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http://www.twitter.com/aspoc

The Microsoft community is a buzz, Exchange 2010 Public Beta has arrived.  Read all about and then try it out for yourself…

Microsoft

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Homepage
• Presenting Exchange Server 2010: MS Exchange Team Blog
• Exchange 2010 Techcenter
• Exchange 2010 Prerequisites
• What’s new in Exchange 2010
• Exchange 2010 Documentation

Reviews

• Microsoft Exchange 2010 Beta Looks Solid from Core to Cloud (and related slideshow Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Includes Welcome Improvements) – eWeek
• First look: Exchange 2010 beta shines – InfoWorld

News

• Broader Office 14 testing coming by fall – CNet
• Next Exchange features e-mail ‘mute’ button – CNet
• Microsoft Brands Office 2010, Releases Exchange Beta – PC World / IDG
• Microsoft fends off Google with Web browser-friendly Exchange 2010 – Computerworld
• Microsoft to release Exchange 2010 beta on April 15 – ZDNet
• Microsoft Exchange 2010 to address annoyances & mobility – Seattle PI
• Next version of Microsoft Office coming in 2010 – AP
• It’s Office 2010: First technical previews due in Q3 – BetaNews 

Download

• Exchange 2010 Beta
• Exchange 2010 Beta UM Language Packs

An important event is just around the corner.  Beginning on 4/14/2009 mainstream support for Exchange 2003 ends.

From the MS Exchange team:

Just a last reminder  – Exchange Server 2003 goes into Extended Support on 4/14/2009.  Details on our lifecycle policy for Exchange 2003 can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=1773.

What does this mean for our customers?

The major differences between the Mainstream Support phase and the Extended Support phase are the following:

• No-charge Problem Resolution Support is not available
• We no longer accept product design change requests (CDCRs) or provide new feature functionality
• We no longer provide new non-security hotfixes without enrollment in Extended Hotfix Support
• For Exchange SE to ship a hotfix for a problem that a customer is having with Exchange 2003, we need to have the request in-hand on 4/14/2009.  Anything that is submitted after this date must be for a customer with an Extended Hotfix Support Agreement in place.
• Customers have 90 days after 4/14/2009 to purchase an Extended Hotfix Support Agreement
• One exception – customers who have Software Assurance can opt in for the Extended Hotfix Support Agreement at any time

One of the important things to note is that Extended Support is still a publicly supported phase and no separate agreement is needed to obtain support.  As long as customers are opening paid incidents, they will still be able to receive support.  In fact, many Premier and Pro customers who already open paid cases with Microsoft will notice little difference in the support that is provided in this phase.  They will continue to be able to open paid cases, receive security updates, obtain support assistance from their TAM, etc…  In reality, few customers need Extended Hotfix Support unless they have a history of requesting or requiring non-security hotfixes. 

If you support Mac users in your Exchange 2007 environment you are definitely going to want to take a hop on over to the Man Mojo: The Office for Mac Team blog and read the recent post on the Entourage for Exchange Web Services.

Some new features available now to Mac users:

• Tasks, Notes, and Categories now sync with the Exchange Server     
• Resolving names against the Global Address List now works via EWS/HTTP. This means you no longer need to be connected to your corporate network via VPN to resolve names when addressing an e-mail or meeting invitation     
• Improved Autodiscover. In Entourage for Exchange Web Services Beta, the Autodiscover service keeps user account settings up-to-date after the account setup. 
  • It runs in the background every time that you start Entourage. 
  • It also runs at a server-defined interval, typically every hour, to make sure that the Exchange Server settings are always kept up-to-date

The minimum requirements to install the Entourage for Exchange Web Services beta are:

• You must be connecting to Exchange Server 2007 with Service Pack 1 with Update Rollup 4 or later.
  • Caution: If you are using earlier versions of Exchange Server with Entourage, we recommend that you do not install this beta edition of Entourage for Exchange Web Services.     
• Office 2008 for Mac Standard or Special Media Edition must be installed, with all of the latest updates, prior to installing Entourage for Exchange Web Services Beta.
  • Note: Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition users should not install the Entourage for Exchange Web Services beta.    

