategies that resulted in a very successful deployment with high user satisfaction scores.

Source : IT Showcase On: Microsoft Lync Deployment

Reunited after many years #nokia #lumia800

Yesterday I received a new phone”upgrade”; I switched my SamSung device for a Nokia Lumia 800

And it had been a while since I last used one :

Good to be reunited with Nokia .. by far the coolest phone out there in my humble opinion …

CRN : Microsoft Office365–Best Cloud Application of 2011 #msonline #office365

CRN has published an overview of their ‘15 Best Product for 2011’. Office365 is their pick for best Cloud Application :

Cloud Application: Office 365

Microsoft launched its cloud-based service for Exchange, SharePoint and Lync -- with support for online versions of its Office franchise -- with ultra-competitive pricing starting at $6 per month per user. Enterprises can be up and running with full functionality within minutes, it can be managed in-house or remotely by resellers, and we found it to be uber-flexible and compelling. It’s the real deal, and it blows away Google Apps.

Remarkable also that other then the highlighted text no mention of Google product / service anywhere in the whole overview.

Source : CRN.com

Microsoft Future Vision Videos all in 1 list

I use the Microsoft Future Vision videos quite a lot in presentations and over the years Microsoft has produced a number of them. They are always very well received as they paint not only a futuristic, but in many cases also a realistic picture of how we work and play in the future. I can’t wait

A large number of Future Vision (and related) videos are now on Youtube so I put them in a list for you :

Wat als Microsoft Office een eeuw eerder beschikbaar was …

Leuke Videos van het Microsoft Office team die de kracht van het Microsoft platform goed laten zien .. Wat als ze een eeuw eerder beschikbaar waren ..

 

Er zijn nog meer leuke voorbeelden met Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote …

Daar moet Google toch een beetje van wakker liggen

Bron: AllthingsD , screenshot van Microsoft’s Analyst meeting.

Windows8 … eindelijk

Na lang, lang wachten was het vandaag dan eindelijk zo ver … Windows8. Vanochtend vroeg kwam de developer Preview van WIndows 8 beschikbaar.

Zoals de aanduiding al aangeeft een ‘build’ van Windows die primair gericht is ontwikkelaars van Windows software. Maar stiekum is het toch wel een hele stabiele build die deels gebaseerd is op Windows 7 technologie, maar dan wel verbeterd en aangevuld met hele coole features.

Neem nu het opstartscherm :

Ik heb Windows8 geinstalleerd op een van mijn laptops, een Dell Adamo XPS, en het homescreen is zo mooi en intuitief vormgegeven dat je het elke keer wilt aanraken, maar ik moet het doen met de muis

Wat mij opvalt na een paar uurtjes ‘spelen’ :

• Installatie van de 64bit versie heb ik gedaan vanaf een bootable USB stick in minder dan 25 minuten
• Snelheid is erg goed
• Opstarten gaat inderdaad heel erg snel
• Deze developer build is erg stabile en ook vrij compleet
• Ik moet wennen aan de nieuwe startknop en mis de zoekfunctie daar en de mogelijkheid om applicaties direct op te starten
• Alle Windows7 compatible apps werken gewoon en ik heb mijn PC eigenlijk al weer helemaal zo ingericht als ik hem had op windows7, maar dan nu met Windows 8

Ik kan niet wachten op de beta versie, wat doorgaans betekent dat wij het binnen Microosft echt Mogen gaan ‘dogfooden’ op onze werk PCs …

O ja en ik kan ook niet wachten op Windows8 op een Windows Tablet te gaan gebruiken

iSheep eat your hart out

Microsoft GFS Datacenter Tour

This 10 min video provides a lot of information about Microsoft’s Datacenters :

This video will provide a deeper look at how Microsoft uses secure, reliable, scalable and efficient best practices to deliver over 200 cloud services to more than a billion customers and 20 million businesses in over 70 countries.It provides an understanding at how we view our end-to-end cloud strategy from an infrastructure perspective :

A step by step guide to Microsoft Office 365

The website Cloudhypermarket.com has published a very nice infographic on Microsoft Office 365 :

Get Started With Office 365!

 

The wait is over! Office 365 brings together Microsoft cloud productivity services in a secure, reliable, and flexible package. Better yet, it has been tested by over 200,000 organizations and Office 365 is available today to businesses of all sizes in 40 markets around the world. You’ll find that whether you want to connect via a mobile device, PC or browser to work with others and take action quickly, Office 365 will help you.

“Great collaboration is critical to business growth, and because it’s so important, we believe the best collaboration technology should be available to everyone. With a few clicks, Office 365 levels the playing field, giving small and midsize businesses powerful collaboration tools that have given big businesses an edge for years.”

---Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft

Building "Windows 8" - Video #1

This is the very first official preview of Windows 8. Although I am “a little” biased … I can’t wait to get my hands on this. Just like Windows Phone 7 it is different than the “icon world” of many other vendors and Windows Phone 7 related to iPhone , Android proofs to me that it is not only different, it is very powerfull.

Imagine this on a slte device and compared to the iPad not having to “push the button” every time to switch to another app for your “multitasking experience”

Whitepaper : Microsoft Exchange Deployment Options #msonline #office365

The purpose of this paper is to help you choose how to deploy Microsoft Exchange: as Exchange Server 2010 on-premises, Exchange Online with Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud, or using both in a temporary or permanent hybrid scenario. Knowing the benefits and limitations of each deployment option can help you make the right decision for your organization. Whatever you decide, the deployment flexibility that Microsoft provides with Exchange makes it easier for you to get the right solution for your business

Download : Microsoft Download Center

Het huis van de toekomst : The Microsoft Home

Nee niet zoals de Chriet Titulaar versie destijds bij het Autotron, maar een duidelijke visie op hoe technologie in de (nabije) toekomst ingezet kan worden in en rond het huis.

Deze video is onderdeel van een serie rondleidingen op de Microsoft campus in Redmond :

 

Steve Clayton and Flora Goldthwaite give us an exclusive tour of The Microsoft Home.

The Microsoft Home, located on the Redmond campus in the Executive Briefing Center, is an envisioning of the family home in the very near future where connected experiences and devices take their next logical steps and beyond.

First opened in 1994, The Microsoft Home is maintained by a group of researchers under Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Craig Mundie, and is updated regularly.

Unfortunately The Microsoft Home is not open to the public but Channel 9 was given special permission to film a sneak-peak tour for this episode of Microsoft Campus Tours.

Bron : http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/CampusTours/Microsoft-Campus-Tours-The-Microsoft-Home

Microsoft Partner Eco System : Scalability and Impact

Last week Microsoft sent out a press release regarding a report by IDC about Microsoft’s partner ecosystem and its economic impact : $ 580 Billion.

In the software industry there is this the Rule of Thumb :
$1 in software revenue generates up to $10 in the partner ecosystem.

Although 1:10 may seem a very big multiplier, simply compare it to Microsoft’s annual turnover and you’ll see it isn’t that far off.

For sure Cloud Services may impact the 1:10 ratio; but nevertheless a lot of services our partners provide today in the “on premises” world are still very relevant in the “cloud” world.

