Wictor Wilen

Hello everyone and hope you’re not reading this, it’s summer time and great weather, except in Sweden of course. We have some updates to the Office Roadmap today, the first set of updates in FY16 for Microsoft. Last week I complained about Microsoft changing URL’s to the roadmap site - they are now fixed ;-) Changes 2015-07-09 This are the changes I’ve noticed since the 26th of June including my take on the additions and changes. A lot of Skype for Business stuff has been launched this time!

Some interesting summer news on the Office Roadmap this week. But first of all something that is not very cool at all; the Office roadmap URL has changed. I’ve used and linked to http://success.office.com/roadmap/, http://office.com/roadmap and http://success.office.com/roadmap/en-us but the only one that is working right now is http://success.office.com/en-us/roadmap/. Booh! Thou shalt not change URL’s without redirects… Changes 2015-06-26 This is the detected changes in the Roadmap. If you use the newly released feature on the Roadmap that shows the Recently Updated Features, you will see that it states about 50 changed features, since we don’t know their “algorithm” behind the feature, just ignore it and keep reading…

No updates to the Office Roadmap today! But - a new huge feature to the actual Roadmap page that might make these posts obsolete A new button has been added to the Roadmap page, called “Show only recently updated features”: Once you toggle the button it will show you only what has been updated since sometime (this is not specifically clear at the moment). Currently it only shows the last update from last week.

Updates to the Office Roadmap today as well. Changes 2015-06-11 Since yesterday, only one item has change, or rather been added to the Roadmap. In Development Office 365 Settings pane: the unification of all Office 365 services continue (time to forget SharePoint, Exchange etc). A new Settings Pane is in the works that contextually adjusts the settings depending on where you are in Office 365.

More updates to the Office Roadmap! This time around we have a few interesting new additions to the roadmap. Changes 2015-06-10 This is what has been added to roadmap since the last couple of days. Notice that all of these are new things on the Roadmap. Now Launched DMARC Support in EOP: DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, http://dmarc.org/) in EOP. Directly to launched! Rolling out OAuth and MFA for Outlook for iOS & Android: just as it sounds, the new ADAL based authentication is rolling out for iOS and Android In Development Advanced administrative controls for archiving: Enables SEC 17a-4 record retention. Allows you to make sure that policies as such are not turned off or removed Skype for Business conversations in the web experience: This was shown in a video the other day. Nice additions to the web UX. Office 365 Domain Purchase Experience: a better experience to get your hands on and purchase new domains without any 3rd party services Office 365 Video - Embed: Allows videos to be embedded outside the video portal, for instance in a team site. But the big news here is that this allows Kiosk users rights to view videos. Office 365 Store: This update will make it easier for users to buy third party applications directly from within Office 365. Users will see a new “store icon” in the Waffle. Finally some updates to the pretty lame and boring Office store. Moved off into the previously released Skype Developer platform

Summer is almost here, and I’m currently in the air over Hungary after a short but great weekend in Budapest. And the Office team in Redmond and all around the world keeps on pumping out updates. This is the summary of what has changed since the last update in May. If you’re into compliance or a Vision fans, there’s a great amount of new stuff added to the In Development category.

SharePoint Team Sites are dead, there you have it! The era when SharePoint Team Sites was the king of SharePoint and web based collaboration are over. SharePoint Team Sites are dead, I said it again. Ok, you might think this is a link bait, a scam or something else - it’s not. This is how I foresee the future of online collaboration in SharePoint Online/Office 365. Team Sites are based on a decade old construct in SharePoint. They allow a great flexibility and extensibility for the end users, but… …it requires a lot of training …it drives a lot of support …it drives a lot of consultancy hours (yes, I am/was one of those) …historically upgrades are extremely expensive …[fill in your own here] …do the end-users really need that much power?

