Microsoft

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

August 19, 2009

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.

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Web Scheduler

August 15, 2009

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.

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Microsoft Releases Two New UC OCS 2007 Training Tools

August 13, 2009

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.

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

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

August 12, 2009

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.

Posted in Microsoft, News, TMCnet

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

August 12, 2009

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.

Posted in Microsoft, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

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

August 3, 2009

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.

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, Unified Communications, VoIP

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

July 29, 2009

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

Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Cool Office Communications Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer

July 29, 2009

James Stine has released a cool utility called "Office Communications Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer". It's a great online tool for performing testing, troubleshooting, and diagnostics on OCS 2007 deployments. James said, "Following on the heels of success of the Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer (created by Shawn McGrath and Brad Hughes), Premal Gandhi, Matthew Fresoli and I have been busy designing and writing a complimentary tool: The Office Communications Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer."

Posted in Microsoft, News, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 Documentation

July 29, 2009

Microsoft just published the latest and greatest version of their OCS 2007 R2 documentation. I asked the official Microsoft OCS MVP mailing list, "Is there anything new about the OCS 2007 R2 docs contained on this page or is this just a centralized repository of all the Word docs and the single .chm help file?" I added, "Perhaps this is the first "official" 1.0 release of ALL the documentation?"

All you know-it-all techies out here are probably thinking, "Documentation? We don't need no stinkin' documentation!"

Yeah, in most cases I'm right there with ya, but not something as complicated as OCS 2007 R2. I often tell users who come to me repeatedly with the same IT question to go RTFM.

Posted in Microsoft, Mobile Phones, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Microsoft OCS Call Recording

July 28, 2009

Last week, I wrote how Microsoft is making inroads in the enterprise with their Office Communications Server 2007 R2 platform and how they are looking to achieve five 9s of reliability. Well, one other critical feature needed for an enterprise phone system is decent call recording. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a lot of options for call recording on OCS 2007. One of the problems is that not all calls go through a PBX.

For instance, you can use the Microsoft Communicator client to call a co-worker who is also using Communicator.

Posted in Avaya, Microsoft, Polycom, Reviews, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

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