Recently in Microsoft Category

Don't install KB974571 or You will Break Microsoft OCS 2007!

October 14, 2009 10:25 AM |

If you're running Office Communications Server or LCS whatever you do, don't install KB974571 or you will cause the LCS or OCS server to state you are running the evaluation version and then say it has expired. Poof! - There goes your corporate unified communications (UC) followed by a parade of your coworkers carrying pitchforks & torches looking to find out why their UC isn't working. How widespread this patch is affecting OCS/LCS installs worldwide is unknown.

KB97451 is also known as "MS09-056: Vulnerabilities in CryptoAPI could allow spoofing" and it was released just yesterday on Patch Tuesday. If you use WSUS or Windows Update to automatically download/install patches, you might be surprised this Wednesday morning to find your OCS/LCS server has failed. Didn't we have Patch Tuesday cause another major outage? (See: Skype Outage & Skype Outage caused by Windows Update)

If you apply the patch, the LCS/OCS services fail to start and you see these errors in the event log:

Event Type:        Error
Event Source:    Live Communications Server
Event Category:                (1000)
Event ID:              12290
Description:
The evaluation period for Microsoft Office Live Communication Server 2005 has expired. Obtain the released version of this product and upgrade to the non-evaluation version by running setup.exe

Uninstalling the patch is the only way to fix it. According to the Microsoft OCS blog, "The issue is currently being escalated, but until a fix can be found, delaying the install of KB974571 is recommended."

You can also read more about it here.

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway Launches

October 1, 2009 12:59 PM |

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Microsoft today just released the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway, which is available at no cost. That's right, it's free and is immediately downloadable. The XMPP gateway allows basic presence sharing and instant messaging (IM) with Cisco Jabber and Google Talk. OCS users can now instant message Cisco Jabber and Google Talk users.

The Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 XMPP Gateway can be downloaded here. Also, check out this video featuring Ashima Singhal (Senior Product Manager) and Albert Kooiman (Senior Product Manager) from the Communication Server team who discuss IM interoperability between different networks and show how the XMPP Gateway works.

Notice the different network icons (Yahoo!, AOL, Gmail/Google Talk)

Demo of Communicator client IM'ing a Google Talk user.

Some more good news - a PIC License will no longer be required for federation with American Online (AOL). Customers qualify for federation with AOL if they have Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Standard CAL or active Software Assurance on their current LCS/OCS license. Alas, customers who want Yahoo! federation will continue to purchase PIC licenses, but the price of PIC will be reduced by 50%, effective October 1, 2009.

Via Office Communications Server Team blog

Skype Tops the IM Charts Surpassing Windows Live Messenger

September 18, 2009 2:37 PM |

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According to the Skype blog, new data released by the exo.performance.network shows that Skype has eclipsed Windows Live Messenger as the #1 IM application. Skype just squeaked by with 17% vs. 16.7% for Windows Live Messenger.

Nicely done Skype! I just hope the end is not near.

To Appear Offline or Not to Appear Offline, that is the Presence Question

August 19, 2009 12:17 PM |

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Presence is a valuable tool used in a variety of consumer and business applications, including Microsoft OCS 2007, Skype, AOL's AIM, Windows Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and more. Businesses which used to ban IM applications (block it on the firewall, Group Policy, etc.) are starting to see the productivity value in IM and have implemented IM solutions in the enterprise. With the convergence of voice, video, and chat in applications such as Microsoft's Office Communicator, rich presence functionality enables your fellow co-workers to know if you are on the phone, in Do Not Disturb mode, away, working at home, on vacation, etc.

Knowing your co-workers presence certainly improves how, when and if you interact with them. However, not every employee wants their fellow co-workers tracking when they sign-in or are away. Two hour Friday lunches anyone? Executives, CEOs, and managers may not care what employees below them think, and they never want them to see when they are or aren't there. This is where the "Appear Offline" presence state comes in handy. Most IM applications allow this, including Skype, MSN Messenger, and others. However, when it comes to business IM applications such as Office Communicator, you may not want to allow employees to "Appear offline" or at least you'll want to restrict the privilege to just executives and managers.

By default Office Communicator does not support "Appear offline" since the whole point of Microsoft's unified communications strategy is to "share" information to improve communications in the enterprise. However, you can easily add it by doing the following:

Log on to a computer that is running Communicator Web Access as a member of the local Administrators group.
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Run dialog box, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
In Registry Editor, expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand Software, expand Policies, expand Microsoft, click Communicator, and then do one of the following:
- If the Policy key already exists, go to step 6.
- If the Policy key does not exist, right-click Communicator, point to New, and then click Key.
After the new registry key is created, type Policy to rename the key.
Right-click the new Policy registry key, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.
After the new value is created, type EnableAppearOffline to rename the value.
Double-click the new EnableAppearOffline registry value.
In the Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value dialog box, type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.

