Windows 10: Skype for Business Online End of Life on July 31, 2021

Brink · Jul 30, 2019

Today Microsoft announced that Skype for Business Online will be retiring on July 31, 2021. Though we didn’t know the exact date until today, we have been preparing for this for the past year and are ready to support you however we can as we work together to help you make this transition.

We knew this was coming, we have been preparing for this for the past year, now we know the official date. We hope this does not come as a shock to you as MS Teams has taken center stage for Intelligent Communication and Modern Collaboration and Microsoft as an organization is not going to support Skype for Business (SfB) online for the long term. All of our investments and feature enhancements have been in Teams and Teams will continue to receive these investments for the future.

If you are currently a SfB Online customer don’t worry MS Teams has all the features your users need to continue business continuity, Teams actually has more features and we have found the majority of our end users are more happy with the MS Teams experience over Skype.

See here for a feature comparison list of the primary features we hear from our users:
 
Skype for Business Online vs Teams Skype Teams Chat     Persistent individual and group chat   X X Start a chat with individuals or groups X X Transition from a chat to a call X X Share a file in chat X Share a file with offline participants   X X Emoji’s X GIFs and memes   X Like and acknowledge chat messages   X Persistent conversations with threaded replies   X Praise individuals and teams   X Search for files, content, and people   X @ mention people and groups   X File Management     Co-author auto-saved and auto-versioned files with others X OneDrive file access and management   X Group shared file access   X SharePoint Online file access and management X Meetings     Schedule meetings in application X X Schedule meetings from Outlook X X Integrate with Outlook calendar X X View and interact with calendar within application X Share screen X X Share video X X Blur background on video   X Live captions   X In-meeting access to all chat features and files X X Persistent chat before, during, and after the meeting   X @ mention people and like conversations   X Record and share meetings via Stream with auto-transcription   X Contacts     Create individual and group contacts X X Calls     Make, forward, transfer calls X X Mobile     Chat, call, share/edit files, and meet from your mobile device X X Set Quiet Hours   X Presence and Location     Share Presence and Location X X Notifications     Desktop, web, mobile audio and visual notifications  X X Mute conversations   X Application and BOTs Automation     Extensible with Tabs and Channels   X BOTs (Who, Polly, T-Bot, etc)   X
For a deeper comparison and more technical look at SfB vs Teams please read this article.

If you are surprised by this announcement or maybe not surprised but more in shock because you are not prepared, don’t worry, Microsoft is prepared to support you in your efforts to move from SfB to Teams. We have many people like myself in the field that are fully trained and ready to help you every step of the way.

Here is how to get started on the MS Teams Journey:

MS Teams Governance

MS Teams Security

MS Teams Technical Site

SfB and Teams Coexistence Modes

Teams Voice - What is Direct Routing for MS Teams

Cloud Video Interop for MS Teams

How to get started with upgrading to MS Teams

For more assistance please reach out to your Microsoft account team, there are 3 roles on the account team that are specifically focused on helping our customers make this transition, if you have relationships with one of these members of your team, I would ask them first.

MS Teams Technical Specialist

MS Teams Customer Success Manager

FastTrack Manager

We are giving our customers a two year runway on this and that may seem like a long time, but in reality, large organizations move slow so the time is now to get started. MS Teams can offer your end user so much value! We strongly encourage you to start planning for this and working with us now, not just because Skype is coming to end of life, but because Teams can offer your organization so much more.

Start empowering your users now by providing them with world class Intelligent Communication sooner than later.

Thanks for reading:
Co-Authored by L: Shelly Avery and L: Josh Thompson

Skype for Business Online to Be Retired in 2021

Today we’re announcing that Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021. This post provides details on the retirement plan, a brief explanation of why we’re making this announcement now, and a summary of what we’re doing to help customers migrate to Teams.

What is the Skype for Business Retirement plan?

Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021, and after that date the service will no longer be accessible. Between now and then, current Skype for Business Online customers will experience no change in service, and they’ll be able to continue to add new users as needed. However, starting September 1, 2019, we will onboard all new Office 365 customers directly to Teams for chat, meetings, and calling. Please note that the Skype Consumer service and Skype for Business Server will both be unaffected by this announcement.

Why are we making this announcement now?

In 2017 we launched Microsoft Teams as “the hub for teamwork” in Microsoft 365. Teams combines chat, video, calling, and document collaboration into a single, integrated app – and enables an entirely new way of working. Over the last two years, we’ve worked closely with customers to refine Teams, and we now feel we’re at the point that we can confidently recommend it as an upgrade to all Skype for Business Online customers. Customers who have already made the move tell us that Teams not only has helped them improve collaboration generally, it has also provided a rare opportunity to rethink the way work gets done in their organizations. Using Teams, companies across the world are becoming more agile, shortening cycle times, improving the efficiency of key workflows, and cutting out unnecessary overhead. Teams isn’t just an upgrade for Skype for Business Online, it’s a powerful tool that opens the door to an entirely new way of doing business. But don’t take our word for it! Learn more about the potential benefits of Teams for your organization with the recently published Forrester white paper “The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Teams.”

What is Microsoft doing to help customers migrate to Teams?

For all of the benefits of moving to Teams, we recognize that the migration will require time and effort – and we’re here to help.

First, we’re making product investments to address feature requests from current Skype for Business Online customers, including:

Dynamic 911. A feature of Microsoft Teams Phone System, Dynamic E911 automatically uses the caller’s current location to route to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) call center operated by the local government. Dynamic E911 will be delivered in Teams for the United States by the end of this calendar year.

Shorter Retention Periods. New retention period options will allow customers to limit channel and chat retention periods to as short as 1 day and ensure that when data is deleted it is removed from all permanent storage locations in the Teams service. Shorter Retention Periods will be available in Teams by the end of this calendar year.

Teams and Skype Consumer Interop. Interop between Teams and Skype Consumer will allow users on the two services to communicate using both chat and calling. Teams and Skype Consumer Interop will be available in Teams in the first quarter of calendar year 2020.

Contact Center Integration and Compliance Recording. At Inspire earlier this month we announced Teams partnerships with Five9, Genesys, and NICE to enable Contact Center solutions – and with ASC, NICE, and Verint to provide Compliance Recording. We’re also working with other Skype for Business Online certified partners to bring other Contact Center and Compliance Recording solutions to market for Teams.

And when you’re ready to get started, we offer a comprehensive set of technical guidance and planning resources, including a proven success framework, best practices, planning documents, free instructor-led training, and FastTrack onboarding assistance for eligible subscriptions.

Since its introduction in 2014, Skype for Business has been a valuable tool for millions of people around the world. By combining instant messaging, calling, and video into a single app, the product established an exciting, new vision for business communications. Microsoft Teams is the next chapter in that vision, and with today’s news we’re not only announcing the retirement of the Skype for Business Online service, we’re also communicating our confidence in Teams. After more than two years in market, Teams is ready for our most demanding customers – and we’re convinced that you're going to love it! If you’re a current Skype for Business Online customer, start planning your migration today. We’re committed to helping you every step of the way, and we can’t wait for you to experience the new way to work.
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Source:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/...21/ba-p/779137

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/...21/ba-p/777833

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Brink · Jul 30, 2019

July Releases of Skype for Business apps

The Skype for Business client teams were busy in July, and we released monthly updates on all platforms. Follow the links below for details of features and fixes included in the releases.

Skype for Business apps for Windows

Office 365 ProPlus (Click-to-Run) Monthly Channel: Version 1807 (Build 10325.20082)

Office 365 ProPlus (Click-to-Run) Semi-Annual Channel: Version 1803 (Build 9126.2259) and Version 1708 (Build 8431.2280)

Office 365 ProPlus (Click-to-Run) Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted): Version 1803 (Build 9126.2259)

Skype for Business 2016 (perpetual version using the MSI installer): Security update 4022221

Skype for Business 2015 (perpetual version using the MSI installer): Security update 4022225

Skype for Business for Mac

Version 16.19 of the app was released on July 13, and details are available here.

