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Office 365 Price Cuts


Office 365, Microsoft’s online services offering has had a price cut.

Effective immediately, the new pricing is thus:

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     Was £6.50         Was £10.50      Was £15.75        Was £17.75

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K1 has stayed the same but K2 has been reduced from £6.50.

The E3 SKU has been reduced by 16% and E1 by 19%.

Other pricing:

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The US price lists I’ve seen show that additional SharePoint storage has been reduced by 92%, from $2.50 to £.20! The UK site doesn’t currently contain pricing for this but I’ve asked for UK costs, so I’ll update this post once I hear back.

Some people will say these cuts are due to it not being as popular as hoped but I believe Microsoft’s reasoning about economy of scale & improved efficiency being the key drivers. We’re seeing some really great interest in Office 365 so far this year so I’d advise taking the naysayers with a pinch of salt Smile

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Symantec Backup Exec 2012 Changes


Backup Exec 2012 has been released and brings with it a few changes.

1) There is now an “Agent for Applications & Databases” which protects

a. SQL

b. Exchange

c. SharePoint

d. Active Directory

e. Oracle

f. Lotus Domino

2) There is extended Mac support with the “Agent for Macintosh”.

3) There are now 2 server options:

a. Backup Exec Server Edition – Same as always.

b. Backup Exec Server V-Ray Edition – This includes the ability to backup all virtual Application & Database servers without requiring the additional options inside each VM. There are then 2 variants of the V-Ray Edition:

i. 2 to 6 cores per CPU

ii. 8 plus cores per CPU

· Point 1 makes it easier to license for organizations with multiple App & DB servers.

· Point 3 can make licensing much easier & cost effective for companies with heavy use of virtual App & DB servers.  The move to core based licensing won’t really add any complexity – just remember to count up the number of cores before requesting/providing a quote.

It’s interesting to see another vendor make the move to core based licensing to better fit with virtualization…I wonder who else will do this too.

You can learn more at:

http://www.symantec.com/backup-exec

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Microsoft Windows Server 8 Online Backup


The Windows Server 8 beta has been out for a week or so and people are still finding new features in the Operating System.

Aidan Finn has uncovered an Online Backup Service that is available as an installable component of Windows Server 8.

What is it?

Microsoft Online Backup Service (as it is known) is an installable service to back up files & folders to the cloud.

Why is it?

Microsoft Online Backup Service provides a new way to deliver business continuity benefits to Windows Server "8" Beta customers by providing a backup solution that requires no upfront hardware cost (other than an internet connection).

Extra Points:

One thing to note straight away is that this isn’t a free service…not even Microsoft can backup everyone’s data for free! That said, the current beta IS free and is limited to around 10GB.

Here it is in the start menu:

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Encryption passphrases must be at least 16 characters long and:

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Recovering Data

Any server running Windows Server "8" Beta can recover data from Microsoft Online Backup Service onto any server running Windows Server "8" Beta connected to the Internet.

Thoughts

It’s interesting to see this as Computer Associates (CA) have just launched an online backup service that using Microsoft Windows Azure as its cloud platform. I’m not sure, off the top of my head,how these 2 services stack up features wise but I’m going to try and find out Smile Will Microsoft’s service be positioned more as a low end, entry level package while CA take the mid-market/Enterprise sector?

 

You can download the Online Backup Beta Guide document here:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/confirmation.aspx?id=29005

Aidan’s great original post can be found here:

http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=12179

Thanks to Mary Jo of ZDnet for tweeting this Smile

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Windows Server 8 beta also available


Windows Server 8 also has a preview available today so head over to:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx

to grab it.

