Tweet
Microsoft this morning unveiled the latest version of its Office Communicator product, which now goes by the name Lync.
The rebranding actually happened earlier this year, but the product was not finalized, and released to manufacturers (RTM) until late October. This morning's event centered around Microsoft announcing that Lync would be available for sale in 150 countries beginning December 1st.
Lync is made up of three different products: an instant messenger system with presence, an audio and video conferencing tool, and a voice call service. According to Microsoft's senior VP of the Office division, Chris Capossela, who led this morning's Lync demos, the product as we now know it has been in development for the past five to six years.
To demonstrate the video conferencing element, Capossela was joined on-screen by Bill Gates from his office in Seattle. The two chatted in HD, where Gates said that Lync was "probably the most important thing to happen to the office worker since the PC came along." Gates also reminisced that when the idea for Lync was first hatched, things like high resolution displays, cameras, and employees with mobile phones were far from the norm, but that now there's a huge push to have teams be as mobile as possible.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates hops onto a video chat on Microsoft's Lync product.
(Credit: Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)
Gates also went into detail on what he thought would be coming to the platform in the future, and mentioned things like voice and facial recognition, along with touch interfaces. The hard part, Gates said, was less about getting that hardware to market, versus writing the right software for it.
But that future may not be so far off--also making a cameo was Microsoft's Kinect, which features things like voice and facial recognition. Capossela demoed it with Lync's corporate VP Gurdeep Singh Pall as a way to bridge the gap between "the boardroom and the living room" for video chat. Kinect already offers video chat with Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger system, but not any other clients. Singh Pall noted that while the Xbox 360 won't work with Lync right now, the capability would be coming shortly with a software update.
Microsoft's Gurdeep Singh Pall (left) talks with Office senior VP Chris Capossela through Lync working on the Xbox 360's Kinect video chat.
(Credit: Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)
Microsoft also used the launch as a chance to pitch Lync as a development platform for developers and hardware makers. Singh Pall called it one of the biggest differentiators from competing products since developers could create an application that can be sold to companies that run on Lync. On the hardware side that translated to what Singh Pall jokingly referred to as the "wall of fame," which was an entire wall of Lync-ready products like phones, computers and Webcams.
Microsoft is offering its own stamp of approval on hardware that will work with Lync, and calling it "Optimized for Lync." Singh Pall stressed that the certification wasn't just handed out to hardware vendors that gave Microsoft some units. "It means they adhere to the standards we set out, and pass every test we throw at your device," he said. It also means that when you plug in one of these devices into a system, it gets recognized instantly.
One area where Lync will not immediately be present at launch is on mobile phones, which Microsoft says will arrive in 2011. In the interim, Microsoft will be offering the Lync Server product to users to install on on-premises deployments. An online version of the service will arrive as part of Microsoft's Office 365 service when it's launched next year.
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds
The rebranding actually happened earlier this year, but the product was not finalized, and released to manufacturers (RTM) until late October. This morning's event centered around Microsoft announcing that Lync would be available for sale in 150 countries beginning December 1st.
Lync is made up of three different products: an instant messenger system with presence, an audio and video conferencing tool, and a voice call service. According to Microsoft's senior VP of the Office division, Chris Capossela, who led this morning's Lync demos, the product as we now know it has been in development for the past five to six years.
To demonstrate the video conferencing element, Capossela was joined on-screen by Bill Gates from his office in Seattle. The two chatted in HD, where Gates said that Lync was "probably the most important thing to happen to the office worker since the PC came along." Gates also reminisced that when the idea for Lync was first hatched, things like high resolution displays, cameras, and employees with mobile phones were far from the norm, but that now there's a huge push to have teams be as mobile as possible.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates hops onto a video chat on Microsoft's Lync product. (Credit: Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)
Gates also went into detail on what he thought would be coming to the platform in the future, and mentioned things like voice and facial recognition, along with touch interfaces. The hard part, Gates said, was less about getting that hardware to market, versus writing the right software for it.
But that future may not be so far off--also making a cameo was Microsoft's Kinect, which features things like voice and facial recognition. Capossela demoed it with Lync's corporate VP Gurdeep Singh Pall as a way to bridge the gap between "the boardroom and the living room" for video chat. Kinect already offers video chat with Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger system, but not any other clients. Singh Pall noted that while the Xbox 360 won't work with Lync right now, the capability would be coming shortly with a software update.
Microsoft's Gurdeep Singh Pall (left) talks with Office senior VP Chris Capossela through Lync working on the Xbox 360's Kinect video chat. (Credit: Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)
Microsoft also used the launch as a chance to pitch Lync as a development platform for developers and hardware makers. Singh Pall called it one of the biggest differentiators from competing products since developers could create an application that can be sold to companies that run on Lync. On the hardware side that translated to what Singh Pall jokingly referred to as the "wall of fame," which was an entire wall of Lync-ready products like phones, computers and Webcams.
Microsoft is offering its own stamp of approval on hardware that will work with Lync, and calling it "Optimized for Lync." Singh Pall stressed that the certification wasn't just handed out to hardware vendors that gave Microsoft some units. "It means they adhere to the standards we set out, and pass every test we throw at your device," he said. It also means that when you plug in one of these devices into a system, it gets recognized instantly.
One area where Lync will not immediately be present at launch is on mobile phones, which Microsoft says will arrive in 2011. In the interim, Microsoft will be offering the Lync Server product to users to install on on-premises deployments. An online version of the service will arrive as part of Microsoft's Office 365 service when it's launched next year.
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds