The year 2013 should be an interesting one for Microsoft, provided of course the Mayans were wrong and there is a 2013.
Not only is the new Office here, which, to be honest, isn't that revolutionary - only a few changes and enhancements. Most of it is simply visual.
But Exchange, SharePoint and Lync all have new versions and Microsoft's message - inherent in its new logo - absolutely proves what its intentions are. No revolutions, just pointed and efficient evolution.
The integrations between the three back-end productivity server applications are crisper and more pervasive. Exchange can archive both Lync and SharePoint, SharePoint gets its own special kind of Exchange mailbox (Site Mailbox), which really kicks team workspace into a new gear, and Lync has a whole new high-availability architecture and topology, which sees it move even closer to real Enterprise PBX territory.
One of the most important issues that Microsoft has continually disappointed me on has been the outright disdain towards other browsers and platforms. With 2013, it has aimed to rectify this, by promising redesigns, which are cross-platform, and "touch" friendly.
Some of the most exciting features of the 2013 tsunami:
Exchange
* New policy engine allowing for content filtering
* Archiving extends to Lync and SharePoint
* Client Access Server has a zero-storage design
* Site mailboxes for tighter integration with SharePoint
Lync
* High availability design use pairs, not pools and are not reliant on SQL clusters anymore
* Conferencing works via SharePoint and uses WebApps, which makes it more browser compatible
* Gallery view in videoconferencing gives you live video feeds for five participants
* Voice mail escape
* Caller ID manipulation
SharePoint
* eDiscovery Center, searches for content across Lync and Exchange as well
* New optimised mobile views that are more touch-centric
* Community sites with social media similarities, micro-blogging, etc
* Smarter and simpler workflows
Office
* Is an evolution, not a rebuild
* Administrative tools are far more powerful
* Outlook finally has "inline reply" and "policy tips"
So will this be Microsoft's year? That remains to be seen.
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