Mary Jo has again got a quick list of some new features:

  • Users can choose Server Core Installation or Server with a GUI (the equivalent of the full installation option in Windows Server 2008 R2). Server Core is the default option.
  • Increased scale and performance for Hyper-V virtual machines. Up to 1 terabyte of memory – up from 512 GB in the developer preview. There’s also an increase in virtual disk size supported, to 64 TB, from 16 TB in the Dev Preview
  • Easier deployment of IIS 8
  • Surfacing of ReFS, the new Resilient File System, in Windows 8, as well as support for new storage and server cluster mangement technologies
  • Metro-Style Remote Desktop app and VOIP integration with Remote Desktop Services

 

The improvements around Virtual mMachines and the new ReFS file system are big news and our customers are asking about release dates already Smile

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WIndows 8 Consumer Preview is available


The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is here.

Microsoft have just announced the availability at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the links are live over at:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

There are apparently over 100,000 changes in this edition over the Developer Preview we saw a few months back! Mary Jo Foley tells us these include:

  • Addition of the “semantic zoom” panning feature (that Microsoft demonstrated last September, but didn’t include in the Developer Preview). This should make it easier for users to navigate Windows 8 with touch and with mice/keyboards
  • App bar that shows commands when users want them via a bar in the bottom of the screen
  • Replacement of the Start button with a Start preview thumbnail. The preview lets users to right click to get quickly to familiar Windows features, like Windows Explorer, Search, Desktop, etc.
  • Improved app switching by mousing to the top left corner of the screen to allow users to more quickly scroll through their stack of recently opened/closed/used apps
  • Consolidation of passwords and credentials into a single “Microsoft Account.” This should make it easier for users to move his/her settings to other PCs.
  • Inclusion of new previews of various Microsoft apps, including People, Mail, Calendaring, Messaging and SkyDrive apps. (Many of these seem to emulate the similarly named hubs on Windows Phone.)

(Check out her great post on Windows 8, Server 8 and more here – http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/its-windows-8-download-day-heres-what-we-know/12058)

I’m 62% of the way through my download so once it’s done I’m hoping I’ll get the chance to boot it up and see how awesome it is Smile

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Skype for WIndows Phone available


Microsoft’s 2011 $8.5 billion purchase of Skype has borne fruit in the guise of the beta “Skype for Windows Phone” app, with the final version expected to arrive in April.

Skype have tested and certified the app on the following devices:

• Nokia Lumia 710
• Nokia Lumia 800
• HTC Titan
• HTC Radar
• Samsung Focus S
• Samsung Focus Flash

From the Skype Blog:

“With Skype for Windows Phone Beta you can make free audio and video calls** to your Skype contacts over 3G and 4G or WiFi***, make affordable calls to landlines and mobiles using Skype Credit, create and hold one-to-one and group chats, and update your profile and account information, among others features.”

One thing to note is that the beta app will have only English language support.

Head over to http://blogs.skype.com/en/2012/02/skype_brings_voice_and_video_c.html to read more and to get the links to download the app…or hit this QR code using Bing Vision Smile

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Microsoft begin Office 15 Technical Preview


The latest edition of Microsoft’s flagship Office Suite has entered the Technical Preview stage. Currently known as “Office 15” (being the 15th “wave” of productivity products”*) the current beta edition has been released to selected customers, of course under NDA.

PJ Hough, Corporate Vice President of Development, Office Division said:

“Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division”

and also:

“With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio. Quite simply”

This second point appears to indicate that there will no longer be a gap between new editions, and thus features, arriving on-premise and them being available to cloud users…a view which ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley seems to share:

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If this is the case then it’s good news for partners & customers alike.

There will be a public beta in the summer so only 5 or so months to wait to see what’s going to be in there:

  • Will there be a “Microsoft Accounting”?
  • Will there be an Office Suite that includes Visio and/or Project?
  • Will Word easily allow centralised building blocks for document creation?

Check out the Office blog post here:

http://blogs.office.com/b/office-exec/archive/2012/01/30/quot-office-15-quot-begins-technical-preview.aspx

*Well actually the 14th as they skipped 13 for reasons of superstition. So Office 2007 = Wave 12 and Office 2010 = Wave 14

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Blackberry Cloud Services Launches for Microsoft Office 365


This is great news. Microsoft’s Office 365 Online Services can once again play nicely with RIMs Blackberry mail service.

