Kurt Shintaku's Blog

A 360 degree view of the all-new Surface.

Take a look at the snapshot to the right:  This is the new Lync 2013 client.  Notice there’s no “gear-like” configuration icon?  There’s the “…” at the bottom of the screen but that doesn’t provide client UI configuration.

The point is, there’s no way to reveal a MENU BAR (File, Edit, Tools, etc.) like you used to with previous versions of Lync.

Q: So how do you manually save a conversation?

It turns out that the answer is “CTRL-S”.  This is the only way to do so without waiting for the client to ‘auto-save’ the conversation (if you have this set up.  There’s no FILE-SAVE CONVERSATION drop down any more.

For folks that haven’t used Lync before, the saved conversation will be found in a folder in Outlook called “Conversations History” off the root of your mailbox.

Why this isn’t documented in Lync’s help, I don’t know.  And that’s why I’m typing it up here.

Y’know those groups of apps in the START screen?  Did you know you can NAME them?  Apparently a lot of folks don’t.  Take a look at the screen shot below.  There are 2 things I’ve highlighted: 

1. I’ve circled the names I’ve given to the program groups you can see on the screen.
2. I’ve pointed at the bottom right hand corner to a special “minus” button.  When you either click that “minus” button, “pinch-to-zoom” your screen, or “pinch-to-zoom” your touchpad, the START screen will zoom out giving you an overhead view of all your programs.

From this overhead or “zoomed-out” view of the START screen, you can do two important things:

1. Select a program group by:
1. Right mouse clicking a group or…
2. Touch & swipe down on a give group
2. Reveal the App Bar by:
1. Right mouse clicking the screen or…
2. Edge swiping up on a touch screen

This will reveal, in particular, the “Name Group” button, highlighted below.  When you click on it, it will allow you to name the program group you selected earlier.

Type the name of the program group and you’re done!

Once you’ve named the group, one other thing you can do is drag & drop the program group to move it around in the START screen, so that you can order them in the way that’s most convenient to you.

You can see below, I’m dragging and dropping a program group called “Modern Apps” around the screen.

The Windows 8 and Windows RT Product Guide describes the many new and improved features in Windows 8 and Windows RT. Whether you’re working or playing, at home, in the office, or on the go, Windows is designed for you.

The reimagined Start screen brings together your sites, people, and apps that you care about. You can get all kinds of different apps for free or to buy in the Store. With Windows 8 and Windows RT, you can get the protection, speed, and reliability you’re used to from Windows and then some.

• DOWNLOAD: Windows 8 and Windows RT Product Guide (PDF, 10.3 MB)
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35406

There’s been quite a few posts written about the upcoming Microsoft Surface from most major media outlets now that the embargo has been lifted on reviews for the production device. 

Here’s some of the crème de la crème.

