Kurt Shintaku's Blog

The Office Resource Kit team is rolling out a series of content roadmaps for subject areas like Office 2013 deployment and compatibility. We designed these roadmaps with several goals in mind:

• Give context and order to the articles so that you know what to read, when, and why.
• Act as a central home page that articles will all point back to prominently, making it easier for you to find related content.
• Highlight important subsections in articles that might be overlooked when you scan article titles in the table of contents.
• Assemble pointers to relevant blog posts, downloads, scripts, and reference information in one place.

We’ve published our first two roadmaps:

• Office 2013 compatibility content roadmap for IT Pros
• Content roadmap for Office 365 ProPlus

…and would like to get your input. As you’ll see, the formats are slightly different. You’ll also notice that many articles now have a link back to a roadmap, along with a link to Office.com articles for end users who want related but less technical information.

We would love to get your feedback on the roadmaps. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment or sending us a note to feedork@microsoft.com.

[shamelessly stolen from the Office Res Kit blog]

Unbeknownst to me, we apparently released Lync for Mac 14.0.4 earlier this month.   This update bring support for Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, sign in fixes and other minor updates. 

Improvements that this update provides

This update update provides call control functionality for Optimized for Lync USB audio devices. Microsoft and the OEMs that make USB audio devices have verified that this update qualifies for the Optimized for Lync logo on most devices.
For a list of Optimized for Lync devices that work best with the Lync for Mac 2011 client, please contact your preferred Lync device partner.  
A full list of qualified devices and device makers can be found on the following Microsoft website:   Phones and devices qualified for Microsoft Lync

(http://optimizedfor.com)

Issues that the update fixes

The update fixes the following issues:

• 2793013 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2793013/ )
  A user cannot start an encrypted desktop sharing or application sharing session together with a Lync for Mac 2011 user
• 2793011 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2793011/ )
  An update is available that enables Lync for Mac 2011 to be supported in Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
• 2793012 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2793012/ )
  Video call or conference is stretched to a 4:3 aspect ratio when you use Lync for Mac 2011
• 2803796 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2803796/ )
  "Lync was unable to sign in" error message when you try to sign in to Lync Online by using Lync for Mac 2011 in a Mac OS

Details at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2778095

RELEASE: Lync for Macintosh 14.0.4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4429c8a7-1e22-44f2-b39c-4824292b1d25

UPDATE 2/21/13:
Due to factors beyond our control, the Century City store will no longer be having the Tomb Raider launch.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

——————-
Whaa?  Tomb Raider has a launch party?

Yup.  What does that tell you about this title?  That’s right.  Gonna be big.  Square Enix is putting together a big campaign for Tomb Raider because the developers, Crystal Dynamics (You know these guys.  They were the Soul Reaver guys and the original creators of many of the previous titles in the Tomb Raider series) didn’t just throw on a fresh coat of paint on the franchise… the redid the whole thing.  Brand new engine!  Vulnerability!  No guns! (Or fewer guns rather)  Heavy storyline!  Epic stuff.

Anyway, on Monday, March 4th at 10:00PM, the doors will open at the Microsoft Store in Century City/Los Angeles for another Midnight Madness launch for Square Enix’s highly anticipated series reboot, “Tomb Raider” for Xbox 360.

Microsoft Store Los Angeles
(Westfield Century City)
10250 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Phone: (310) 228-3550

Don’t forget to pre-order your copy of Tomb Raider from the store (Requires a deposit of $10, which goes to the cost of the game when it’s available later that night) which will get you 1600 Microsoft Points!

…and there’ll be gifts for the first 50 people in line!

As usual, there will be a live gaming as well as food, drinks and giveaways care of a raffle for all people in line.  Pre-ordered games will be available at 12:01AM that night.

• OXM: Take a look at Official Xbox Magazine’s review of the New Tomb Raider here:
  http://www.oxmonline.com/tomb-raider-hands-preview
• IGN: Extended 60+ Minute Tomb Raider Demo
  The video below is IGN’s extended 1 HOUR LONG game play demo from Dec 2012 of the new Tomb Raider featuring the developers, Crystal Dynamics:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9i_U9y4BWI

Here’s a list of items that I’ve bought for my Surface Pro that you might want to consider getting as well:

• Plugable 7 Port USB 3.0 Hub with 4A Power Adapter (VIA VL812 Chipset – USB 2.0 compatible) ($49)
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008ZGKWQI/
• Anker® Uspeed USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Network Adapter [ASIX AX88179 Chipset, USB to RJ45 ($29)
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A0ABQLM/
• StarTech Mini DisplayPort to VGA Video Adapter – M/F ($24)
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0031SEMBQ/
• PNY A-DM-HD-W01 Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter ($12)
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007B6YPAM
  (Note: This entry used to be for the StarTech HDMI adapter however it appears the StarTech supports only an older version of HDMI audio versus the PNY which supports Surround Sound)

Official Microsoft accessories:

• Surface 48W Power Supply with USB Charging Port ($79)
  http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/
  pd/Surface-48W-Power-Supply-with-USB-Charging-Port/productID.264829500/vip.true
• Surface Pen ($29)
  http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/Surface-Pen/productID.264828900/vip.true
• Surface Touch Cover ($119)
  http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/Surface-Touch-Cover/productID.258360000/vip.true
• Surface Type Cover ($129)
  http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/Surface-Type-Cover/productID.256528700/vip.true

Honestly, I hadn’t tried this mouse before.  This new “Wedge Mouse” of ours seems a little odd looking and frankly, not very ergonomic.  But with the release of the Surface Pro, I decided to live a little and give it a try when I was buying accessories.