And if there’s 1 thing that distincts Microsoft from a lot of other players in the current market it is the this partner eco systems. It creates scale in consulting, implementation and management of client’s IT infrastructure. A scale that is far beyond that of any other company in the software industry :

the IDC white paper, commissioned by Microsoft, can be viewed : here

BPOS, Windows Azure, Dynamics CRM Online, Windows Intune … See the trend ? #msonline

Windows Intune, the latest Cloud Service from Microsoft,  is released today :

Windows Intune, which launches today at the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) in Las Vegas, makes it possible for IT professionals to provide PC management and security services to their organization or client over the Internet – at a low monthly cost, said Rich Reynolds, general manager of Windows Commercial Marketing.

“If you have a PC and can connect it to the Internet, it can be managed and better protected with Windows Intune – and that’s a benefit for IT and for end users,” Reynolds said. “It’s a solution for customers of all sizes, especially those with a lightly managed or unmanaged PC environment.”

Subscriptions to Windows Intune are available now for purchase in 35 countries, or users can “try before they buy” with a free 30-day trial, he said. Paying Windows Intune customers also receive upgrade rights to Windows 7 Enterprise and future versions of Windows, ultimately giving PC users the best productivity experience with their Windows PC and helping IT lower support costs by standardizing on a single version of Windows. Subscribers also have the option of adding Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) tools, which will include two new updates announced today: Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring, and Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset.

The inclusion of the Windows 7 IT features makes Intune “a very compelling package,” Reynolds said.

Continue at source : Microsoft PressPass

Microsoft Cloud & Interoperability Center openening March 22, 2011 #cloudcomputing #msonline

On March 22, the Microsoft Cloud and Interoperability Center will be inaugurated in Brussels. Located at the heart of the European Institutions, the Center promotes cloud computing innovation in Europe by showcasing the latest technologies and solutions in areas such as education, health and e-government as well as advanced research projects. The Center provides support for public sector organizations and SMEs as they explore and adopt cloud technology, and as they create their own innovative solutions. The Center emphasizes interoperability and collaboration to make the most of information technology.

Source : Microsoft.eu

Exchange Online SLA Updated with Spam, Virus Protection Guarantees #bpos #msonline

New improvement to the Service Level Agreement for Online Services; in this case the expansion of the SLA to also cover Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE).

Also Microsoft has consolidated all SLA documents into 1 single document.

Effective immediately, Microsoft announces the Exchange Online Service Level Agreement (SLA) has been updated to include service level components for virus and spam protection delivered by Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE).

Forefront Online Protection for Exchange is an enterprise-class e-mail filtering service that is included without additional cost as part of the Exchange Online service. Exchange Online customers now benefit from financially-backed guarantees of virus and spam protection service levels, including:

· Virus Detection and Blocking Service Level

· Spam Effectiveness Service Level

· False Positive Service Level

Microsoft also simplifies the communication and access to the SLA with a single document that covers a number of Microsoft Online Services. In addition to all components of the Business Productivity Online Suite Standard (BPOS-S), this SLA document also covers Dynamic CRM Online, Exchange Hosted Archive and Windows Intune. The new SLA document can be found on the Microsoft Volume Licensing site.

Other than the new SLA benefits described above for Exchange Online, there are no material changes to the terms and conditions of the SLAs for other components of BPOS-Standard or for the other existing service SLA’s that are represented.

Source: Exchange Online SLA Updated with Spam, Virus Protection Guarantees

The Communicators: The Future of Cloud Computing with Microsoft's Brad Smith #cloudcomputing

Microsoft’s Cloud Computing vision of the future with a discussion on the C-SPAN show The Communicators. The guest for this January, 2010 episode is Microsoft Senior Vice President Brad Smith.

Webwereld: Google weigert data in Europa te houden

Dit artikel verscheen afgelopen week op webwereld en dat zet je wel aan het denken :

Zonde dat een onderwerp wat zo belangrijk is voor de acceptatie van cloud computing zo wordt neergezet door een bedrijf dat pretendeert een drijvende kracht achter cloud computing te zijn. Ik vond dit echt een historische quote :

“Google ziet het heel simpel. We bieden geen villa die je zelf kan inrichten, maar een standaard ingericht appartement in onze flat. Daarmee heb je alle voordelen van de cloud tegen bodemprijzen. Onze menukaart is beperkt, maar je kunt toch weg? Dan moet je verder niet zeiken”, aldus Schouten.

Samantha Peter, bij Google Europa verantwoordelijk voor de educatie sector bevestigd nog maar eens dat Google echt geen hoge pet op heeft van de eisen en wensen van hun klanten op juridisch vlak. Als een klant het doet volgt de rest wel :

Een één-schaap-over-de-dam strategie, bevestigt Samantha Peter, die over de onderwijsmarkt gaat. “Je hebt een a twee early adopters nodig en dan volgen anderen, dat werkt in het onderwijs en ook op de commerciële markt.”

Volgens Google is het hameren op datalocatie vooral een nostalgische emotie. “Onze boodschap is: het lost echt geen problemen op. Wat willen ze er mee bereiken? We zien dat er universiteiten voor Google kiezen, zonder dat ze eisen dat hun data in Europa blijft. Die scheppen een precedent en dan kunnen anderen zich afvragen hoe belangrijk deze kwestie nu eigenlijk is. Er zitten twee kanten aan de medaille. We zouden het kunnen doen, maar wellicht is het over een jaar minder belangrijk en is al de helft van de universiteiten gemigreerd,” aldus Peter.

Bron : webwereld.nl

Je vraagt je af hoe bestaande klanten van Google, die juist hebben aangegeven dat de juridische aspecten van cloud computing zo belangrijk vinden, zich voelen.

Neem nou Open Universiteit die in een computable artikel benadrukte hoe belangrijk zij de juridische aspecten vinden :

Privacy van studenten

De juridische kant van de zaak was echter een echter breinbreker. "Google heeft niet zo'n goede naam in Europa, met name waar het het het scannen van de inhoud van berichten en de bewaartermijn van gegevens betreft. De mailadressen van onze studenten zijn opgebouwd uit hun voorletters en achternaam. Dat zijn persoonsgegevens volgens de Wet Bescherming Persoonsgegevens."

Dat Google een Amerikaans bedrijf is maakte de zaak daarnaast niet eenvoudiger. Hoofd Juridische ondersteuning van de OU, Jan Engels: "Google wil zijn contracten sluiten naar Amerikaans recht. Daarnaast staat de site van Google vol met allerlei verwijzingen naar contractvoorwaarden. Het is wel verstandig om die allemaal goed door te nemen. Dat kost veel tijd. Daarnaast speelde het probleem dat Google volledig naar Amerikaans recht redeneerde, terwijl we hier van doen hebben met Nederlands privacyrecht."

De OU besloot juridisch advies in te winnen bij een advocaat die gespecialiseerd was in internationaal contractenrecht en die op zijn beurt een Amerikaanse collega heeft gevraagd te adviseren bij de tot stand koming van dit contract. Daarnaast vroeg de OU informeel advies aan het College Bescherming Persoonsgegevens (CBP).