• ANANDTECH: Microsoft Surface Review
  (Author: Anand Lal Shimpi, Creator of Anandtech)
  ”As a device, Surface is incredibly well executed. It makes sense that Microsoft’s OEM partners are feeling the pressure as there’s very little that I would change about Surface from a design perspective. The chassis is well built and the integrated kickstand is seriously one of the most useful features to ever meet a tablet. The optional Touch and Type Covers complete the package. While a full sized notebook is going to deliver a better typing experience, when paired with its Touch/Type covers Surface results in a more productive platform than any other tablet.”
  http://www.anandtech.com/show/6385/microsoft-surface-review 
• ENGADGET: Microsoft Surface with Windows RT
  (Author: Tim Stevens, Editor-in-chief of Engadget)
  “If… you’re looking for an impeccably engineered tablet upon which you can do some serious work, a device that doesn’t look, feel or act like a toy, then you should get yourself a Surface with Windows RT.”
  http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/23/microsoft-surface-rt-review/
• BGR: Microsoft Surface Review:  A Tale of Two Tablets
  (Author: Zach Epstein, Executive Editor of BGR)
  “The faster Microsoft can get developers on board, the better — and the early days will be slow-going in some respects as a result of this lack of apps. But even as it stands today, the Surface provides a terrific experience right out of the box and it will only get better over time.”
  http://bgr.com/2012/10/23/microsoft-surface-review-a-tale-of-two-tablets/
• TIME: Microsoft Surface Review: The PC of the Future Needs More Apps
  (Author: Harry McCracken, Editor-at-large of TIME)
  ”The Surface hardware is indeed a beautiful piece of work, one that’s worthy of comparison to Apple’s designs even though many of Microsoft’s specific choices are distinctly un-Applelike.”
  http://techland.time.com/2012/10/23/microsoft-surface-review-the-pc-of-the-future-needs-more-apps/
• MASHABLE: Surface Is a Tablet Windows Users Will Love [REVIEW]
  (Author: Lance Ulanoff, Editor-in-Chief, Mashable)
  ”There’s no doubt that Surface will appeal most to Windows users. In fact this is the tablet for Windows fans. It won’t win over Apple iPad owners, but for all those who hate Apple, find Android confusing and underwhelming, and are ready to enter the world of touch-screen computing this is the alternative you’ve been waiting for.”
  http://mashable.com/2012/10/23/microsoft-surface-review/
• CNET: Microsoft Surface review: Innovative tablet stranded in an app desert
  (Author: Eric Franklin, Senior Editor, CNET)
  ”Metro interface is innovative, elegant, powerful, and versatile. The tablet feels strong and well-built, includes Office 2013, and rich video and music services. Its keyboard cover accessories are the best ways to type on a tablet, period.”
  http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/microsoft-surface-rt/4505-3126_7-35332494.html
• ALL THINGS D: Hardworking Tablet With PC Chops
  (Author: Walt Mossberg, Executive Editor All Things Digital)
  ”I have been testing the Surface almost daily for three weeks and I like it. It’s beautifully and solidly built and it’s the purest expression of Microsoft’s new Windows 8 touchscreen operating system which, like the Surface, goes on sale on Friday.”
  http://allthingsd.com/20121023/hardworking-tablet-with-pc-chops/
• WIRED: Microsoft Dives Deep to Surface a Hit
  (Author: Mathew Honan, Senior Writer, Wired)
  ”Let’s at least get this out of the way: This is one of the most exciting pieces of hardware I’ve ever used. It is extremely well-designed; meticulous even.”
  http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/10/microsoft-surface/all/
• PC MAGAZINE: Microsoft Surface with Windows RT
  (Author: Joel Santo Domingo, Lead Analyst – PC Magazine Labs)
  ”If you use Microsoft Office for work or school, then it’s a no-brainer: Get a Microsoft Surface (or one of the other upcoming Windows RT tablets). Even though Pages and QuickOffice are pretty good programs, you really can’t beat a real copy of Office when your work is on the line. If you use Office programs constantly, the Surface is the tablet and laptop replacement your inner road warrior has been searching for.”
  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2411249,00.asp
• CNN Money: First look at Microsoft’s Surface tablet
  (Author: David Goldman, Technology Reporter for CNN Money)
  ”It is a gorgeous piece of hardware… this really is a marvelous device to hold look at feel to touch and certainly Microsoft has a real winner on it’s hands.”
  http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/10/25/ts-microsoft-surface-review.cnnmoney/index.html
• BOSTONHERALD: Surface headed for wish lists
  (Author: Jessica Van Sack, Chief Enterprise Reporter)
  ”First, you can print directly from it. It allows multiple users to log on with their own profiles. It also runs Microsoft Office and typing is a breeze. The Microsoft Surface costs about the same as an iPad, but you get more bang for your buck.  This isn’t a pure content-consumption device that you happen to be able to use to snap great photos: That’s the iPad.”
  http://bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?&articleid=1061170599
• TGDAILY: Why Microsoft’s Surface Tablet is my new favorite device
  (Author: Rob Enderle, Technology Analyst & head of Enderle Group)
  ”But the real benefit of Surface is its seamless approach to integration for different tasks. Meaning, you can move from work to play, as the device easily allows you to work where you want. One surprising but welcome difference? The kickstand angles the screen so I don’t get anywhere as much glare as I would off a regular tablet, so it is easier to view the screen outdoors. Strangely enough, even though this is a 1.0 product, for once a vendor appears to have learned from the mistakes of others.  The fact that this vendor is Microsoft, a software vendor known for screwing up hardware, is kind of blowing my mind at the moment.  Suddenly I have a new favorite product and it is the Tegra 3 powered Surface Tablet from Microsoft. Go figure.”
  http://www.tgdaily.com/opinion-features/67219-why-microsofts-surface-tablet-is-my-new-favorite-device
• BETANEWS: Microsoft Surface review for real people
  (Author: Robert Johnson, User interface developer & contributing author)
  “Surface is fantastic. There’s no tablet like it on the market. If you’re looking for a mobile device that allows you to play casual games like Angry Birds and write a book report in Word, Surface is your choice. Concerned about apps? Don’t be. The Windows Store is new and surges with quality apps at an alarming rate. Some are even exclusive to the Windows platform. Concerned about viruses and malware? Don’t be. Windows RT comes with built-in security protection. You don’t have to worry about viruses at all.  Surface RT is not a full laptop replacement, but it’s definitely more capable than iPad or Android tablets.”
  http://betanews.com/2012/11/14/microsoft-surface-review-for-real-people/

