Friday, March 18, 2011

Microsoft Office 365

Microsoft Office 365 is a commercial software plus services offer from Microsoft Corporation that includes the Microsoft Office suite of desktop applications plus hosted versions of Microsoft's Server products (including Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Lync Server) delivered and accessed over the Internet.Also considered the next version of Business Productivity Online Services(BPOS),Office 365 is currently in beta with general release expected in 2011.


Products :-

Microsoft Exchange Online

Built on the same technology as Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Exchange Online provides email and personal information management capabilities such as calendaring, contact lists, and task lists. It also includes features such as voicemail delivered to the inbox, built-in anti-spam and anti-virus protection, built-in archiving, Conversation View, and MailTips. It can be accessed using Microsoft Office Outlook on the desktop, Outlook Web App in Web browsers, and Outlook Mobile on certain mobile devices. Exchange ActiveSync provides mobile connectivity to Exchange services across a variety of mobile devices and mobile email applications.

Microsoft SharePoint Online

Microsoft SharePoint Online enables people to manage, share, and collaborate on documents using a variety of internal and external sites including My Sites, Team Sites, Intranet Sites, and Extranet Sites. It can also be used to create public-facing Web sites.

Microsoft Lync Online

Microsoft Lync Online provides communications capabilities including presence information, instant messaging, PC-to-PC audio/video calling and online meetings that can include PC audio, video and web conferencing as well as application sharing, whiteboards, and other collaboration tools. Lync Online capabilities are accessed through the Lync client. Lync Online also supports presence information and click-to-communicate capabilities inside Microsoft Office applications.

Office Professional Plus

Microsoft Office Professional Plus in Office 365 provides the same client software as the Office Professional Plus product available through Microsoft Volume Licensing, with the exception that the Office 365 version lacks Business Contact Manager. Office Professional Plus in Office 365 provides the option of month-to-month, per-user licensing. It can be installed by users from Microsoft Online Services or from a server hosted by the subscribing organization. It is activated using the same Microsoft Online Services ID that users employ to sign in to Office 365 and the license is renewed on a 30-day cycle. The advantage of this is that organizations can exactly match the number of licenses they pay for with the number of users who need them. Office Professional Plus in Office 365 also includes Office Web Apps.

Office Web Apps

Office Web Apps are browser-based versions of Excel, Word, and PowerPoint that enable viewing and lightweight editing of Office documents in Web browsers while preserving the formatting of the original documents.

 


Plans :-

Office 365 is offered in a number of different plans designed for different needs and market segments. These include:

  • Office 365 for enterprise: Designed for businesses with internal or partner-supported IT staff and resources. Add on plans are available for information workers with dedicated PCs and kiosk workers (such as baristas or physicians) who share a PC and need only Web-based access.
  • Office 365 for small business: Designed for businesses without dedicated IT staff or resources.
  • Office 365 for education: Designed for schools and a replacement for the Office Live@edu service.

Microsoft has said that Office 365 will receive updates on a 90-day cycle. It has also mentioned that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will be available as an option with Office 365 starting sometime in 2011, as will Windows Intune, a tool for monitoring and optimizing PCs.

How it works ??

 

Google Apps V/s Office 365 :-

Microsoft is trying to combat Google with new cloud computing packages incorporating all of its productivity software, but is stopping a bit short of going "all-in."

Microsoft announced that it will package its cloud-based office services known as "Office 365" and offer a variety of subscription packages for small businesses and enterprises alike. But Microsoft is still offering only a limited Web-based version of Microsoft Office.

Google Apps vs. Microsoft Office

Office 365 "brings together Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online in an always-up-to-date cloud service," Microsoft said. Office 365 will be available shortly in a limited beta program and widely available sometime in 2011.

Customers will be able to get all of their software through subscription-based pricing, but the full version of Office will still require a desktop installation.

Microsoft's only cloud-based version of Office is the Office Web Apps service. While free to consumers, for business use Office Web Apps has to be deployed on a SharePoint server and Microsoft recommends it only as an "online companion" to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. The cloud-based version of Office is just for "light editing" and sharing of documents but little more than that, according to Microsoft.

This kind of support lets Google argue that Google Apps is the superior option for customers with small IT departments, since Google offers all of its tools online without requiring installation of on-premise software.

But even with today's announcement, Microsoft did not put everything into the cloud. The business version of Office, Microsoft Office Professional Plus, will remain a desktop-only offering, although it will be integrated with Microsoft's cloud services.

"Office 365 for enterprises … includes the option to get Microsoft Office Professional Plus desktop software on a pay-as-you-go basis, for the first time ever," Microsoft said. "For $24 … per user, per month, organizations can get Office Professional Plus along with e-mail, voicemail, enterprise social networking, instant messaging, Web portals, extranets, voice conferencing and video conferencing, web conferencing, 24x7 phone support, on-premises licenses, and more."

Microsoft therefore seems to be sticking to its strategy of selling a combination of desktop software and cloud services, rather than offering everything online that Microsoft is "all-in" for the cloud"Office Web Apps are still the only Web-based productivity version of Office software."

Microsoft didn't mention Google by name in an announcement telecast, but did acknowledge the existence of competitors.

"We think we can differentiate from our competitors, particularly competitors from the consumer space, by making sure our data centers are incredibly secure and reliable," said Chris Capossela, senior vice president of Microsoft's Office division.

Although Office 365 seems to be mainly a repackaging of previously available cloud services, the way the services are packaged and priced may lure in some customers. Office 365 will leverage the 2010 versions of Exchange and SharePoint, whereas today most Microsoft cloud customers have to use the 2007 version. Office 365 "brings more complete versions of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync and a new platform with single sign in, federated identity, scripting and more," Microsoft said.

For home workers and small businesses of up to 25 to 50 users, Microsoft will charge $6 per user per month for Office Web Apps, Exchange Online (with antivirus), SharePoint Online, Lync Online, the option to create an external Web site, and community support. The small business version will give smartphone owners mobile access to e-mail, documents, contacts and calendar.

The enterprise versions, meanwhile, will cost anywhere from $2 to $24 per user per month and include single sign-on capabilities through Active Directory, antivirus software, IM and presence, video conferencing and audioconferencing, intranets and extranets for team sites, and access to Office Web Apps and the desktop-based Office Professional Plus.

Existing customers of BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), which includes Exchange Online and SharePoint Online, will be able to receive some of the advantages of Office 365 for the same price they pay today, about $10 per user per month.

Access to Office Professional Plus desktop software ups the price to $24. The smallest price point, $2 per user per month, includes only basic e- mail.


Videos :-

 

 

Office 365 Walkthrough :-

 

Part 1:-

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