Man, am I glad I did.  This thing is HELLA cool.

I’ve been reading our documentation on the device.  I was a little disappointed with the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse in that it seemed to cramp my hand despite the fact that the arc in the unit was designed to provide some modicum of ergonomics.

Here’s what I see as valuable differentiators in this mouse:

1. WORKS ON POLISHED SURFACES
   Have you ever used a mouse on a semi-reflective table (usually at a hotel) and discovered that it won’t track or move the mouse pointer correctly? It can’t be understated how well this mouse works on polished granite or other tables that used to not work with laser or camera-based optical mice.  Read more about it here:
   http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/bluetrack-technology
2. SUPERLIGHT & PORTABLE
   This is a really small mouse with no cables and is almost undetectable in your pocket.  That’s what I’d liked about the Arc Touch mouse but it had one major drawback:  It has a BIG MAGNET on it which is a disaster if you have your wallet in your pocket. 
3. AUTO-SHUT OFF
   The mouse shuts down after 30 seconds if you shutdown your PC.  No more replacing the battery just because you forgot to power it down.
4. BLUETOOTH RELIABILITY
   This is the single best bluetooth mouse I’ve ever used.  The pairing with my Surface Pro was fast, the mouse is super-responsive, and most importantly… the connection is RELIABLE.  In my experience, bluetooth mice have the tendency to be unreliable, disconnecting frequently, going to sleep when you don’t want it to, causing all sorts of frustration while using it.  Not with the Wedge mouse.  This is very well designed.
5. MOUSE & KEYBOARD CENTER 2.0 SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY
   For configuration & per-application settings, Wedge mouse works with the free & incredibly useful “Mouse & Keyboard Center 2.0” software product from Microsoft.
   DOWNLOAD: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/d/wedge-touch-mouse 
6. NO CRAMPING
   Strangely, contrary to my original thinking, this thing doesn’t really cramp my hands.  I thought that because it was so small, it’d cause cramping over a long period of time but nope… it’s just fine.  Really interesting and I don’t know why.

If you want to pick one up, here’s the links:

• MICROSOFT: Wedge Touch Mouse Surface Edition ($69.99)
  http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/accessories/home#mice
• MICROSOFT:  Wedge Touch Mouse Standard Edition ($69.99)
  http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/wedge-touch-mouse/3LR-00004#details

Note:  The only difference between the Surface edition and the Standard edition is that the Surface edition’s sides use the same VaporMg casing metal of the Surface.  Functionally, they are otherwise identical.

A friend posed the following question to me:

• “Can I use the Surface RT power supply on a Surface Pro?”

SURFACE RT POWER SUPPLY ON SURFACE PRO
The answer was briefly addressed by the Surface team during their recent AMA on Reddit.  YES, you can although the charge will be much slower.

From my own observation, this makes complete sense:  They operate at the same voltage but charging will be much slower because the amperage of the RT power supply is almost half of what the Pro power supply is.  This matters to many primarily because of the disparity between the cost of these two accessories.

• Surface RT has a 24W Power Supply (12V at 2A, $39.99 MSRP) – See photo above
• Surface Pro is 44W Power Supply (12V at 3.6A, $79.00 MSRP) – See photo below

SURFACE PRO POWER SUPPLY ON SURFACE RT
Conversely, the Surface Pro Power Supply works on the Surface RT.  While I haven’t seen any specific documentation on this topic on the Surface support web site, I’ve snapped that onto my unit and it charges just fine.  Possibly even faster due to the higher amperage but I wouldn’t know since I’m not benchmarking the charge.

Ordering for either power supply is available at the Surface web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/accessories/home#power-supply

UPDATE 5/2/13:
And there they are!  We just released a whole pack of drivers & firmware updates to enable IT professionals to update, provision, and image Surface Pro devices.

https://kurtsh.com/2013/05/01/release-surface-pro-driver-pack-for-windows-8/

—————–

ORIGINAL POST 2/15/13:
Where are the drivers for Surface Pro?  I was searching for the answer to this question myself and turned up the following on our support forums:

The basic answer is that Surface Pro firmware updates are delivered via Windows Update as described here:
http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/support/performance-and-maintenance/install-software-updates-for-surface

Other peripherals were pointed to here.  I haven’t tried these myself (I just rely on Windows Update) so caveat user:

• Marvell Avastar 350N:
  http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/NETWORK-CARD/Marvell/Marvell-AVASTAR-350N-Wireless-Network-Controller-Driver-14691705673-for-Windows-8-x64.shtml
• Video/Graphics and HDMI Audio Output:
  http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=22375&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%208%2C%2064-bit*&DownloadType=Drivers
• Realtek HD Audio:
  http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
• Intel Rapid Storage Technology:
  http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=22270&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%208%2C%2064-bit*&DownloadType=Drivers
• Chipset:
  http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=22153&ProdId=3227&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%208%2C%2064-bit*&DownloadType=

The U.S. State Department released on 12/4/12 a document to help dispel common misperceptions about the Patriot Act.