Just be careful about enabling the "Appear offline" presence state in any corporate IM solution. If everyone enables this feature, then you defeat the whole purpose of presence. However, with Group Policy and corporate procedures in place, certainly executives, managers, etc. will find this privacy feature useful. As for the rest of the minions, you must share your presence so we know you've been on a 2-hour lunch break. Or at least you'll feel somewhat guilty knowing your presence status hasn't changed to Online in a couple hours.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Web Scheduler

August 15, 2009 10:10 PM |

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Are you running 64-bit Windows and can't get the OCS 2007 R2 Outlook add-in to work?

Bummed you can't use the add-in to schedule meetings? As a workaround, those running Office 2010 (64-bit version) on a 64-bit machine have to manually paste the OCS conferencing number and ID into their Calendar, which is a bit tedious. You also miss out on the nice calendar presence information.

Well, Microsoft is still working on the 64-bit version of the Outlook add-in, which will be available when Office 2010 RTMs, however they just released 'Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Web Scheduler', which you can use to schedule meetings in the meantime until they release the 64-bit Outlook add-in. So for you bleeding edge folks running Office 2010 64-bit and OCS 2007 R2 should find this useful.

According to Microsoft, Web Scheduler is a 64-bit tool for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 that provides a Web-based alternative to the add-in for the Microsoft Outlook messaging and collaboration client for the purpose of scheduling a meeting using OCS 2007 R2. It also provides a browser-based conference management experience that includes operations such as:

Scheduling a new Live Meeting conference or conference call.
Viewing and modifying details of an existing conference.
Listing all existing user schedules of a Microsoft Office conference.
Deleting an existing conference.
Sending an e-mail invitation to conference participants by using a configured SMTP mail server.
Joining an existing conference.

Download it here.

Microsoft Releases Two New UC OCS 2007 Training Tools

August 13, 2009 10:16 AM |

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Microsoft released a new UC How To training application leveraging Microsoft Silverlight™ 2 to help users and administrators learn how to use Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The Microsoft Unified Communications "How-To" training tool provides step-by-step instructions for common UC tasks, such as find and add contacts, create groups in contact list, initiate a voice or video call, create a chat room, search chat history, and much more. It also goes into "etiquette" in instant messaging and etiquette in managing your presence status. I really liked this aspect of this training tool, since it is often difficult for IT/MIS folks to document etiquette procedures and get users to actually listen. So having a respected third-party such as Microsoft offer up their etiquette rules certainly will get users to pay more attention, which will result in better productivity.

Using the tool is very easy. You simply pick one of the main colored categories to the left and then drill down to the section you want to read. Interestingly, you can customize the How-To application based on the UC features you've installed in your organization. For example, if you have installed all UC features except Communicator Mobile and Communicator Group Chat, you can modify the XML file so that those features and topics do not appear in the interface. The How-To training tool is delivered as both a desktop application and a Web application. The desktop client must have a Web browser with the Silverlight 2 client installed.

Additionally, Microsoft also just launched Unified Communications Adoption and Training Kit 2007 R2. The Unified Communications Adoption and Training Kit for 2007 R2 provides guidance and resources for IT Pros, Helpdesk, and Trainers to speed adoption and usage of Unified Communications technologies in the enterprise. The kit includes Planning Checklists, Awareness materials, including Poster, Door Hangers, and E-mail samples, and User Education Materials such as Quick Reference Cards, Flash Cards, and links to Web-based Training. I played around with it and it also includes a mildy funny intro video. Definitely a useful kit, especially the Quick Reference Cards that you can print and give out to users.

Lastly, there is an online tutorial with six modules of multimedia training for the OCS 2007 R2 platform, including:

Module 1: Intro to UC and Enterprise Voice
Module 2: Communicator Instant Messaging and Presence
Module 3: Enterprise Voice-Soft phone Experience
Module 4: Desk Phone Experience
Module 5: Communicator - Audio and Video
Module 6: Microsoft Office Live Meeting & Microsoft® RoundTable™

Check it out: http://www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver/enduser/tutorials/

Judge orders Microsoft to stop Selling Microsoft Word + pay $290 million

August 12, 2009 10:59 AM |

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A judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling Microsoft Word over a patent dispute with i4i, a Canadian-based company and to pay more than $290 million in damages.

Judge Leonard Davis, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ordered a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX (Word 2007) or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML."

I didn't realize something as 'basic' as opening XML files, an open industry standard could be patented. I smell a patent troll. Apparently from what I read, the East District of Texas is notoriously friendly to patent holders even if the patent is frivolous.