Ondubbelzinnige toestemming

Helwig: "Het CBP vertelde ons dat we in dit geval ‘ondubbelzinnige toestemming' nodig hebben van studenten voor het rechtmatig gebruik van hun voorletters en achternaam. We hebben dus al onze studenten een brief gestuurd met de vraag of we die mochten gebruiken voor de aanmaak van een Gmail-adres." Vier procent van de studenten gaf geen toestemming. Zij krijgen de OU-post nu op een privé-mailadres bezorgd.

Ook bedong de OU, met hulp van de ingehuurde advocaat, dat Google de bewaartermijn van persoonsgegevens (in dit geval voorletters en achternaam) bekortte. Daarnaast kwamen de twee partijen overeen dat er geen advertenties zouden worden geplaatst naast Gmail-berichten.

Bron : Computable.nl

Of Universiteit Utrecht, ondanks dat zij aangeven in een artikel over cloud computing dat het conformeren aan Safe Harbour op zich voldoende is voor hun studenten

De Universiteit Utrecht (ruim 7000 medewerkers, bijna 30.000 studenten) implementeert momenteel Gmail van Google voor haar studenten. Corporate Information Security Officer René Ritzen: ‘Met Gmail kunnen we de studenten tegen minder kosten meer functionaliteit bieden, met name opslagcapaciteit. Een heet hangijzer was wel de privacybescherming. Hoewel Google geen garantie geeft over de plaats van opslag, conformeert het bedrijf zich wel aan de EU safe harbour privacy principes. Dat houdt in dat Google een bij de EU passend beschermingsniveau biedt. Voor e-mailverkeer van studenten vinden we dat voldoende. Zij kunnen hun mail overigens ook laten forwarden naar een andere provider. Voor e-mail van medewerkers willen we wél minimaal de garantie dat deze in de EU wordt opgeslagen.'

Privacy, lokatie van data, wet- en regelgeving zijn zeer belangrijke aspecten en in mijn optiek vormen ze de basis voor het vertrouwen dat nodig is voor consumenten, bedrijven en instellingen om de stap naar cloud gebaseerde diensten te maken …

Office Web Apps nu ook in het Nederlands beschikbaar

Vers van de pers … Office Web Apps (word, Excel, PowerPoint en Onenote in de browser) zijn beschikbaar via www.skydrive.nl ; nu ook in het Nederlands :

Today the Office Web Apps (on Windows Live SkyDrive and Hotmail) became available in 15 new countries including China, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and Turkey.

These additions bring the total number of countries to 26 – making the Web Apps available to more than 1/3 of all earthlings.

1. Australia
2. Austria
3. Belgium
4. Canada
5. China (new)
6. Denmark (new)
7. Finland (new)
8. France
9. Germany
10. Hong Kong (new)
11. Ireland
12. Italy (new)
13. Japan (new)
14. Netherlands (new)
15. New Zealand (new)
16. Norway (new)
17. Portugal (new)
18. Russia
19. South Korea (new)
20. Spain (new)
21. Sweden (new)
22. Switzerland
23. Taiwan (new)
24. Turkey (new)
25. United Kingdom
26. United States

So what does this mean for the 15 new countries? It means that, starting today, people in these countries can use the Web Apps to view, edit, and share Office documents from anywhere with a browser and an internet connection. This includes viewing, editing, and sharing Office document attachments in Hotmail.

Bron : Office Web Apps Blog

Microsoft Cloud Services is goed vertegenwoordigt op het CIO in the Cloud event op 30/11/2010 #msonline #bpos

OP 30 november a.s. vindt het CIO in the Cloud event plaats in het Media Plaza in Utrecht. Microsoft is een van de sponsoren en zal daar een CIO Roundtable invullen.

Om de Microsoft CIO Roundtable waardevol te maken voor de deelnemers, zal niet Microsoft zelf aan het woord zijn, maar een aantal Microsoft klant CIOs zullen hun ervaringen delen in een dialoog met de aanwezigen :

Deelnemende klant CIOs zijn :

Ben Gorter : Reinier de Graaf Gasthuis

Rufus Plantz : TMF Group

ROUND TABLE Welke vragen spelen bij de implementatie van cloud diensten en hoe hiermee om te gaan
Cloud Computing biedt uw organisatie veel nieuwe mogelijkheden en roept ook veel vragen op, ondermeer op het gebied van beveiliging, continuiteit, privacy en koppelingen met uw bestaande ICT omgeving. Microsoft heeft een aantal CIOs en ICT verantwoordelijken van bestaande klanten uitgenodigd voor deze rountdtable. Zij hebben de stap naar de cloud gemaakt en delen graag hun ervaringen met u.

Peter de Haas, Online Strategy Manager, Microsoft

Naast de Microsoft CIO Roundtable vinden er gelijktijdig nog een aantal andere roundtables plaats van andere sponsoren van het event. Dit zijn de ‘usual suspects’ met hun eigen verhaal en een aantal roundtables met klantcases.

Er zijn ook 2 Microsoft partners met echte klantcases (Royal Mail Group en Telegraaf Media Groep) op basis van Microsoft Online services :

ROUND TABLE Telegraaf Media Groep in the Cloud
Telegraaf Media Groep neemt bij Atos Origin Cloud-dienstverlening af. Aan de hand hiervan wordt tijdens de Round Table onder andere besproken of Cloud voor TMG gebracht heeft wat zij ervan verwachtte en hoe TMG de veranderingen in de rol van Atos Origin als system integrator ziet.
Powered by Atos Origin

Dick Pouw, Concern IT Directeur, Telegraaf Media Groep – Telegraaf Media ICT

ROUND TABLE ‘Pay-as-you-go’ oplossing ter ondersteuning van de lancering van nieuwe initiatieven, het transformeren van diensten en het terugdringen van kosten
In deze ronde tafel geeft Rudolf Laane u inzicht in de Royal Mail Group casus. De Cloud oplossing is erop gericht om online diensten aan bedrijven en burgers te transformeren, om de jaarlijkse IT-kosten voor de website te verminderen en om de uitbreiding en diversificatie te ondersteunen van nieuwe webgerelateerde diensten, zonder gehinderd te worden door vertragingen en kosten die traditionele IT met zich meebrengt. Voor het eerst brengt Royal Mail Group hiermee de kosten van IT in overeenstemming met de opbrengsten.
Powered by Capgemini

Rudolf Laane, Vice President Cloud Services, Capgemini

Keuze genoeg dus deze dag om ervaringen te horen met Microsoft’s Cloud Services. Niet wat mogelijk allemaal kan met Cloud, maar wat er daadwerkelijk al mee gedaan wordt …

Microsoft Office 365 video #office365

Check out the latest Microsoft Office 365 video .. very comprehensive overview all available to organizations from 1 to 300.000+ users :

Microsoft Office 365 Beta Service Descriptions

These documents provide a detailed description of the features and functionality of Office 365 services currently in beta.

