Kurt Shintaku's Blog

We have a downloadable guide for reviewers of the Office 2016 for Mac Preview.

The new and modern Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac Preview is the Office you know and love, thoughtfully designed for the Mac. It is powered by the cloud via Office 365, so you can access documents anytime, anywhere on any device. With the newly designed Ribbon, tools and formatting are organized just like in all the Office apps across platforms and devices. The modernized user experience—optimized for the Mac with full support for retina displays—allows you to enjoy working on your Mac Through seamless integration with Office 365, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, and SharePoint, you can access your files across devices by signing in with your Office identity (your Microsoft account or your work or school email).

The Office 2016 for Mac Preview has many exciting features, including:

• Newly designed Ribbon organizes tools and formatting in a manner similar to Office for Windows.
• Modernized user experience is optimized for the Mac, with full support for retina displays.
• Seamless integration with Office 365, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, and SharePoint means you can access your files across devices by signing in with your Office identity. 
• Format object task pane delivers greater object manipulation capabilities.

Download the .PDF (26 pages, 8.7MB) here:

• DOWNLOAD: Office 2016 for Mac Preview Guide
  http://1drv.ms/1PbWzgg

We’ve created new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote for your Mac. Download our free Quick Start Guides to learn the basics.

To view or print the PDF versions of our Quick Start Guides on your Mac, download and install the free Adobe Reader software.

Note   Office 2016 for Mac is currently in Preview and the content in our Quick Start Guides is not yet final. Text and images may not match your exact experience until the finished versions of these apps are released.

Download the .PDFs from here:

• DOWNLOAD: Office 2016 for Mac Quick Start Guides (Preview)
  https://support.office.com/en-in/article/Office-2016-for-Mac-Quick-Start-Guides-Preview-5bccb480-0e5b-4b51-b072-66d3793ccad8

Just published a couple days ago, this addresses the challenge of needing technical documentation around how to deploy Office 365 Professional Plus using SCCM 2012 R2.

If you use System Center Configuration Manager to deploy software, such as Office, to users and computers in your organization, you can also use that existing Configuration Manager environment to deploy Office 365 ProPlus. By using Configuration Manager, you can control which users and computers get Office 365 ProPlus, where they get the installation files from, and when the Office 365 ProPlus installation occurs.

For example, you can control network bandwidth usage by placing the Office 365 ProPlus installation files on a distribution point within your organization’s network, instead of having users install Office 365 ProPlus directly from the Internet. Keep in mind, however, that even if you’re installing Office 365 ProPlus from a location within your network, the computer where Office 365 ProPlus is installed still needs access to the Internet to be able to activate Office 365 ProPlus.

Here’s an overview of the steps to deploy Office 365 ProPlus by using Configuration Manager:

1. Prepare the Office 365 ProPlus installation files

2. Create an application in Configuration Manager

3. Create a deployment type for the application

4. Distribute the application to distribution points

5. Deploy the application

The steps that follow are for System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, but you can also deploy Office 365 ProPlus by using System Center 2012 Configuration Manager or Configuration Manager 2007 R2.

…

Read at the source:

• TECHNET: Deploy Office 365 ProPlus by using System Center Configuration Manager
  https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn708063.aspx

Thought some of you in Burbank/Glendale would be interested in this: 

The Surface 3 Launch is right around the corner!  Microsoft Store Glendale Galleria would like to invite you to visit our store on Launch day.

Come help us celebrate the release. 

Surface 3 Launch Event:
May 5^th, 2015 Tuesday – 10am-1pm

We will be hosting an Internet Café in the morning.  We will have experts in the store to help any questions regarding the Operation and how to best utilize it for your business, school, or personal use.

If you Pre-Ordered your Surface 3, you will have the advantage to pick it up.  Let our experts assist with setting up the device for you while you enjoy breakfast.

Fiesta Event:
May 5th, 2015 Tuesday – 1pm-7pm

Join us in the Afternoon for our Afternoon Fiesta!  We will have light snacks, drinks, and swag.

Our experts will continue to show the exciting Surface 3 and assist with any questions you may have about the device.

Location:
Microsoft Store Glendale Galleria
2140 Glendale Galleria, JCPenney Court
Glendale, CA 91210
(818) 637-7739

Introducing the Office 365 Network Bulletin!

Every day, tons of valuable information grounded in real-world experience with Office products is shared on the Office 365 Network. To help you get the best of community content in an easy to read format, we’re launching the Office 365 Network Bulletin, a new quarterly publication that delivers insight into the people, ideas and trends emerging on the Office 365 Network.

This inaugural issue includes perspectives from community members on the value of YamJams, pointers on helpful groups to join, as well as a sneak peek at what’s coming up at Ignite.

Check it out!

• DOWNLOAD: Office 365 Network Bulletin – Spring Edition (7 page, .PDF, 687.03 kB)
  https://www.yammer.com/api/v1/uploaded_files/34927714/download 
  (Alt download: http://1drv.ms/1EwgjIO)

Are you a Minecraft mod developer?  Ready to step up to the world’s best Integrated Development Environment?

We just announced today at Build 2015 that we’ve released a Visual Studio add-in for “Minecraft” mod devs. 

It’s called the Minecraft Mod Developer Pack and it’s available for download, for FREE, right now.  Here’s the announcement:

• VISUAL STUDIO BLOG: Hello Minecraft modders! Visual Studio <3s Minecraft
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2015/04/30/hello-minecraft-modders-visual-studio-loves-minecraft.aspx
• DOWNLOAD: VisualStudio add-in for “Minecraft” mod devs
  https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/043ab247-8771-4bb1-92af-d76e542724ad

Wow.  Simon May, Technology Evangelist for Microsoft wrote up a great FAQ around Microsoft Intune from the Jumpstart event he ran on the same topic.