Both Build and Ignite has passed and we finally have the first update on the Office Roadmap in a month. It’s quite a few new interesting things in the pipe this time and but no new Yammer features :) Changes 2015-05-15 Since the 15th of April the following items has changed on the Office Roadmap. Now Launched Change copy/paste behavior in the Outlook Web App: brand new updates directly to production. Changing how mixed content (images and text) are pasted in OWA. DLP in Office 365 to protect Externally classified content: from rolling out Edit Office 365 profile details page update: now fully launched Enhanced NDRs: from In Development Increase Message Size limit to 150 MB: from In Development Lync Web App support for Mac and Windows Chrome users: from Rolling Out MDM for OneDrive for Business: From Rolling Out Office 2013 client update to support passive authentication using SAML: from Rolling Out Office 365 Groups : Dynamics CRM integration: A brand new feature to Office 365 Groups! And it’s a good one. This new feature in CRM allows you to create Office 365 Groups to collaborate with team members that don’t have access to CRM. Read more here. Office 365 Groups: adding Like to Conversations: from In Development Partner Admin Center New Customer List Filters: from Rolling Out Recommend OneDrive for Business for Large Attachments: from In Development Rolling Out First Release Select people: directly to production. One of the best new enhancements, announced at Ignite, that allows you to have First Release per user instead of per tenant. Office 365 Groups : files improvements: new on the roadmap. Necessary improvements to Office 365 Groups, now if only content types were available in groups… Office 365 Notification Pane: did they do this properly this time? Office 365 Video Update: HTML5… we listened to your feedback… SharePoint Online storage usage model: from in development, allows you to have “Auto” quotas SharePoint Online uses Exchange Web Services to send mail: new kid on the block, will improve how the shared items e-mails are sent and perhaps not being classified as spam SharePoint Online will start to transition to using TLS to send email securely in our datacenters: perhaps not the most exciting new feature, but a good one. Also a feature that will be available on-premises in SharePoint 2016 Skype for Business Online: from in development - just ye ole re-branding of Lync. Save to OneDrive for Business: from in development. Save to OD4B directly from OWA (Outlook Web App, not Office Web Apps). (Updated since the original post) In Development Custom Tiles: a new and highly requested feature. Once this one is rolling out you will be able to add links to the App Launcher Exchange Online Advanced Threat Protection: Something new that will make all your Exchange admins excited. Read more. Inline Service Health for Support Request Creation: new feature that supposedly should help you not submitting requests to Microsoft. Office 365 Groups: mobile app: The roadmap doesn’t have much to say on this feature, but I guess the title says it all. Oh, did I hear someone say that Team Sites are dead? Update since the original post: “We’ll be delivering a mobile app that surfaces Outlook Group conversations and files across iOS, Android and Windows Phone by the end of 2015. “ Organization support card: new feature that allows you to add you own contact support details in the help pane of Office 365 Proactive notification of Outlook version: admins will now know if you are lazy and don’t update Outlook… Moved off to the list into Previously released Clutter control and admin capabilities Compliance Center for Office 365 DKIM Outbound for Exchange Online Protection Exchange Transport Rule: Recipient Notification Action Improved Yammer thread visuals with Card View for iOS/Android Lync Online Active User Activities Report MAPI over HTTP for Outlook 2013 and Exchange Online New preview features for Power BI Office 365 Admin App Update Office 365 Groups Notebook OneDrive for Business Sync for Mac Outlook Web App options update Removing Deleted Items Retention Period RMS support for document libraries Sign-In Page Branding and Self Service Password Reset Skype for Business desktop application update Touch Design Enhancements for SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business Yammer groups prioritization Yammer support for Android Wear devices

It was a couple of weeks since last, but this time we got some major updates on the Office Roadmap, following the recent announcement on the Office blogs. Changes 2015-04-15 Since the 26th of March, these are the changes. Quite a few of them… Now Launched Bulk Updates in Project Online: Directly to launched status Improvements to Demand Management in Project Online: Another Project thingie, directly to launched Changing support for LinkedIn in Outlook: LinkedIn connections in Outlook no longer supported, another that went directly to launched Clutter Control and admin capabilities: from rolling out Document deletion policies for OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online: A really interesting and important feature, now live Lync Online Active User Activities Report: previously rolling out MAPI over HTTP for Outlook 2013 and Exchange Online: one of the oldest things on the roadmap now rolling out More control over Sent Items for Shared Mailboxes: from in development New preview features for Power BI: from rolling out Option for Passwords to Never Expire: new on the list the last time, but now launched Removing Deleted Items Retention Period: from in development. This one is a huge one! Now Rolling out About Me Update and New Authoring Tool: Big news yesterday on the Office Blogs. From In development. Lync Web App support for Mac and Windows Chrome users: from in development. Everyone is now invited to the party! MDM for OneDrive for Business: Another great OneDrive feature now rolling out Mobile Device Management: Changed name from “Mobile Device Management for Office 365” to “Mobile Device Management”. From In Development. NDR backscatter protection: more Exchange goodies, new on the list Office 365 Groups: improving visibility and management: new on the list. Finally some improvements in this feature for enterprises. We might not need to turn it off at every client anymore. Public Folder calendar and contact access in OWA: from in development Skype for Business desktop application update: New Skype for Business is now rolling out since yesterday. In Development Evolving the Outlook Web App options page: OWA is evolving. New on the list Improved image attachment viewing in Outlook Web App: OWA team is on fire. New on the list Optimize File Picker in Outlook Web App: Keep it coming OWA team! New on the list Recommend OneDrive for Business for Large Attachments: Go OWA! New on the list. Save to OneDrive for Business: Speechless! New on the list Storage and file upload improvements for Sites and OneDrive for Business: Yay! Let’s upload those big video files… New on the list Office 365 Groups: adding Like to Conversations: Ooops. This was just rolling out the other week - back to the drawing board? Office 365 Help pane: A new and better way to introduce features for the end-user. I like it. New on the list Office 365 Notification pane: Another Ooopps. This was also previously Rolling out, with mixed feelings in the community. Better make it work and look good before launching… Task Notifications in Project Online: Another new Project thingie Moved off the list into Previously released eDiscovery Center Scale Increase My apps for Office 365 app launcher Office 365 Admin Center for Business Office 365 ISO 27018 Privacy Compliance OneNote Staff Notebook for Education Outlook for iOS & Android Partner admin mobile app PIN lock and other updates for Outlook for iOS & Android Quarantine Bulk Release RMS Departmental Templates No longer at the list at all Forms on SharePoint Lists - bye bye, for good? Phew! Good Job Microsoft!