Microsoft Exchange Online Beta Service Description	Download
Microsoft_Lync_Online__Beta_Service_Description	Download
Microsoft_Office_Professional_Plus_Beta_Service_Description	Download
Microsoft_Office_Web_Apps_Beta_Service_Description	Download
Microsoft_SharePoint_Online_Standard_Beta_Service_Description	Download

 

Lync is the new brand for Office Communications Server / Client and in Office 365 also includes the webconfering Service LiveMeeting

Microsoft Office 365 – The best productivity solutions all in one Cloud Service

Yesterday Microsoft introduced Microsoft Office 365. Microsoft Office 365 brings together cloud versions of our most trusted communications and collaboration products with the latest version of our desktop suite for businesses of all sizes.

You can check out the new webpage for more information :

 

Meanwhile the information flow has started. So I will be doing some posts later today / tomorrow on that.

Also I will give ‘Microsoft Online Services - The Ultimate List’ document an overhaul over the weekend with all the new stuff included.

What Can Cloud Services do For You–#bpos | #msonline

This animated video describes what cloud services can do for customers and partners... for enterprise, med, small business and consumer at the most basic 101 level.

Source : Microsoft Showcase

Microsoft Online Services: Domain Validation Tips and Tricks #bpos #msonline

The Microsoft Online Services Team Blog features a post on Domain validation. Since we get a lot of questions about this topic it seems useful to share :

Domain Validation and BPOS
Tips and Tricks

By Brett Hill of Advaiya, Inc. for Microsoft Corp.

When you sign up for an email service like Exchange Online, you’re probably planning on using your own domain name for signing in and for your email addresses. I can actually validate a domain in about 2 minutes or less, but there are a couple of things to know.

When you first signup for BPOS, you’re asked to provide a domain name. This is used to create a base domain like “myverycooldomainname.microsoftonline.com”. You’re issued a microsoftonline.com domain (sometimes called the Microsoft Online Default Routing Domain [or MSODRD for the real trivia geeks out there]) as it is certain to be unique to the Microsoft Online AD and you don’t have to immediately prove ownership. In this way Microsoft can immediately configure your BPOS account. …

Continue at source : Domain Validation Tips and Tricks

Microsoft Online Services + Partners = TurboBoost - #wpcnl #bpos #msonline

What do you get when you combine Partners, Innovative Microsoft Online Services and ‘the cloud’ ?

The Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is always an important event for making big announcements. This year is no exception and this is

this year more than ever WPC is focused on the cloud.

Microsoft is looking back on a very successful year with Microsoft Online Services (BPOS), especially with partners :

In fact, every week, more than 100 partners join us in the cloud, adding to the 16,000 already selling our Microsoft Online Services. It’s the world’s largest partner ecosystem for the cloud - and the number of partners backing our Online Services has more than tripled since this time last year!

Partners are participating in rigorous training (Over 800 events this year!), gaining customers in droves, and making money. The cloud has been good to our partners.

To give you a feel for this rapid growth in our cloud partner ecosystem, here are a few snapshots of activity:

• Today, we’re announcing the addition of three new communication service providers – Bell Canada, BT, Telenor, TDC and PGi. These partners find strong synergies with our Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS). Since last year, BPOS has also launched with Vodafone, Orange, Telecom New Zealand, and Telstra. These communications services partners have seen steady growth in a short time frame. For example, since launching in Germany in April, Vodafone, the largest communications service provider in the world, added more than 1,000 BPOS customers.
• To extend our reach with BPOS even further, we have signed global agreements with Ingram Micro and Tech Data, the two largest technology distributors in the world. Our partner ecosystem has now expanded to over 50 distributors worldwide!
• Slalom, a national business and technology consulting firm, grew its revenue with BPOS, citing $5 million in new revenue last year alone. Going into the next year, Slalom already has more than 50 prospects in the pipeline, approaching $10 million in revenue. http://www.slalom.com/
• Wortell, our Online Services Partner of the Year, launched a new division focused on online strategies and profit margins close to 60%, with diverse customers including a national bank and a national postal service. Wortell also found new market opportunities in the law enforcement industry; one recent Wortell project helps international police agencies collaborate using Microsoft Online Services. http://www.bposrocks.com/
• To help partners join the cloud successfully, Pinpoint, our technology marketplace for partner applications and services, is going global. It’s now live in 16 countries and 9 languages. Pinpoint has also been updated to make it easier to discover partner applications online and in other Microsoft applications, with the help of in-application discovery - giving partners wider global reach for their solutions and services. http://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-US/getlisted
  

Continue at source: here

Microsoft also announced a whole list new capabilities coming in the new release of Microsoft Online Services :

New capabilities coming to BPOS in the near future

Today, we kick off our Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington DC. Among the many cool announcements happening this week, we are excited to be sharing more information about some amazing new capabilities coming to BPOS in the near future. We want to make sure that you, our customers, have this information early enough to get ready and make the most of the new stuff that’s coming.

…

New Capabilities

Office Web Apps Updates

• Word Web App
• Excel Web App
• PowerPoint Web App
• OneNote Web App

Exchange Online Updates

• Voice mail with Unified Messaging
• Integrated archiving
• Retention policies and legal hold
• Transport rules
• Multi-mailbox search
• Conversation View
• MailTips
• Enhanced Web-based administration
• Role-Based Access Control
• Remote PowerShell
• Free/busy between cloud and on-premises
• Cross-premises management
• Native migration tools

SharePoint Online Updates

• Portal site templates
• Extranet access
• Anonymous Access
• Multi-Lingual UI
• Office 2010 integration
• Tagging, Rating, Tag Cloud
• Activity Feed, Social Networking, Note Board
• Improved Wikis & Blogs
• Content publishing
• Navigation controls
• Cross site-collection search
• Phonetic search
• People search
• Visio Services
• Excel Services
• Sandboxed Solutions
• Improved workflows
• Improved SharePoint Designer 2010
• Access Services
• Better controls of FQDNs

Office Communications Online Updates

• P2P A/V across firewall
• File transfer across firewall
• Presence with pictures
• Federation
• IM with Windows Live

Additional features will be available based on Communications Server “14” as part of ongoing service updates.

Platform Updates

• Free/Busy co-existence
• Single Sign On
• Identity federation
• Redesigned admin interface
• More administration and access control
…

Continue at source: here

Microsoft’s vision on the modular datacenter is now a fact

Modular datacenters running Microsoft Cloud Services, in this case Windows Azure, is no longer just a vision in a very nice video animation, but an actual solution for actual clients :

Microsoft and eBay Team Up for Cloud Computing Bliss

At its Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington, D.C., Microsoft isn’t just “hardcore” about tablets, the company is also ramping up its cloud computing efforts and has announced that eBay will be one of the first customers of Microsoft’s new Windows Azure platform appliance.

The appliance is designed to be a turnkey cloud platform aimed at large enterprises or service providers who already have their own datacenters. Rather than storing data off-site, customers can take advantage of Microsoft’s cloud computing infrastructure on their own existing datacenters.
eBay will be one of the first partners to take advantage of this solution with two of its datacenters.

Microsoft and eBay have already tested Microsoft’s public Windows Azure platform as a way to deploy certain apps and functionality on a public cloud (i.e. making them accessible externally) while still being reliable. Windows Azure hosts eBay’s iPad listings page, for instance.

Check out this video from the eBay Ink blog, in which eBay VP of Technology James Barrese talks about eBay, cloud computing and how the new arrangement with Microsoft will work.

Continue at source : Microsoft and eBay Team Up for Cloud Computing Bliss

There is also a Microsoft press release on the eBay solution.

Microsoft has formed an alliance with Fujitsu, HP and Dell for delivering this type of Windows Azure based solutions to customers.

Microsoft Education Labs is taking Live@edu to the next level

Microsoft Live@edu is a very strong solution on itself, when looking at The Netherlands it is the most widely used cloud services solution in education today and growing at a very rapid rate.

One of the most asked ‘feature’ is integration with 3rd party platform and with the Microsoft platform (i.e. SharePoint, Exchange, etc.). Microsoft Education Labs addresses this need .. big time. Just take a look at some of the most recent projects in here :

Moodle is obviously a widely used platform in education, also in The Netherlands. Integrating Moodle with Office, SharePoint and Live@edu means institutions get much more return on investment and much better use of the platform(s) all together.

Go check out Microsoft Education Labs

Gartner Webinar : Google vs. Microsoft: A Battle for the Clouds

This is a recorded session. Its free but you have to register …

Google and Microsoft are investing billions of dollars every year, building out data centers to support their cloud offerings, and hoping to be No. 1 in a world where the cloud is central to computing. We'll focus on the differences between their strategies, and who is likely to succeed most at what.

Please join VP and Gartner Fellows Tom Austin and David Mitchell Smith

What You Will Learn:

• Where do Microsoft and Google stand today?
• What will be the effect on markets as a result of Microsoft/Google competition?
• How will enterprise IT decisions be affected by the battles between Microsoft and Google?

Microsoft takes off the gloves with a Google Apps switchers campaign #BPOS #msonline #gonemicrosoft

 

Mary Jo Foley reports of a switchers campaign for Google Apps users. In the recent months a number of organisations switched from Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services. The article also highlights some new “switches”.
#gonemicrosoft

… Remember Apple’s “switchers” campaign — the one where they highlighted Windows users who dumped their Windows PCs for Macs? Microsoft is taking a page out of that book in reverse — touting customers that are switching from Google Apps to Microsoft’s Online hosted services.  …

Continue at source : Microsoft takes off the gloves with a Google Apps switchers campaign

Wired Magazine reviews Microsoft Office Web Apps #windowslive #live@edu

If you haven’t seen or used Office Web Apps you can check it out at http.office.live.com

Microsoft's New Web Apps Will Have Your Head in the Cloud

With Office 2010, Microsoft has taken an important (and inevitable) step into internet-stored media. That's right; MS is all up in the cloud now.

In addition to releasing its new native Office suite, which gives you the option to save your files on the Intertubes, Microsoft has rolled out free, lightweight web versions of Office apps accessible through Windows Live.

We took several Office apps for a test ride: Word, PowerPoint and Excel. The verdict? For the most part, this is a decent web suite that works well with the native Office apps, though it's still a little unrefined. …

Continue at source: Wired Magazine

De NGN mag best wat kritischer zijn op de inhoud van haar nieuwsbrief

Vandaag was ik bij een partner voor een presentatie over onze online diensten. Een van de aanwezigen wees mij op een recente nieuwsbrief van de NGN.

Het item gaat over  een “de introductie van de nieuwe Windows Live Hotmail en een vergelijk met de competitie, maar is gebaseerd op verkeerde aannamen.

Nu respecteer ik een ieders mening en we kunnen niet allemaal Microsoft fans zijn, maar je hoeft het er ook niet duimendik bovenop te leggen toch.

Een “nieuwsitem” over Windows Live Hotmail vullen met verkeerde informatie en vage conclusies is onnodig en voegt voor niemand iets toe.

De auteur (RO ?) van het stuk vraagt of iemand van Microsoft commentaar wil geven … Nou graag ! Loopt u even mee ?

Microsoft probeert een antwoord te formuleren op Google's Gmail, door diverse verbeteringen aan te brengen in Windows Live Hotmail.

Microsoft probeert geen antwoord op Google's Gmail te formuleren. Windows Live Hotmail is sinds 1996 de  marktleider in webbased email en is een factor 3 groter dan de runner up.

Microsoft blijft haar online diensten natuurlijk constant innoveren omdat deze bij moet blijven met de laatste trends. Die trends hebben vandaag de dag veel te maken met integratie met social networking, delen van foto's en ook voor consumenten meer productiviteitsoplossingen zoals Office in de browser. Zie ook de upgrade van Hotmail in de context van het hele Live Platform. Ook de nieuwe versie van Windows Live Messenger is een echte metamorfose

Daarnaast wordt Hotmail een stuk veiliger door volledig SSL te ondersteunen, komt er een slimmer junk mail filter, en een functie van 'Trusted Senders'. Hotmail krijgt een 'conversation view', waarmee een e-mail discussie beter in beeld wordt gebracht (een functie die Gmail al bezit).

De vraag hier is natuurlijk hoe het zit met de beveiligingen in Gmail dat lijkt me ook belangrijk. Daarnaast zie ik nog atijd veel meer SPAM in mijn Gmail dan in Hotmail, ook erg irritant. Daarnaast zijn 9 van de 10 spamcomments op mijn weblog afkomstig uit Gmail boxen nog irritanter …

Internationaal leveren Hotmail en Gmail in de markt voor webmail een gevecht om de tweede plaats; beide hebben meer dan 40 miljoen gebruikers in de VS. Marktleider Yahoo heeft er meer dan 80 miljoen. Meer info, blogbijdrage en video, hier.

Je trekt je de verkeerde conclusies en noemt iets een “gevecht” .. gebaseerd waarop ?  Hierbij even wat links met de juiste feiten ter informatie :

• Hotmail vs Gmail in Nederland
  http://livelog.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F22E9E9D8F70E526!1889.entry
  
  Deze data is iets meer dan een jaar oud, maar recentere info  wijkt niet veel af. Kijk niet alleen naar het absolute aantal emailaccounts, maar ook naar de minuten online. Zoals je ziet significante verschillen tussen Hotmail en Gmail.

(Ik vraag me af hoe die marktverhoudingen liggen voor de zakelijke gebruikers in Europa. Ik vermoed dat Gmail daar marktleider is, en dat Hotmail en Yahoo op grote afstand volgen, misschien zelfs een marginale rol spelen.

Is er iemand van jullie die beschikt over die gegevens? Als je het mij vraagt heeft Hotmail een enorme slag te maken om zelfs maar in de buurt te komen van Gmail.

Ja hoor die cijfers zijn bekend :

• De educatiemarkt wereldwijd : 
  Google 7 Miljoen gebruikers, Microsoft 50 Miljoen : Link
  
• Interessante statistieken over de Windows Live omgeving : Link
  
  Dit geeft wat meer context aan de omvang van deze diensten. Als je dit afzet tegen de ontwikkelingen van Google en er van uitgaat dat Gmail verreweg hun grootste dienst is(naast search natuurlijk) roept dit misschien wat respect op ?
  