Here’s a summary of the questions he answers:

• Do we have option to have Intune in [my / the] customer[‘s] DC than on Cloud?
• Can Intune integrate with SCCM?
• What is the unique feature that Intune has to coexist with SCCM for an organization that already have SCCM 2012?
• Does Intune have capability of Digital Rights Management or Which DRM solution it can integrate with?
• Intune can work through Azure but is it possible to have a ADFS, ADFS Proxy and [Microsoft] Federated Identity manager?
• Is it possible to clarify on what is happening in the background when a mobile device is enrolled to Intune?
• Can Intune stand-alone and Intune/SCCM live together side by side?
• Can I migrate from Standard to Hybrid?
• Can I migrate from Standard to Hybrid?
• Can we use office 365 MDM and Intune on the same tenant
• Is Conditional Access for Exchange on-premises with SCCM/Intune is already available?
• Do we need the exchange connector for conditional access to Exchange on-premises?
• Is Apple iPad supported by Intune standalone?
• If you sync your on “on-prem” accounts with Intune and you already had some existing Office 365 user accounts that are cloud-only. Will this create an issue?
• What can I do, when a phone is lost with corp data, and phone does not have an internet and mobile connection?
• Does the Intune client include Endpoint protection, or is that only with SCCM?
• Can I manage all or at least most aspects of Intune through SCCM or are some management features split between SCCM and the Intune portal?
• Is Conditional Access available in O365 MDM?
• If I do a change in the policy is that pushed out our does the users need to reenroll the devices. For example if I decides to change the demand of password?
• With the emphasis on BYOD and mobile devices, should we anticipate treating desktops as just another flavor of a BYOD scenario?
• If I add a setting that only works on iOS and Windows Phone, what will happen if an Android user tried to enroll?
• Where can we find a manageable list of the Windows CSPs? Not an exhaustive List!

Find the answers here:

• FAQ ME! Microsoft Intune Jump Start FAQ!
  http://simon-may.com/faq-me-microsoft-intune-jump-start-faq/?CR_CC=200602490

Are you an IT Pro that needs to get started with Azure Security?  Here you go… and yes, this is free.

Do IT security concerns keep you up at night? You’re not alone! Many IT Pros want to extend their organization’s infrastructure but need reassurance about security. Whether you are researching a hybrid or a public cloud model with Microsoft Azure, the question remains the same: Does the solution meet your own personal and your organization’s bar for security, including industry standards, attestations, and ISO certifications?

In this two-part, demo-filled course, explore these and other hot topics, as a team of security experts and Azure engineers takes you beyond the basic certifications and explores what’s possible inside Azure. See how to design and use various technologies to ensure that you have the security and architecture you need to successfully launch your projects in the cloud. Dive into datacenter operations, virtual machine (VM) configuration, network architecture, and storage infrastructure. Get the information and the confidence you need, from the pros who know, as they demystify security in the cloud.

• Date/Time:
  June 2-3, 2015 PDT
  9am–1pm
  (or watch from 11pm-3am PDT)
• Registration (Live):
  http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/liveevents/getting-started-with-azure-security-for-the-it-professional-day-1
• Registration (Rebroadcast):
  http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/liveevents/getting-started-with-azure-security-for-the-it-professional-day-1-rebroadcast

We’re happy to announce the release of our newest free ebook, Managing Agile Open-Source Software Projects with Microsoft Visual Studio Online (ISBN 9781509300648), by Brian Blackman, Gordon Beeming, Michael Fourie, and Willy-Peter Schaub.

With this ebook, the ALM Rangers share their best practices in managing solution requirements and shipping solutions in an agile environment, an environment where transparency, simplicity, and trust prevail. The ebook is for Agile development teams and their Scrum Masters who want to explore and learn from the authors’ “dogfooding” experiences and their continuous adaptation of software requirements management. Product Owners and other stakeholders will also find value in this ebook by learning how they can support their Agile development teams and by gaining an understanding of the constraints of open-source community projects.

• DOWNLOAD: “Managing Agile Open-Source Software Projects with Microsoft Visual Studio Online”
  http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/ebooks#9781509300648

The second preview edition of Charles Petzold’s Creating Mobile Apps with Xamarin.Forms: Cross-platform C# programming for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone is now available for download! Below you’ll find the download link and part of the ebook’s Introduction. Enjoy!

This is the second Preview Edition of a book about writing applications for Xamarin.Forms, the exciting new mobile development platform for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone unveiled by Xamarin in May 2014. Xamarin.Forms lets you write shared user-interface code in C# and XAML (the Extensible Application Markup Language) that maps to native controls on these three platforms.

This book is a Preview Edition because it’s not complete. It has only 16 chapters and doesn’t cover some important topics. The final edition of the book will probably be published in the summer of 2015.

This book is for C# programmers who want to write applications for the three most popular mobile platforms—iOS, Android, and Windows Phone—with a single code base. Xamarin.Forms also has applicability for those programmers who want eventually to use C# and the Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin. Android libraries to target the native application programming interfaces (APIs) of these platforms. Xamarin.Forms can be a big help in getting programmers started with these platforms or in constructing a prototype or proof-of-concept application.

This book assumes that you know C# and are familiar with the use of the .NET Framework. However, when I discuss some C# and .NET features that might be somewhat new to recent C# programmers, I adopt a somewhat slower pace.

• DOWNLOAD: “Creating Mobile Apps with Xamarin.Forms, Preview Edition 2”
  http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/
  ebooks#9780735697232