Well, Microsoft could simply change the next version (Office 2010) to NOT open those file types. Then offer a free converter that doesn't "open" these file types, but simply converts them to some new format and extension. Perhaps go back to the old Word .doc extension?

Problem solved!

Office Communications Server Team Blog's Top 118 UC & OCS Blogs

August 12, 2009 9:19 AM |

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Nice to see the VoIP & Gadgets blog on the Office Communications Server Team Blog list of 118 blogs that cover OCS, including some heavyweight blogs like Ars Technica, and fellow TMCnet blogger Rich Tehrani.

The Office Communications Server Team Blogwrote, "Looking for information on OCS or UC? The @DrRez Twitter team (http://twitter.com/DrRez) pulled this blog and forum list together and will grow and maintain it over time."

It's definitely a good list worth a look. I found some new blogs I wasn't aware of that cover OCS and unified communications that I will definitely be checking out.

Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat Hotfix KB 969819 + Group Chat Software Development Kit (SDK)

August 3, 2009 3:08 PM |

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Microsoft just released another hotfix KB update for Microsoft OCS 2007 R2. Called KB 969819, this addresses some issues with OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat that are described in the Knowledge Base articles 969819, 969818, and 969817.

KB 969819 package fixes the following issues:

972951 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972951/ ) A compliance server reports incomplete or inaccurate information about user JOIN and PART events in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server
972944 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972944/ ) You may experience performance issues in a channel server in Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Channel Server
973384 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973384/ ) The Group Chat service does not work after you restart a computer that is running Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server
973385 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973385/ ) Users in a secured organizational unit (OU) named "Blocking Inheritance" cannot use the Group Chat Admin Tool
973386 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973386/ ) A compliance XML output file is not generated by a compliance server in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Server

KB 969818 package fixes the following issues:

973321 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973321/ ) Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Group Chat Client prevents Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 from logging off
973337 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973337/ ) A peer-to-peer file transfer fails between two Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat clients
972945 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972945/ ) The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Client does not support user colors
973316 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973316/ ) Error message when you try to make a connection in an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat client for the first time: "The domain_name domain is not available"
972947 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972947/ ) An update is available for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat clients to improve the performance for chat rooms
973318 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973318/ ) The message in the input panel does not match the message that you sent in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Client

KB 969817 doesn't appear to be on Microsoft's site, but I'm sure it fixes something.

Lastly, they also just added a new SDK download for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat Software Development Kit (SDK). It includes documentation and sample applications developed with the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat platform. Download it here.

Enjoy!

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Hotfix KB 968802, KB 970275, and more

July 29, 2009 5:59 PM |

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Almost missed some major KB updates & hotfixes to OCS 2007 R2 that Microsoft just put online yesterday.

Fixes are many, especially in OCS 2007 R2 Hotfix KB 966802. It includes the following fixes:

Update for Application Host
967832 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967832/ ) Description of the update package for Communications Server 2007 R2 Application Host: April 2009
Update for Application Sharing Server
971296 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971296/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Application Sharing Server: July 2009
Update for Administration Tools
971289 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971289/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Administration Tools: July 2009
Update for Audio/Video Conferencing
971793 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971793/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Audio/Video Conferencing Server: July 2009
Update for Core Components
971299 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971299/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Core Components: July 2009
Update for Communicator Web Access
969824 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969824/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Communicator Web Access: July 2009
Update for Conferencing Attendant
968922 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968922/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Conferencing Attendant: July 2009
Update for Conferencing Announcement Service
969823 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969823/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Conferencing Announcement Service: July 2009
Update for Monitoring Server
971298 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971298/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Monitoring Server: July 2009
Update for Mediation Server
969835 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969835/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Mediation Server: July 2009
Update for Outside Voice Control
967835 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967835/ ) Description of the update package for Communications Server 2007 R2, Outside Voice Control: April 2009
Update for Response Group Service
967829 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967829/ ) Description of the update package for Communications Server 2007 R2, Response Group Service: April 2009
• Update for Standard/Enterprise edition Server
969821 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969821/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2: July, 2009
Update for Standard/Enterprise edition Server Back End
969834 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969834/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 database: July, 2009
Update for Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Core Redist 64-bit
970679 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970679/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 Core Redist 64-bit: July 2009
Update for Web Conferencing Server
971297 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971297/ ) Description of the update package for Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Web Conferencing Server: July 2009
Update for Web Components Server
967830 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967830/ ) Description of the update package for Communications Server 2007 R2, Web Components: April 2009

Another KB update (KB 970275) released yesterday was "Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant Hotfix KB 970275"

This update package fixes the following issue:

972402 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972402/ ) Office Communicator 2007 R2 runs concurrently with Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Attendant

Lastly, Microsoft yesterday released the latest version of the Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Capacity Planning Tool

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