We’ve got a nice long holiday weekend here in the States, and so I’m going to try and quickly do some Office 365 links to wrap up a long week:
- Let’s get it started with a little point/counterpoint on the subject of Office 365 on mobile devices. First, here’s a nice official post on the Office 365 Community blog about what mobile operating systems are supported with Office 365 and what you can do on them: http://community.office365.com/en-us/b/microsoft_office_365_blog/archive/2011/08/01/office-365-mobile-experience-part-1.aspx
- And now the other side of that story, here’s an interesting article from Infoworld.com about what the term “supported” means when it comes to mobile devices on Office 365 and how it impacts users. He makes a very valid, and important, point so I recommend reading it closely (to me, the most important part of understanding Office 365 is being able to speak to what it can’t do as much as what it can, so that you’re better able to be proactive instead of reactive) : http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/dont-be-fooled-office-365-basically-useless-mobile-903
- A big selling point for Office 365 is all the different ways that it can be integrated with existing IT investments, allowing for hybrid identity management solutions (I’m working on a rundown of all the permutations in this blog, stay tuned
), Exchange, and Lync. While all the hybrid options are great, they also lead to a lot of questions and confusion about what they can and can’t do. This is a helpful FAQ breaking down calendaring differs and integrates between Exchange Server 2010 SP1 and Exchange Online: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/exchange-2010-sp1-and-exchange-online-office-365-calendaring-faq.aspx - I love the idea of using SharePoint Online as an extranet, it’s a use case I’ve talked about since the early days of BPOS. SharePoint MVP Corey Roth has a good post up on the new “external user” functionality in SharePoint Online with Office 365, a new feature that provides some of the capabilities you’d like to see in an extranet: http://www.dotnetmafia.com/blogs/dotnettipoftheday/archive/2011/08/10/how-to-share-sharepoint-online-sites-with-external-users-office-365.aspx
- I saw this status update on Twitter a few weeks back and for some reason it both caught my attention and amused me. I haven’t checked to see if what she’s saying is correct or not (so take it with a grain of salt), but part of me has to think that Office 365 has arrived as a platform if its starting to attract some of the frustration/attention/vitriol that we see so regularly with SharePoint
: http://twitter.com/#!/kat_woman/statuses/101662902993432577 - Again on the subject of hybrid solutions in Office 365, we have a post from the TechNet blog of Neil Johnson (aside: is he a nerd about rock ‘n roll, or a nerd that rocks n’ rolls?) about sharing Availability data between Office 365 and Exchange Server: http://blogs.technet.com/b/neiljohn/archive/2011/08/15/office-365-hybrid-deployment-exchange-rich-coexistence-sharing-availability-free-busy.aspx
- I’ve said it before, I’ve said it again: I definitely drink the Office 365 Kool-Aid (I think it’s fruit punch if you’re wondering) but I do try to keep an eye on and present the view from the other side of the fence as well, which is why I’ve got this article from Business Insider about 10 reasons to go with Google Apps. Editor’s note: check out the article’s comments for some good opposing viewpoints to consider: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-for-choosing-google-apps-over-microsoft-office-365-2011-8
- Since it’s almost the holiday weekend, I’m wrapping it up quick today with a final, very important, resource. Microsoft has put out a free eBook on Office 365, go get it! Because it’s good, AND ITS FREE. You don’t have to pay anything. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Get it! It’s free: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2011/08/17/free-ebook-microsoft-office-365-connect-and-collaborate-virtually-anywhere-anytime.aspx
Happy Labor Day!
John
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