“BlackBerry Business Cloud Services is available at no additional charge to Microsoft Office 365 Enterprise Plan subscribers. This secure service, hosted by Research In Motion (RIM), directly links Microsoft® Exchange Online with BlackBerry smartphones to offer reliable, mobile access to synchronized email, calendar, contacts, tasks and memo pads.”

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The previous iteration of Microsoft Online Services had a chargeable BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) element hosted by MS which, after a little while became free of charge.

In the run up to Office 365 being launched, the decision was made that RIM would take over hosting the Blackberry services which seemed sensible to me. The odd part is that Office 365 went live in July 2011 but RIM said it would be at least 6 months until they were ready.

This led to a scenario where many people were “waiting until BES arrives” before genuinely evaluating Office 365, particularly in the mid-market space. It’s great to see that this is available and will give our teams another great thing to talk about with our clients Smile

Go and find out more info here:

http://us.blackberry.com/business/software/cloudservices/

and/or grab the Technical PDF, which compares the different flavours of Blackberry Services here:

View the Feature and Technical Overview

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System Center 2012 Licensing Changes


System Center 2012 is getting closer and today saw Microsoft release details of the new licensing models.

Currently the various System Center products (SCCM, SCOM, SCSM, DPM etc) can be purchased individually or as bundles, from 2012 however it’s bundles only. There will be 2 flavours:

  • Standard
  • DataCenter

with the difference being the number of OSEs (Operating System Environments) that can be managed:

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Following DPM 2010’s lead there will now be no more console server licences or SQL needed, simply Management Licences for the endpoints being managed.

Determining the number of licences needed will involve knowledge of the virtual environment & physical processors, similar to SQL:

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System Center 2012 has a much greater focus on “The Cloud” and as such:

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This enables organizations to move to a hybrid infrastructure much more easily.

What if I already have System Center?

If you have System Center with Software Assurance that is current at the time of 2012 General Availability you will receive the following grants:

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What about Client devices?

More changes abound here too, there are now 3 Client ML offerings:

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It’s important to note that, as with the Server MLs:

“Components included in the Client MLs are not available separately”

Opinion

Overall I think this is a good move. Again, Microsoft are modifying their licensing to make it more dynamic, more future proof and more accessible to companies going forwards.

Yes, there will be situations where it works out more expensive for some companies but for the vast majority this is a great move…they’ll have the ability to deploy a wider range of System Center products with streamlined licensing, which is good for everyone Smile

That said, I’m off to review a number of proposals to see how they map to the new models and what changes need to be made – good times! (Thing is, I actually mean that Winking smile)

Any questions, let me know.

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Microsoft takes action against Comet for Counterfeit Windows


I’ve just seen this and it’s quite surprising:

“Microsoft Corp. today issued proceedings against Comet Group PLC for allegedly creating and selling more than 94,000 sets of counterfeit Windows Vista and Windows XP recovery CDs. The alleged counterfeits were sold to customers who had purchased Windows-loaded PCs and laptops.”

That is a huge number of copies and also from a large, well established high street name.

Website “TheNextWeb” have a statement from Comet which reads:

“We note that proceedings have been issued by Microsoft Corporation against Comet relating to the creation of recovery discs by Comet on behalf of its customers.

“Comet has sought and received legal advice from leading counsel to support its view that the production of recovery discs did not infringe Microsoft’s intellectual property.

“Comet firmly believes that it acted in the very best interests of its customers. It believes its customers had been adversely affected by the decision to stop supplying recovery discs with each new Microsoft Operating System based computer. Accordingly Comet is satisfied that it has a good defence to the claim and will defend its position vigorously.”

Their argument that it was in the best interest of customers won’t hold much/any weight if it’s found to infringe upon Microsoft’s IP rights. Microsoft will of course be very certain that this is the case and won’t have launched this suit without proper forethought and fact checking.

I do find this quite encouraging in a way, as it shows that Microsoft are not just targeting the small, local retailers (who tend to be the ones involved in things like this) but also scrutinising the big, well established retailers too…which can only be better for the industry and customers in the long run.

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