The ability of cloud consumers to exploit the full value of cloud innovation has been increasingly threatened over the last year by misplaced assertions that use of cloud services provided by a company subject to the U.S. legal process will routinely expose customer data to seizure by U.S. law enforcement authorities. As this controversy jeopardizes opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world for needed economic and employment growth, the record needs to be set straight.

This document dispels these myths and discusses certain aspects of U.S. laws that are often mischaracterized abroad, and that discourage citizens of other countries from storing their data with U.S. cloud providers.

• WHITEPAPER:  Five Myths Regarding Privacy and Law Enforcement – October 9, 2012
  http://photos.state.gov/libraries/useu/231771/PDFs/Five%20Myths%20Regarding%20Privacy%20and%20Law%20Enforcement_October%209_2012_pdf.pdf

In addition, the State Department has created a useful webpage that compiles resources related to data privacy and law enforcement concerns. The page includes copies of several recent speeches made by U.S. officials and summary materials and links related to specific subject matters.

The page is: http://useu.usmission.gov/data_privacy.html.

Use the following command to shutdown your Surface Pro: 
([Windows Key] + ‘R’ to get the run command)

• shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00

It will bring up a touch-friendly boot menu, that among other things, will help you either troubleshoot your PC by putting it in ‘safe boot’ or allow you to boot to USB/network for Windows-to-Go or the Windows Recovery USB flash drive:

While the feedback from my customers has been overwhelmingly positive since the launch of Surface Pro (“This is things is awesome… people are drooling over my unit over here”, “I can’t wait to show our users”, “I think this is going to dramatically slow down iPad orders”)  I’ve still heard a couple concerns about the device from folks that haven’t used it yet or gotten them in their hands.

This is difficult because I don’t have seeding or evaluation units right now (as all of you know by now) and ultimately, people’s opinions about Surface Pro are formed once they get their hands on it and provision it for the first time for their own personal use.

To assuage certain concerns, I thought I’d take the time to correct certain misperceptions of folks that haven’t yet procured one to help them understand why “what they hear” often times isn’t representative of what the actual experience is of using Surface Pro.

• START BUTTON: “My users (and I) won’t use this without a START button.”
  <ks> “Individuals that need the comfort of the START button can install on using Stardock’s START 8 tool which is a $4.99. It’s enterprise-deployable, comes with an .ADMX template, and is Group Policy manageable.”
  http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
• BATTERY LIFE: “The battery life is only 4-5hrs.”
  <ks> “4-5 hours was found to be a good balance between battery weight & battery life. GM Panos Panay has made references to an upcoming accessory that will provide more portable power for individuals that require longer term or emergency power, leveraging the special power contacts at the base of the tablet.”
  http://allthingsd.com/20130207/microsoft-hints-at-battery-add-on-for-surface-pro/
• LAP USAGE: “It’s hard to balance & type on when it’s on my lap.”
  <ks> “Customers that require the ability to type on their lap may buy optional, low cost leather portfolios which provides a more stable base for typing.  These cost as little as $13.”
  http://www.amazon.com/KHOMO-Leather-Microsoft-Surface-Windows/dp/B00A0M3MY4/
• DISK STORAGE: “The hard drive only has 23GB/83GB free space.”
  <ks> “The Surface Pro is a PC so it should be compared with other PCs. The current space available is almost exactly the same as what is available on MacBook Air devices of the same drive sizes.  Additionally, during provisioning for most users, they will find that 6GB+ of additional space can be freed by uninstalling Office 365 trial & transferring the recovery partition to a USB flash drive.”
  http://www.zdnet.com/surface-pro-versus-macbook-air-whos-being-dishonest-with-storage-space-7000011009/
• PROVISIONING: “Since we’re not buying through our traditional OEM, how do we provision these?
  <ks> “Surface Pro can be provisioned in the same manner in which any other PC is imaged & prepared. Volume shipments can be directed to the service provider for provisioning, leveraging the process in place today simply deploying an image for Windows 8. Volume orders for Enterprise customers may be made at our Commercial Order web site.”
  http://www.surface.com/commercialorder
• VIEWING ANGLE: “The viewing angle of the display is not adjustable.”
  <ks> “The display kickstand is angled at a specific degree based on average usage.  For people that require an adjustable viewing angle, there are low cost portfolio cases that provide multiple viewing angles.”
  http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Multiple-compatible-Keyboard-Features/dp/B009SE4DNO/