Believe it or not, Microsoft is nevertheless developing enterprise products besides Windows 7 and Office 2010. Even though these two are garnering most with the headlines and interest lately, other Microsoft product teams are nonetheless chugging along, rolling out updates and readying new variations.Here are just a number of of the newest updates which have encounter my RSS reader:Dynamics CRM/ERP: Microsoft has altered the assistance policy for company packs for its Dynamics line (Dynamics CRM, AX,
Office 2010 Professional Plus, GP, SL and NAV). According to Microsoft;s Assistance internet site, users will now get “24 months of assistance for a previous support pack, when a new support pack is released. Previously, when a new service pack was released for these items,
Office 2007 Download, Microsoft provided 12 months of support for the previous support pack.” Those currently deploying a currently supported Dynamics CRM or ERP support pack will get an additional 12 months of free support. Microsoft also is reactivating assistance for a variety of Dynamics service packs that had expired,
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, but would be grandfathered in under the 24-month policy. There;s no change in the dates for extended,
Office 2007 Enterprise, paid assistance for these company packs.
Office Communications Server: Microsoft has made licensing changes around the instant-messaging connectivity supported by its Workplace Communications Server (OCS) product. Microsoft is renaming the Live Communications Server Public IM Connectivity (LCS PIC) license to “Office Communications Server Public IM Connectivity (OCS PIC). These with certain OCS Client Access Licenses (CALs) will no longer require additional licenses to federate with Windows Live — but still will require them to federate with AOL and Yahoo. Windows Live Federation offers customers the option to add Windows Live Contacts to their Office Communicator contact lists,
Office 2007 Enterprise, view presence status and send/receive IMs between the two products. The OCS licensing changes took effect July 1.Commerce Server: Last we heard about Commerce Server, Microsoft was planning many different releases — including the 2009 Commerce Server “Mojave” release and the 2009 R2 “Mojave R2″ release. Microsoft is in the final throes of recruiting Technology Adoption Program (TAP) testers who want to check out the private R2 test release. Microsoft released Commerce Server 2009 to manufacturing in March 2009. The R2 release is looking like an early 2010 product, at this point. The Commerce Server team said to expect yet another Commerce Server release in late 2010 or early 2011. No word on what that one will be codenamed and officially designated.