Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Overview of the new enterprise video streaming solution for Office 365. See how it works and how to use it.  Just published this month to reflect the complete solution.

Some folks mistakenly believe that Skype for Business was “just Lync 2013 renamed”.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Here’s a list of capabilities that only Skype for Business has, that greatly differentiate it from Lync 2013, as written up by our Enterprise Voice Specialist, Christian Burke.

Skype for Business New Feature Matrix

UPDATE 8/10/16: Since the product is constantly evolving with Microsoft’s new cloud service delivery model, there is now a web page entitled, “What’s new in Skype for Business 2016?” that summarizes improvements made to Skype for Business since we initially released it.  At last check, there are published updates for Dec 1, 2015, Feb 9, 2016, & July 1, 2016.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-s-new-in-Skype-for-Business-2016-cece9f93-add1-4d93-9a38-56cc598e5781?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

I’m sure this is written somewhere else but I’ve gotten tired of having Read Mode as the default viewer for Word 2013 files. 

I NEVER, EVER, EVER use this mode.  I always switch to Print Layout as I am almost always editing the document I’m opening, and thus it makes no sense for this view to every be used for me, much less the default. (?!?)

To make Word documents open in the “Print Layout” view instead of “Read Mode” when you first open the document, within Word 2013:

1. Open a new document
2. Click File –> Options
3. Uncheck the box under “General”, “Start Up options” that reads:
   ”Open e-mail attachments and other uneditable files in reading view”
4. Click Okay.

We have received feedback that customers want to include the Surface App (formerly Surface Hub App) to their custom Windows 8.1 image without going to the Windows Store.

Today we are solving this issue, by making the Surface App available over the Microsoft Download Center.

Customers can now download the Surface App, and make the App part of their own custom image – without the need of a Microsoft Account or access to the Windows Store.

• DOWNLOAD: Surface App (for image deployment)
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=46703
• TECHNET: Installing Surface App
  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dn705824.aspx

We’re all seeing it: more of our basic consumer experiences include technology in one way, shape or form, from mobile apps, loyalty, enhanced point-of-sale and direct customer engagement.  These factors and more provide a platform for hospitality brands to differentiate themselves through digital touch points.  Hospitality brands are transforming themselves to digital businesses by exploring new ways to serve their customers, including placing technology closer to the customer dining experience.

Join this unique webcast to hear from our Global Director for Hospitality & Travel, Greg Jones, as he discusses ways in which Microsoft is partnering with innovative companies to deliver unique restaurant experiences.  Greg will be joined by Ziosk President & CEO, Austen Mulinder, as they discuss transforming the tableside dining experience.

During the webcast you will hear about:

• Microsoft’s vision for the customer journey in hospitality
• Ziosk successes in delivering this unique experience
• How you can gain greater insights to your business and customer needs through tableside ordering
• Results that show this solutions increases staff retention and satisfaction

Date: 5/21/2015
Time: 9:00 AM PDT
Duration: 30 minutes
Register:
https://vts.inxpo.com/scripts/server.nxp?LASCmd=AI:4;F:QS!10100&ShowKey=24593

Last month, Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Technical Fellow & Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft Azure, attended ChefCon 2015 and participated in a panel discussion entitled, “Have Your Bets on Open Paid Off?”

Watch the recording of Mark Russinovich and other industry leaders from Facebook & The Gap discuss the beneficial impact of openness:

• VIDEO: Panel Discussion: Have Your Bets on Open Paid Off?
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZnbGNtcyMc

Do you find yourself in the desktop a lot on your Surface Pro?  Tired of manually initiating the soft-keyboard to type things in when you’re using the device as a tablet?

Check out Tabtip On-Demand.  I think it’s a must have for Surface Pro owners.

Tabtip On-Demand is a great tool for mobile users with Tablet PC which adds the missing keyboard « on-demand » functionality to the user’s desktop. It is also able to scroll through web pages and push application windows into view, thus textboxes are not covered by the keyboard. Tabtip On-Demand also makes the keyboard available by mouse click (optional) on the desktop as well as in the Modern UI (Windows 8 and above).

Many applications still run on the desktop rather than in the Modern UI. If you are one of those users who feel that the lack of keyboard showing up automatically on the desktop is just a pain, this tool is made for you.

If the tablet input panel is not available, Tabtip On-Demand pops up the on-screen keyboard (OSK) instead.

If you use the desktop a lot on your Surface Pro, while you’re walking around with it in tablet mode, check out Tabtip On-demand.

• DOWNLOAD: Chessware Tabtip On-Demand
  http://chessware.ch/tabtipod/

We’ve just announced that for folks that CAN’T make BUILD 2015 this year, you’ve have a second chance to hear what is presented by way of a new 25 city tour called the “BUILD tour”, coming this summer:

Bringing the Build experience to cities around the globe, featuring:

• Best of Build announcements and insights
• Deep dive in the Windows 10 developer platform for app and web developers
• Coding sessions and exciting demos across devices
• Partner showcases
• Open Q&A and face-to-face time with Microsoft engineers
• This is a free event

The event runs all day from 9AM-5PM.  The general web site for all tour stops is available here:

• https://www.build15.com/

There are 25 stops along the tour however for Los Angeles, the event will be on June 15 at Universal Studios, Hollywood.  Register here:

• https://losangeles.build15.com/

New conference coming for web developers interested in Project Spartan, Microsoft’s new browser & engine being released with Windows 10:

On May 5th and 6th, we’ll be hosting the Project Spartan Web Summit at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus in Mountain View, CA. This time we’re turning it up to 10 with two days of content packed with deep technical sessions from the Project Spartan team and fantastic guest speakers from the Web development community, including Kimberly Blessing, Kyle Simpson, and Sara Soueidan.

This is a great chance to come meet the engineers building our rendering and JavaScript engines and managing our Web properties and developer tools like Modern.IE, RemoteIE, and IEDevChat. In our technical sessions, you’ll get into the nuts and bolts of the latest interoperable Web technologies; learn how to make your site or Web app shine across browsers and platforms with tools like ECMAScript 6, WebAudio, WebGL, Cordova, SVG elements, and much more. We’ll take you under the hood of Project Spartan and its new rendering engine, show you the latest updates to our roadmap, and host open Q&A panels with the Project Spartan leadership.

You’ll also have the opportunity to test-drive Project Spartan on our latest builds alongside engineers from the platform team, who can guide your testing, answer questions, and take your feedback on any problems you encounter.

…

Read more at:

• Announcing the 2015 “Project Spartan” Web Summit, May 5th and 6th in Mountain View, CA
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2015/04/13/announcing-the-2015-project-spartan-web-summit-may-5th-and-6th-in-mountain-view-ca.aspx

A customer of mine commented recently on the lack of color schemes or configuration available in Office 2013, saying that, “It was depressing.”

I hadn’t heard that angle before.  It’s true that Office 2013 lacks the ability to change the color of the Office application UI from anything beyond White, Light Grey, and Dark Grey.  Most of the time the complaint about this is that the bright white or even the greys were too bright on the user’s eyes – especially for folks that are light sensitive.

The good news is that Office 2016 appears to at least promise more color variation (see snapshot to the right of Office 2016 for Windows) however to what degree this is configurable, I can’t say. 

So for for all you peeps that would like more color schemes & configurability in Office 2016, you may want to upvote up this feedback to the Office team & specifically comment on why you would like to see this change made… before Office 2016 ships later this year:

• USERVOICE: “Add more color choices for office themes”
  http://office365.uservoice.com/forums/264636-general/suggestions/7170674-add-more-color-choices-for-office-themes