Hello! We'll be tweaking the format and name for this daily news round-up, so brace for some changes. Our first shake-up: the name. Let's leave the downloads to software and focus on the point of this daily blog, which is to provide you all with short yet informative takes on what's happening in the world of Microsoft as it affects both users and IT pros. So ... meet Short Takes Daily.
Second, please note that we will be formatting hyperlinks so they open in a new window if the source is not on Windows IT Pro or SuperSite for Windows.
Now, let's get to the news ...
*
FROM OUR SITE/OUR SISTER SITES
Solve Storage Space direct error related to eligible disks
Q. Can I remove a file from System Center DPM backups?
Q. Does Azure Premium Storage use sparse storage?
2015 IT Skills & Salary Survey: Do IT Certifications Really Matter Anymore?
Updates make Office 365 Groups more useful
*
BING, BING, BING
The contents of a mobile app are often locked away from search engines, which makes it hard for potential app users or web searchers to know exactly what an app does or what it contains. Microsoft's aiming to change that by incorporating two open standards:
- App Links, which will open web search results in the app itself, which basically shuttles people from Bing to the app for "the immersive experience"
- Schema.org, which will let search engine users find different apps based on the actions that the app can perform
This way, Bing users will be able to learn more about apps. And, from app developers' perspectives, this is an app discovery market opportunity.
Google currently indexes Android apps, but that's about it.
*
INSIDE WINDOWS 10 BUILD 10122
Over at the SuperSite for Windows, Richard Hay's got a visual tour of the new Windows 10 build.
Woody Leonhard spent a long night banging away at the new build and he posts his observations in InfoWorld today. The most pertinent finds:
"Many of the old Admin Tools, which used to be accessible from the Win+X menu, are now in All Apps, under Administrative Tools: Computer Management, Defrag, Disk Cleanup, Event Viewer, Resmon, SysInfo, Task Scheduler, PowerShell, and much more are finally accessible with keyboard calisthenics."
"I had lots of problems with navigating in Tablet Mode -- elements didn’t render properly, Cortana got stuck with an open pane -- even on a Surface Pro 3."
"There’s still essentially no customization available for the Start menu, although there are grayed-out options for showing hard-coded linked locations."
*
GET BUSY
There's a lot of pertinent news about how Microsoft wants to boost your productivity.
First up: the company is reportedly in talks to buy the German software maker 6Wunderkinder, makers of Wunderlist. The list-making app has both consumer and enterprise products for making lists, assigning tasks and subtasks, and collaborating with others.
Microsoft also has some other workflow apps in the works, reports Mary Jo Foley:
Microsoft also is believed to be working on a lightweight collaboration and document-sharing app (which may be using "Flip" as its working name), as well as a lightweight project-management application, (which may be known as "Highlander"), according to sources of mine who asked not to be named.
(Speaking of collaboration apps in Office 365, Richard Hay reports on Sway over at SuperSite for Windows.)
And the free Outlook.com email service is getting support for inbox management technology Clutter, as well as add-ins like links to Bing maps or Uber. As Richard Hay reports, the preview program has started.
Finally, Julia White walks readers through the integration of Dynamics CRM Online with Office 365, including features like users creating new CRM records directly from Outlook, OneNote embedding (so account information is automatically linked with the CRM Online record), and Excel Online embedded within Dynamics CRM Online, so there's no need to switch apps. Amazing business productivity through Office 365—Dynamics CRM integration.