• En dan Hotmail …
  

  Hotmail is a gigantic service in all dimensions. Here are some of the highlights:

  • We are a worldwide service, delivering localized versions of Hotmail to 59 regional markets, in 36 languages.
  • We host well over 1.3 billion inboxes (some users have multiple inboxes)
  • Over 350 million people are actively using Hotmail on a monthly basis (source: comScore, August 2009).
  • We handle over 3 billion messages a day and filter out over 1 billion spam messages - mail that you never see in your inbox.
  • We are growing storage at over 2 petabytes a month (a petabyte is ~1 million gigabytes or ~1000 terabytes).
  • We currently have over 155 petabytes of storage deployed (70% of storage is taken up with attachments, typically photos).
  • We’re the largest SQL Server 2008 deployment in the world (we monitor and manage many thousands of SQL servers).
    Bron : http://livelog.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F22E9E9D8F70E526!1889.entry
  Inmiddels telt Windows Live Hotmail meer dan 400 Miljoen gebruikers wereldwijd.Los van de cijfers zie je dat Microsoft ook transparant is in haar communicatie over de online diensten.
  Ping me even als je dit soort informatie van via Google ergens ziet over hun omgeving .. ik ben ze nog niet tegengekomen.Je vermoeden is dus niet juist.

Technisch zou het misschien nog lukken, maar de reputatie van Hotmail is toch heel anders dan van Gmail. 'Hotmail' heeft al een 'mindere' klank over zich... al dan niet terecht. Bovendien snoept Gmail momenteel klanten af van Exchange.

Even voor de duidellijkheid .. Google tranformeert haar consumer emailplatform naar een oplossing voor zowel consumenten als zakelijke klanten. Nu is dit vanuit een branding optiek wel sliim maar zakelijk klanten stellen andere eisen aan hun mailplatform. Je zou kunnen zeggen  dat er meer moet zijn dan een goede ‘klank’.

Windows Live Hotmail is primair gericht op consumenten. De zakellijke emailoplossing van Microsoft is Exchange (Online).

Er zijn een paar voorbeelden van bedrijven die hun oude Exchange omgeving inruilen voor Gmail, dat is een fact of life. Maar het is wellicht goed te zien dat de ‘magic’ voor sommige bedrijven snel is uitgewerkt. Bedrijven geven massal de voorkeur aan Outlook als email client en zoals ik al zei stellen zware eisen aan hun bedrijfsemail en collaboration platform.
Een goed voorbeeld is Serena software .. eens voor korte tijd een Google klant en nu aan het migreren naar Microsoft Online Services : Link

Misschien niet in grote getale, maar toch. Hoeveel bedrijven zullen er zijn die zijn overgeschakeld van Exchange naar Hotmail? De vraag alleen al klinkt lachwekkend. :-)

Lachwekkend misschien niet, maar je voelt denk ik zelf al aan dat Windows Live Hotmail primair gericht is op consumenten. De online oplossing voor zakelijke klanten is Exchange Online : Link.

Tot slot nog wat goede informatie voor met name zakelijke gebruikers in hun afweging Microsoft vs Google : Why Microsoft

Nederlandse versie van de Microsoft Cloud Services Brochure #BPOS #MSonline #Azure

... Microsoft cloud services betekenen vrijheid voor ondernemingen. De vrijheid om de technologie te gebruiken die u nodig hebt, waar en wanneer u maar wilt. De vrijheid om de laatste technologie te gebruiken, geboekt als kapitaalkosten of operationele kosten. De vrijheid om u te richten op uw bedrijfsactiviteiten en niet op het laten draaien van IT-systemen.

Microsoft cloud services zijn uitbreidingen van Microsoft: ze bieden u de mogelijkheid de Microsofttechnologieën die u al kent en vertrouwt, ten volle te benutten, met een 'pay-as-you-go'-betalingsmodel. Voor een enkele afdeling of een wereldwijde organisatie. Wel of niet in het bedrijfspand, of misschien een combinatie van beide mogelijkheden, afhankelijk van de behoeften van uw bedrijf.

Microsoft cloud services zijn als hulpprogramma's van Microsoft, maar het gaat om meer dan het gebruik van tools. Het zijn de toepassingen die u kent, de platforms die u kent en een datacenterinfrastructuur, en deze werken allemaal samen in een geïntegreerd geheel. Het is Microsoft wanneer u het nodig hebt. Microsoft zoals u het wilt. ...

Download de Nederlandstalige versie van de Microsoft Cloud Services :

Microsoft cloud service brochure nl versie - juni 2010

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Zet je favoriete foto als achtergrond in Google

Bron: http://daringfireball.net/

Capgemini now partner for Microsoft Online Services #BPOS #msonline

Capgemini is expanded the partnership with Microsoft to ‘the cloud’ :

Today, we are announcing a new alliance with Capgemini that will bring the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), our cloud service for communication and collaboration, to Capgemini’s worldwide clients as part of their new Infostructure Transformation Services.

This news already is gaining traction with our customers. One example is C10, a French consumer-products distributor that has adopted BPOS for its entire organization. It did so because BPOS could deliver the security, enterprise-grade capabilities, and familiar experience the company wanted.

As part of our new relationship, Capgemini will train more than 1,000 people on BPOS, giving our joint customers a great source for cloud-computing expertise.  And Capgemini is developing a set of tools to help customers migrate to BPOS more easily from Lotus Notes or other platforms.  Capgemini will actively promote BPOS within its global client base. And it will offer “Journey to the Cloud” sessions, a condensed two-day workshop designed to help customers create their own customized roadmap for adopting cloud-computing solutions at a pace and scale that works best for their individual business needs.

Continue at source : Microsoft Blog

Serena Software migrates from Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services #BPOS #msonline

In November 2008 it was all over the press : Serena Software is moving from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps. The motivation for this move was TCO so the articles said. November 16, 2008 I wrote a blogpost on this :

eWeek featured an article with the title : “Serena to Dump Microsoft Exchange for Google Gmail, the Cloud”.

The article ofcourse got my interest and when I started reading I thought this can’t be true. The article is one big confusing apples and oranges overview. I am quite sure that nor Mr Bister of Serena, nor the journalist has used Microsoft Excel to do their calculations …

And my (arrogant ?) recommendation back then :

My recomendation to Serena Software would be to do some homework, look into Microsoft Online Services and reconsider their options …

read the whole blogpost : here

No more than a year later Serena Software has made the choice to migrate from Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services, and here is some of their motivation to do so :

… One of Serena’s core values is a deep, organization-wide commitment to customer success.  We work closely with our 15,000 worldwide customers to deliver solutions that help them be more successful.  As a result, we rely heavily on collaboration tools for our employees to share information and work together with customers and partners. 

This is one of the chief reasons we’ve chosen to adopt Exchange Online and SharePoint Online together with Office 2010.  They deliver trustworthy, enterprise-class solutions – with the performance, security, privacy, reliability and support we require. We know that Microsoft is a leader in the providing these kinds of solutions, and in our discussions with them, it became clear that they are 100% committed to Serena’s success and delivering solutions that drive the future of collaboration.