[Thanks to Brian Larson for helping me seek out & uncover many of these reviews]

In case there’s anyone else out there using Windows 8 & trying to print documents, like Acrobat PDFs that are rendered in the Reader app in Windows 8… and finding it difficult to figure out how to do so, the quick answer is:

• YES, the Windows 8 Reader application can ‘print’
• The quick way to do so is to hit CTRL+P
  You’ll get a menu that appears from the right that allows you to select a printer.
• After selecting a printer you’ll be provided with the typical printer options. (See below)

Alternatively, if you open the Charms Bar on the right and select the DEVICES icon, you can select a device (a printer) to send the document to… which will print it. (See below)

The SharePoint Blog as a recent post on their web site that goes over the differences between SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro which I found interesting.

SkyDrive is for people to sync their personal files to the cloud and across their devices. SkyDrive is available free to individuals and is included in Office 365 Home Premium. With over 60 million users, SkyDrive has become synonymous with personal cloud storage. It enables access to documents across devices. In the new Office, SkyDrive becomes the default save location, making it easy to create, store, and share files with others.

SkyDrive Pro is a document storage service that organizations provision and manage for their users. It will be available as a service together with many Office 365 plans, and on-premises with the new version of SharePoint.

Like its consumer counterpart, SkyDrive Pro enables people to synchronize their work documents from SharePoint to the cloud, and also take documents offline when they’re on the go. People can access or edit their documents across devices; files are automatically synchronized with SkyDrive Pro when connected online.

After SkyDrive Pro is set up, you can save documents directly to SkyDrive Pro from Office desktop applications, or synchronize them directly from SharePoint.

There are also 4 other FAQ type questions that are answered in this blog post so take a look see.

• BLOG: 5 Questions about SkyDrive Pro!
  http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blog/Pages/BlogPost.aspx?pID=1033

Surface with Windows RT Drop Test — from 30" onto hardwood floor. Surface Reliability Lab, Redmond WA, Monday October 15th 2012.  Nice.

Wow.  That was fast.  Office Professional Plus 2013 (x86/x64) are now available for MSDN/TechNet subscribers.

• LINK:  TechNet Subscriptions Downloads
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/

Paul Clement (MS MVP) wrote a fairly significant & exhaustively documented step-by-step post on the Microsoft Press blog about Windows Server 2012’s new Data Deduplication feature that I think is worth reading for anyone using Windows Server as their file server front end.

Much like the Windows Server 2012 Data Classification Toolkit which provides automatic identification of sensitive information & ‘classifies it’, Data Deduplication provides added value to customers using Windows Server specifically to provide file services for their end users.  This is in contrast to folks using non-Windows-based NAS solutions that are front ended using client-accessed SAMBA based Linux variants:  These cannot leverage either DCT or Data Dedupe.

Paul here! For as long as there has been file servers running in our organizations, there has been the need to control data sprawl to conserve expensive storage space. As disks began getting larger in capacity and less expensive in cost this issue has moved from critical to more of an annoyance for IT staff to manage. Larger disks meant more space to save data and less urgency to deal with duplicate files.

Solutions have existed for many years to deal with what is known as “deduplication,” both in software and hardware; however they were expensive and not always as simple as they claimed to be.

With the newly minted Windows Server 2012, one feature of the exhaustive list of under the hood improvements and additions is a Service called Data Deduplication. Finally, a built-in and free tool that is integrated with the operating system is here for us to realize some pretty significant storage savings without the need to make it a capital project.

…

Read more at:

• BLOG: From the MVPs: Windows Server 2012’s Data Deduplication feature
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2012/10/22/from-the-mvps-windows-server-2012-s-data-deduplication-feature.aspx