January 2012 – SharePoint & Office 365

The next version of Microsoft Office, code named Office 15, has now entered the Technology Adoption Program stage. This is where a select group of customers get to use the new software and provide feedback that will ultimately finalise the software for a public release. Although no details have officially been released it is said that Office 15 will have even better integration with SharePoint. The public trial is due to start in the summer and the final release for general sale due by the end of 2012. It has also been rumoured that the software could be supported on multiple platforms, including iOS. Office 15 will likely be called Office 2012 or Office 2013 depending on when the final release is made.

A new web based application has been released called Lync Web Scheduler. The application allows users that don’t have access to Microsoft Outlook or users of operating systems other than Windows the ability to Schedule and Manage meetings.

The functionality is currently basic. Once you have created a meeting, you will receive a link that you can use to send to the participants of your meeting. You do have the option to export the meeting to native calendar applications like iCal on OS X. The functionality will allow users of other operating systems such as Linux and OS X, or users without access to Microsoft Outlook