Click here to read the entire post…

Click here to get more information on the beta program…

The MS Exchange Team just posted an introductory video with Jim Lucey (Product Manager of Exchange Labs) and KC Lemson talking about Exchange 14.  It’s the first of hopefully many to come.  I have had the pleasure of working with E14 as part of the TAP for a while now and look forward to being able to share my experiences.

Click here to read the post and watch the video…

If you haven’t heard, Microsoft Office Communications server 2007 R2 was Released To Manufacturing (RTM) on the 19th of December.

Click here to read the rest of the article…

Today, Microsoft Corp. debuted Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 (R2), an update to the award-winning Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.  Customers will be able to purchase the release, currently in private beta testing, beginning in February 2009.

• Click here to read the press release…

Key New Features

Next-Gen Collaboration

• Dial-in audio conferencing. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 enables businesses to eliminate costly audio conferencing services with an on-premise audio conferencing bridge that is managed by IT as part of the overall communications infrastructure.
• Desktop sharing. This feature enables users to seamlessly share their desktop, initiate audio communications and collaborate with others outside the organization on PC, Macintosh or Linux platforms through a Web-based interface.
• Persistent group chat. This enables geographically dispersed teams to collaborate with each other by participating in topic-based discussions that persist over time. This application provides users with a list of all available chat rooms and topics, periodically archives discussions in an XML file format that meets compliance regulations, provides tools to search the entire history of discussion on a given topic, and offers filters and alerts to notify someone of new posts or topics on a particular topic.

Enhanced Voice and Mobility

• Attendant console and delegation. This allows receptionists, team secretaries and others to manage calls and conferences on behalf of other users, set up workflows to route calls, and manage higher volumes of incoming communications through a software-based interface.
• Session Initiation Protocol trunking. This feature enables businesses to reduce costs by setting up a direct VoIP connection between an Internet telephony service provider and Office Communicator 2007 without requiring on-premise gateways.
• Response group.A workflow design application manages incoming calls based on user-configured rules (e.g., round-robin, longest idle, simultaneous), providing a simple-to-use basic engine for call treatment, routing and queuing.
• Mobility and single-number reach. This extends Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile functionality to Nokia S40, Motorola RAZR, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, allowing users to communicate using presence, IM and voice as an extension of their PBX from a unified client.^*

^{* Blackberry client does not include Single Number Reach.}

More Information

• Elan Shudnow
• Aaron Tiensivu
• VOIP & Gadgets Blog
• No More Phone
• No Jitter
• Jeff Schertz
• MOC Voice Mail Integration

Congratulations to VMWare for being the first to be validated under Microsoft’s new Microsoft Server Virtualization Program (SVVP).

“VMware Lays Foundation for Broader Market Penetration by Giving Customers Access to Support for Software For All Major Microsoft Applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server, SQL Server, SharePoint Server and others across Virtualized Environments

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Sept 3, 2008 — VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, today announced it has qualified its industry-leading VMware ESX hypervisor under the Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP). VMware ESX 3.5 update 2 (ESX 3.5u2) is the first hypervisor to be listed under the program, providing VMware customers who run Windows Server and Microsoft applications with access to cooperative support from Microsoft and VMware. “

Click here to read the rest of the news release…

Updated 9/10/2008:   VMware has only achieved support for Windows Server 2008 x86.  There is not 64-bit support as of yet.  However if you read the fine print under Additional Information, products that have passed SVVP requirements for Windows Server 2008 are considered supported on Windows Server 2000 SP4 and Windows Server 2003 SP2 and later.  Good news.

Click here for more information…

Now formatted for your viewing pleasure in an iPhone friendly format.  You can checkout the WordPress iPhone plugin for yourself by following the links.

• iPhone Theme for WordPress
• iPhone web simulator 

Been using the beta now for sometime…and eagerly waiting the launch.  The wait is over.

www.firefox.com

Top Features:

• One-Click Browsing
• Improved Performance
• Password Manager
• Smart Location Bar
• Full Zoom
• Instant Web Site ID
• Platform-Native Look & Feel