Customers using Skype for Business 2015 Server can also improve the experience for Mac users by installing the July, 2018 cumulative update which includes many changes that enable functionality for Skype for Business for Mac.

Skype for Business for iOS

Version 6.21 of the iOS app was released to the App Store on July 20. This update includes the following improvements:

Quickly rejoin meetings on cellular network when WiFi is lost

Add button to rejoin dropped VoIP call by dialing in from mobile number

Allow users upgraded to Teams to sign in to get the full Skype for Business meeting experience

Fix to allow starting video in a call from certain Polycom devices

Fix to allow user upgraded to Teams from joining Skype for Business meetings

Update text and link to the privacy statement

Skype for Business for Android

Version 6.21 of the Android app was released to the Play Store on July 10. The update includes the following improvements:

Allow users upgraded to Teams to sign in to get the full Skype for Business meeting experience

Updated Google SDK to optimize for security and performance

Fix for users in Germany to sign in

Fix the layout of the Participants list of a meeting

Fix to show Meeting Join Audio Option dialog box before joining a meeting

Fix ability to add and remove a contact using the contact card

Fixes for app crashes

Update text and link to the privacy statement

We encourage everyone to stay up to date with the latest app releases to have the best experience with Skype for Business. Thank you for using Skype for Business!
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Source: July Releases of Skype for Business apps - Microsoft Tech Community - 224207

Brink · Jul 30, 2019

Office Live Meeting Service End of Life on Dec. 31, 2017

If your company is using Office Live Meeting, we have some important reminders for you.

We’ve been working hard to get Skype for Business and Skype Meeting Broadcast ready with new conversation and meeting features, so we’re inviting you to begin the migration from Live Meeting to Skype for Business. We encourage you to begin the move from Live Meeting to Skype for Business as quickly as possible, completing the migration no later than December 31, 2017, at which time the existing Live Meeting service will be fully shut down.

Skype for Business provides many advantages over Live Meeting, including:

Increased scale, with up to 10,000 attendees in a Skype Meeting Broadcast

Support for participating in meetings from iOS, Android, and other mobile devices

Better quality, with HD video and video based screen sharing

And more… (see the complete comparison below)

If you are a meeting organizer…

You should begin scheduling your upcoming meetings in Office 365 and Skype for Business, but meetings you’ve already scheduled will work as planned through final shutdown date on December 31, 2017. To help you with this transition, we’ve created some training and guides for you which can be found here Live Meeting to Skype for Business resource site.

NEW! To help manage your Live Meeting recordings, we also have a Recording Exporter Tool available. This tool can be used to download any or all of your existing meeting recordings saved in the Live Meeting service. The tool can be downloaded here: aaronse/livemeeting-recording-exporter.

If you are an IT professional or admin…

You play an important role in helping your users have a successful migration. We have created a toolkit to enable you to help your users make this important migration. Here, you can find additional guidance, a step-by-step guide for planning your transition and other tools in the Live Meeting to Skype for Business resource site. In addition, Microsoft's FastTrack Center provides useful resources and help for customers adopting Office 365.

Complete functional comparison:

Click to expand...

Source: Live Meeting Service End of Life s Blog

Gustavo Rubio (grubio) · Jul 30, 2019

Prepare for Microsoft’s Silverlight End of Support in October 2021

Microsoft Silverlight will reach the end of support on October 12, 2021. Silverlight development framework is currently only supported on Internet Explorer 10 and Internet Explorer 11, with support for Internet Explorer 10 ending on January 31, 2020. There
is no longer support for Chrome, Firefox, or any browser using the Mac operating system.

Learn more about how to prepare
here.

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Contact Center Integration and Compliance Recording. At Inspire earlier this month we announced Teams partnerships with Five9 Genesys and NICE to enable Contact Center solutions – and with ASC NICE and Verint to provide Compliance Recording. We

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