Using Office, SharePoint and Exchange will allow us to collaborate more effectively internally and with customers and partners, many of whom use the same technologies, and we can do so without having to deal with content loss or clients being unable to open or edit a document. In particular, Exchange is unchallenged in its calendaring and contact management abilities, mission critical functions for a global company such as Serena.

There are alternatives on the market that promise lower costs, but in our experience, this is a fallacy.  When looking at alternatives, CIOs should really evaluate the total cost of ownership as well as the impact on user productivity and satisfaction, as there can be hidden costs and higher TCO.  For instance, slow performance and/or lack of enterprise-class features (e.g., with calendaring and contact management) will torpedo the value of such a backbone system, and may get the CIO fired. …

Source : Microsoft Online Services Team Blog

Google’s prime argument for ‘switchers’ often is TCO (or plain cost is a better choice of words) and most often always comparing older versions of on-premise email systems to their online offering. Apples and oranges as I have explained more often.

Serena Software’s motivation for migrating from Google Apps to Microsoft Online Services is one of value. The sheer value the Microsoft collaboration platform can bring to an organisation compared to just a cheap solution proves to be more valuable in the long run.

And Serena Software is not the only organisation switching from Google Apps :

• Vinci PLC leaves Google Apps for Microsoft watch the video interview http://bit.ly/9FBvl0
  
• Phaeton Automotive blogs on their decision to leave Google Apps for Microsoft

Upgrade coming for Windows Live Workspace

Windows Live Workspace will be upgraded in the coming months. Users can upgrade their accounts for free :

Your Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta account is about to become even better. You already know it’s a great way to store and share documents, and soon it will come together with Windows Live SkyDrive to become a great way to view, create, and edit documents from virtually anywhere.

In the coming months, you’ll receive notification when your Office Live Workspace account will be upgraded, along with further details. Until then, there’s no need for you to do anything.

With your SkyDrive account, you’ll get 25 GB of online storage for sharing both documents and photos. Your SkyDrive account is designed to work smoothly with other Windows Live services like Hotmail and Messenger. And you’ll be able to view and edit documents from virtually anywhere* using new Microsoft Office Web Apps.

Questions? Visit the Office Live Workspace upgrade center.

Source : Microsoft Windows Live Team

Microsoft Codename "Dallas" Whitepaper

Microsoft Codename "Dallas" is a new cloud service that provides a global marketplace for information including data, web services, and analytics. Dallas makes it easy for potential subscribers to locate a dataset that addresses their needs through rich discovery.

When they have selected the dataset, Dallas enables information workers to begin analyzing the data and integrating it into their documents, spreadsheets, and databases. Similarly, developers can write code to consume the datasets on any platform or simply include the automatically created proxy classes.

Applications from simple mash-ups to complex data-driven analysis tools are possible with the rich data and services provided. Applications can run on any platform including mobile phones and Web pages.

When users begin regularly using data, managers can view usage at any time to predict costs. Dallas also provides a complete billing infrastructure that scales smoothly from occasional queries to heavy traffic.

For subscribers, Dallas becomes even more valuable when there are multiple subscriptions to different datasets: although there may be multiple content providers involved, data access methods, reporting and billing remains consistent.

For content providers, Dallas represents an ideal way to market valuable data and a ready-made solution to e-commerce, billing, and scaling challenges in a multi-tenant environment – providing a global marketplace and integration points into Microsoft’s information worker assets.

Download at Source : Microsoft Codename "Dallas" Whitepaper

Get The Most Value From Social Computing For Business

New whitepaper by Microsoft on the benefits of Social Computing for Enterprises :

The whitepaper discusses the value of social computing for business, citing 2 customer references of large scale enterprise deployments, and the technologies that enable successful results from social computing.

The whitepaper also addresses the business and technical benefits from using SharePoint Products and Technologies and how the platform differentiates compared to other social computing vendors.

Social computing is not a passing trend, so organizations should think of this “new way of work” in context of a broader enterprise collaboration strategy.

Source : Get The Most Value From Social Computing For Business
Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:50:23 GMT

Microsoft Online Standard Service Descriptions #msonline #bpos

Overview

Microsoft® Online Services offers hosting services for Microsoft productivity applications that are widely used by customers of all sizes today. This set of documents provides service descriptions for the Microsoft® Exchange Online Standard messaging service, the Microsoft® SharePoint® Online Standard collaboration service, the Microsoft® Office Communications Online Standard instant messaging and communications service, and the Microsoft Office Live Meeting Web conferencing service. Other documents in the set describe Microsoft Online components related to these services.

Microsoft Exchange Online Standard Service Description—Microsoft® Exchange Online is a hosted enterprise messaging solution based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Exchange Online services include advanced e-mail features as well as calendaring, contact, and task management capabilities. This service description describes the services and features that are included with the Standard offering of Exchange Online.

Microsoft SharePoint Online Standard Service Description—Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Online is a collection of Web-based tools and technologies built on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 that help you store, share, and manage digital information within your company. This document describes the services and features that are included with the Standard offering of SharePoint Online.

Microsoft Office Communications Online Standard Service Description—Microsoft® Office Communications Online is a hosted, enterprise-class communications solution based on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Office Communications Online provides your organization with real-time communications capabilities including secure instant messaging and delivery of "presence" information. Presence enables users to see at a glance if someone is available online to receive an instant message. This service description is intended to help IT professionals and describes the features that are included with the Standard offering of Office Communications Online.

 
Microsoft Office Live Meeting Service Description—Microsoft® Office Live Meeting is an enterprise-class Web conferencing service. With Live Meeting, companies and organizations can engage customers through real-time meetings, training sessions, and events that are presented over the Internet. This document provides IT professionals with a description of the Live Meeting service offer available to organizations that are using standard products and services from Online Services.

Microsoft Online Services Support and Service Management Service Description—The Microsoft® Online Services support teams are committed to helping customers quickly and efficiently resolve service-related issues that end users may encounter when using Microsoft Online Services. This document describes the support services that are provided for the Microsoft Online Services products available in the Business Productivity Online Suite.

Microsoft Online Services Enterprise Network Services Overview—This document describes the Microsoft Online Services networking infrastructure components and security features that support delivery of all Online Services for the enterprise that use the Internet for transport. These include all of the offerings that are part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and many others. The document is intended for network engineers and system integrators who work with Microsoft Online Services customers.

Microsoft Online Services Macintosh Support Service Description— This document focuses on the Apple Macintosh experience for Microsoft Office users that is available for three Microsoft Online offerings—Microsoft Exchange Online Standard, Microsoft SharePoint® Online Standard, and Microsoft® Office Live Meeting 2007.

Download : Microsoft Download Center

Nieuwe website Microsoft Online Services #msonline | #BPOS

Naast de bestaande website hebben we een nieuwe overzichtelijke website voor Microsoft Online Services gelanceerd. IK ben benieuwd wat jullie ervan vinden …

 

http://www.microsoft.nl/onlinediensten

Beyond Office 2010 - The Future of Productivity

Office 2010 is here. The most complete but also the most evolved version of the Office productivity suite. For many years the Office suite is no longer just about personal productity; it is about managing information in the broadest context posiible : interaction between individuals, teams and organisations, from an ad-hoc, project or any kind of social context.

Microsoft’s vision goes far beyond Office 2010 and for those who have not seen this vision yet, take a look at this video :

Now there's also a whitepaper available which puts a number of innovations / visions shown in the video into perspective :

… This paper illustrates how productivity software has evolved to make your work life easier and more productive, and explores some areas where Microsoft is using new technologies and approaches to drive even greater improvements in productivity and efficiency throughout your organization. …

Download Whitepaper : Beyond Office 2010 - The Future of Productivity
Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:27:29 GMT

Microsoft Outlook Live Connected Campus using Exchange Web Services API

Interoperability between Microsoft’s Live@EDU platform (Online Services for education) and the institutiions back-office systems is key.
Microsoft’s prime online email offering for education is Outlook Live; Microsoft Exchange 2010 Online platform for, which is free to Students and staff. This paper outlines the adbanced options for integration of Outlook Live with the prime education systems.

… This whitepaper describes how live@edu Outlook Live customers can connect their school systems with Exchange Web Services (EWS).

Provide your school or university with seamless integration of campus applications, information systems and portals to Outlook Live using the Exchange Web Services (EWS) API and PowerShell. This whitepaper details a scenario of integrating a course registration system with Outlook Live using the EWS Managed API and explains the EWS Managed API with code snippets so that you can plan for a similar implementation. …

Source: Microsoft Outlook Live Connected Campus using Exchange Web Services API

Microsoft has released a new version of Active Directory Federation Services : ADFS 2.0 #federatedIdentity #msonline

The Microsoft “geneva” team has released a new version of Active Directory Federation Services : ADFS 2.0.

… We are very happy to announce the general availability of AD FS 2.0! It is our pleasure to offer this release for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 that makes it easier to work across companies, leverage the cloud, and develop secure applications all while using industry standard interoperable protocols. We listened to your feedback from the release candidate and have made AD FS 2.0 even easier to manage by simplifying proxy management. Finally, we’ve hammered this build to ensure you’ll see the rock solid reliability and screaming fast performance that you’d expect from Microsoft.

The setup package for AD FS 2.0 can be downloaded here.

The team behind making AD FS 2.0 can be seen in several Channel 9 videos discussing the features and capabilities of the release.

Check out the following resources to learn more about AD FS 2.0:

• Our official website
• AD FS 2.0 Getting Started Guide
• Step by Step Guide and VMs for Federated Document Collaboration Using MOSS 2007 and AD FS 2.0
• AD FS 2.0 Design, Deployment, and Troubleshooting Guides
• AD FS 2.0 developer documentation and PowerShell reference
• Resources for developing claims based applications with Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) …

Countinue at source : “geneva” Team Blog

Inter Access levert SharePoint Online aan Leiden

Een mooi voorbeeld van Microsoft Online Services in de gemeente markt …

… De gemeente Leiden neemt een nieuwe samenwerkingsomgeving in gebruik, die door Inter Access is ingericht en geleverd. Deze 'het nieuwe werken'-omgeving is gebaseerd op Microsoft SharePoint en biedt samenwerkingsportals waar medewerkers van de gemeente informatie delen, gezamenlijk documenten creëren en de voortgang van projecten en processen bewaken.

Inter Access voerde in 2009 bij de gemeente Leiden een proof of concept uit met Microsoft SharePoint als platform voor samenwerking. Hierdoor kon de gemeente zonder al te veel kosten ervaring opdoen met het platform voordat werd besloten er (gemeente)breed mee door te gaan. Inter Access maakte daarbij gebruik van IMPACT 2.0, een  methodiek om het nieuwe werken bij organisaties in te voeren.

De gemeente Leiden neemt de Microsoft SharePoint-omgeving af in een cloud-variant: Microsoft Online Services. Daardoor beschikken de medewerkers over alle functionaliteit op het gebied van SharePoint, Office Communication Server, Exchange en Live Meeting zonder dat de beheerlast toeneemt. Alle functionaliteit is via internet beschikbaar. Inter Access verzorgt het beheer van de omgeving. …

Bron: Channelweb.nl

Chris Dawson: Can I be a Windows, Apple, Linux, and Google guy all at once?

I regularly read Chris Dawson’s blogposts as he blogs about technology solutions in the education sector and that happens to be one of my areas of interest. Today he blogged about something that I hope to see and here more about … a different perspective on Microsoft … simply because there many good solutions coming from Redmond …

…I’m having an identity crisis. Regular readers of both this blog and my Education blog will know that I border on being a Google fanboi and Linux tends to work its way into my computer passions as well. I work almost constantly in the cloud and Linux obviously provides a cheap, stable platform [...] 

… And then there’s Microsoft. Microsoft was easy to hate a few years back when they were the antitrust bad guys. Then they released Vista and it was even easier to say that they’d sealed their fate. Apple and Linux were going to dominate the desktop! The 3000 pound gorilla was dead! And suddenly, the betas of Windows 7 were stable, fast, attractive, and everything that Vista should have been. Office Web Apps and other Windows Live properties started to appear and mature and were compelling bridges to the cloud. And if the cloud wasn’t your game, Office 2010 rolled into beta and was even better than Office 2007. Seriously, have you used the beta? It rocks out loud. I may spend a lot of time in the cloud, but I also often have to produce publication-ready documents. Besides, have you ever tried to do a mail merge in Google Docs? Of course you haven’t, because you can’t.

It’s gotten to the point where I actually look forward to hearing from Microsoft PR since they usually have something particularly cool to tell me about. In fact, Office 2010 just might be one of the more compelling reasons to buy a Windows PC. Then there’s Sharepoint 2010, the cloud-oriented meat of which has already appeared in Live@Edu and Office Live Workspace. …

Yes lot’s of cool stuff coming this year … hope to see more positive news coming from Chris’ blog soon

Source : Can I be a Windows, Apple, Linux, and Google guy all at once?

ICT-Office event : ICT 2010 - 2020 en de visie hierop van Microsoft, Google en Gartner

Today the ICT-Office event with Google, Microsoft and Gartner Group was held in Utrecht. Over 180 attendees.

We have done the Microsoft presnetation together with Unit4 and Capgemini. Check out our PPT :

Microsoft | Unit4 | Capgemini - The Cloud Ecosystem 2010-2020

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Microsoft Online Services | The Ultimate list | #BPOS #msonline

Microsoft Online Services and the Business Productivity Online Suite in particular have many aspects that (potential) customers and partners are interested in learning more about. Over the last years many websites, service descriptions, whitepapers and other sources of information have been created on all topics relevant to Microsoft Online Services.

This document is an effort to provide the “ultimate” list of this information. It is best effort and does not necessarily contain 100% correct or up to date information. Changes will be made to this document if and when time permits

I will place the document over on slideshare and refresh it over there as often as possible. If you’d like to receive the document in Microsoft Word .docx format please send me an email.

Microsoft Online Services The Ultimate List

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