Missed the Lync Conference? Get the Sessions (using PowerShell)

Last week, Microsoft held their annual Lync Conference in Las Vegas. If you attended the conference, no doubt you missed some sessions – but all is not lost. If you were, like me, unable to go – all is not totally lost.

Superstar MVP Tom Arbuthnot has a script that will enable you to download all the sessions – PowerPoint's and videos. See Tom’s Blog for the PowerShell script to download sessions, along with some instructions on running it.

However: this script is currently only of use to attendees – those who did not attend will need to wait a while before Microsoft will release the material to a wider audience. As soon as I hear that this is available, I’ll blog it!

del.icio.us Tags: #Lync

Lync Conference News

As I write this, Microsoft is running their annual Lync conference in Las Vegas. I would have liked to attend, but such is life. Up to about now, the news has been dribbling out, but UClarity a Swedish firm has summarised the first day’s news. You can read it here: http://www.uclarity.se/lync-conference-2014-dag-1/ but the content is in Swedish. Users of Chrome get offered a translation automatically, but if not, try going here: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uclarity.se%2Flync-conference-2014-dag-1%2F&act=url

News from the Lync Conference–Lync/Skype Video Chat interop Coming

It’s been a quiet week for Lync News as all the interesting stuff is happening at the Lync Conference in Las Vegas. One very interesting tit-bit is the news that Microsoft is aiming to deliver Lync/Skype video chat interoperability by the middle of this year. At long last!

Paul Thurrot has more information over on his WinSuperSite, including some good background to this announcement. You can read it here: http://winsupersite.com/skype/microsoft-track-deliver-lyncskype-video-chat-interop-mid-year.

In that article, Paul also discloses that there will be a Lync application for Android tablets, although he did not name the date.

 

I am looking forward to hearing more of the news from Las Vegas and the Lync conference. I was hoping we’d also hear a bit more about the next version of Lync – but so far not much news.

del.icio.us Tags: Lync

Lync 2013 Client Cumulative Update

Microsoft has recently updated both the Lync Server 2013 and the Lync 2013 client. While most Lync folks tend to concentrate on the former, the latter often includes much wanted and much needed functionality (as well of course as bug fixes). The most recent client update contains a number of features that have been long requested. These include:

• Spell checker  - as you type IM’s, Lync can now check the spelling which is useful particularly in IM sessions with clients where having fewer typos is a good thing.
• Photos of sender and receiver – this enables you to see photos in an IM chat or conference of all the participants. This may be overkill in some cases, but in others (e.g. in an IM conference with a large number of participants) it can be really very useful.
• External photos – pictures from external locations was a feature of Lync 2012, but in the RTM version of Lync 2013, this feature was dropped. But now it’s back – although it need some administrator input in order to enable users to point to external photos.
• Persistent Chat conferencing – this feature enables you to start a conference with the folks currently in a persistent chat chat room.
• Recording options – you have the option to record sessions (something available in the RTM version) but now you can record in different resolutions. It looks like you can only record on one resolution.
• Sign-in Logs option – troubleshooting client logins has always been possible, but with the CU, there is a Sign-in Logs option in the Lync client which enables users to both view and copy logon information and send it to the help desk for more assistance.

As I see it with this CU, the good Lync client just gets a bit better. So far, I’ve not heard any horror stories but like all Lync CUs (client and server side) be sure to do your own testing. I am not aware of any issues with this CU, but the way that these releases are implemented means you should take the time to test before rolling out – just in case.

For more information on the CU, read Byron Spurlock’s article on Windows IT Pro site.

Technorati Tags: Lync Client,November 2013 Cumulative Update

Lync Conference 2014

I’ve just seen the session list for the Lync Server Conference (http://www.lyncconf.com/Sessions.aspx). To be held in Los Vegas February 18-20 2014 in Las Vegas, the speakers are a great bunch drawn from both the MS, partner and MVP community. There will be some great sessions and I’m hoping to attend.

For details about the conference itself, see the main page (http://www.lyncconf.com) and see http://www.lyncconf.com/Activities.aspx for details of the activities going on during the conference (in addition to the great talks being given.

Technorati Tags: Lync Conference 2014