Office 2016 and Skype Previews Now Available For IT Pros

As of Monday of this week, Microsoft has launched a preview for Office 2016. This preview is squarely aimed for IT professionals and developers. It has been reported that the early build is, how shall I say, very beta. In fact Microsoft’s Kirk Koenigsbauer has said the preview “doesn’t yet contain all the features we’re planning to ship in the final product.”

He did, however, say that those who want an sneaky peek at Office 2016 should presume that updates will come on a monthly basis. Additionally, Microsoft is also releasing an early preview of Skype for Business. This is intended to replace Lync for enterprise use. The very popular video and chat messaging service Skype is popular for personal use and Microsoft are trying to reign in their other software with some uniformity.

The review of Skype appears to be priming Lync customers for the new changeover to Skype for Business from the old Lync model. Below is an excerpt from Microsofts blog post that expounded on how Lync customers should better prepare for the Skype transfer:

“Skype for Business delivers an expanded Lync feature set and enterprise-grade security, compliance and control to IT. It also enables people to search for and connect with anyone in the Skype network—inside or outside their organisation. And Skype for Business is built right into Office, so features like presence, IM, voice and video calls, and online meetings are an integrated part of the Office experience.”

As this release of Office 2016 is pointed at IT professionals and developers, there is not much detail to delve into, but we do know that Microsoft is going to envelop Data Loss Protection in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.

All round email client, Outlook has new MAPI-HTTP protocols, foreground network calls and multi-factor authentication support. These improved features, coupled together with better email performance should ensure that Microsoft remain in the top spot for this type application.

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, then why not head over to the Office 2016 Preview Program page and check out the technical preview.

[Image via blogs.office.com]

SOURCE: Slash Gear