Skype for Business on Mac is now Available!
Great News! On October 27, 2016, Microsoft made the all new Skype for Business on Mac client generally available for download. I've posted a blog with more information in our Product Updates - have a look! https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Full-Circle-Product-Updates/Skype-for-Business-on-Mac-is-now-Generally-Available/ba-p/25147Introducing Microsoft Teams!
Today, at an event in New York City, we announced Microsoft Teams—the new chat-based workspace in Office 365. Microsoft Teams is an entirely new experience that brings together people, conversations and content—along with the tools that teams need—so they can easily collaborate to achieve more. It’s naturally integrated with the familiar Office applications and is built from the ground up on the Office 365 global, secure cloud. Starting today, Microsoft Teams is available in preview in 181 countries and in 18 languages to commercial customers with Office 365 Enterprise or Business plans, with general availability expected in the first quarter of 2017. Check out the Microsoft Teams Community at http://aka.ms/msteamscommunity - join us!Modern Authentication for the Skype for Business Online Windows PowerShell Module
Modern Authentication is an authentication mechanism replacing NTLM or Kerberos and allows to enable scenarios like multi-factor authentication. In the past, you couldn’t leverage Modern Authentication if you wanted to connect as an administrator via remote PowerShell to manage Skype for Business Online. This meant that you had to use an administrator account that did not enforce Modern Authentication. For administrators to benefit from the additional security that Modern Authentication provides, we updated the Skype for Business Online Windows PowerShell Module. Note: You must have version 7.0.1045.0 or higher (link is at the end of this article). In addition, to use multi-factor authentication, you can no longer provide a PSCredential object to New-CsOnlineSession. New-CsOnlineSession will prompt for credentials without a PSCredential object, so you will always get a pop-up to provide your credentials. The credentials can be used for up to 8 hours, then you must re-authenticate after 8 hours. Examples of how to use the new connector with a modern authentication enabled tenant: New-CsOnlineSession user@domain.com Prompts credentials of the specified user, using multi-factor authentication enabled for that user. New-CsOnlineSession Prompts for admin UPN, then prompt for credentials for that user, using multi-factor authentication if enabled. New-CsOnlineSession <PSCredential> Not valid if multi-factor authentication is enabled for the user. Included so that existing scripts for admins using username and password only, will continue to work. Deployment considerations There are a few known issues we want to point out: Session expiration: Sessions expire after 8 hours. When they do, a pop-up asks you for credentials, but this but this pop-up will not accept any credential you can provide (as it is expecting an OAuth token). A way how to remove the existing session is: $SkypeSession = Get-PSSession Remove-PSSession $SkypeSession It is also important to keep the session expiration in mind if you plan to run scripts that might run longer than 8 hours. Installation on unpatched Windows Server 2012 R2: Installation of the Skype for Business Online Windows PowerShell Module might fail if you are running it on an unpatched Windows Server 2012 R2. The reason is that it is using an incompatible version of vcredist. We always recommend to keep all systems fully patched, this will also resolve this issue. Managing Cloud Connector Edition: A tenant global administrator account is required for Cloud Connector, to add or remove appliances, enable or disable automatic OS updates, and enable or disable automatic binary updates. While this account can be enabled for Modern Authentication it must not be enabled for multi-factor authentication - otherwise managing Cloud Connector Edition will fail. Call to action: Learn more about Modern Authentication our wiki: Skype for Business Online: Enable your tenant for modern authentication. Download the latest Skype for Business Online Windows PowerShell Module. Enable your tenant and the administrators for remote PowerShell. Questions or comments? Discuss with us in the SOF Community.
What's new for Auto Attendants and Call Queues in July 2017?
Call Queue and Auto Attandant calls are now supported on Mac and Mobile endpoints! A user can be setup to make calls on behalf of a Call Queue or Auto Attendant, and support for 0365 Groups and enhancements in Speech Recognition and Text to Speech are now rolled out for Auto Attendants.Did you miss Ignite? Join Jamie Stark and Sean Wilson recap Ignite live at 5pm.
Live From Microsoft Ignite Jamie Stark and Sean Wilson will walk through Ignite talking about the latest updates we have announced in Skype for Business and good news from the Show Floor as well as a quick recaps of what the show has been like. Join us at 5PM Eastern Time Todyay Thursday September 29th at http://aka.ms/sfbcast.Introduction and Skype for Business Quick Start Guides
Hi all - My name is Nick Suter; I am a Program Manager for the Customer Engagement and Adoption team, within Skype for Business. I have been at Microsoft for the past 10 years - all with the Skype for Business group. Well, we started as Office Communications Server, then Lync and now Skype for Business. My passion lies with connecting to our users, understanding their current needs and painpoints and then working to help solve or ease the pain. To that end, I wanted to share a set of important resources we have for our Skype for Business users: Quick Start Guides. You can download our Skype for Business Quick Start Guides here: https://docs.com/OfficeTraining/9869/skype-for-business-quick-start-guides A couple of points about this resource: Print these out - use these as a ready reference when you are using Skype for Business Top 3-5 things - these are not a cumulative training resource; they are not designed that way. We use these to outline the 3-5 things that you need to know to get up and running with the product as quickly as possible Small, snackable - these are small by design; we want to keep it short and give you immediate relief and skills with Skype for Business Ever growing - we have six (6) cards today, but are looking to grow the library we have I encourage you to download and start using these guides. Once you have tried them out, let me know what you think and what else we can create a quick start guide for. I am looking forward to hearing back! Thanks! Nick Suter Program Manager | Customer Engagement and Adoption
