About 3 weeks before the upgrade took place, I received e-mails informing me about the upcoming update. It included the plan date and also mentioned I could postpone the update. As the date of the upgrade approached I also received mails with information of new features and what had to be done.
The upgrade itself took place on the date that was communicated to me and when it was done I got a mail informing me that the upgrade had been completed. When I logged on to the Office 365 admin center (https://portal.microsoftonline.com/) I immediately found this to be a big improvement. It also showed me some alerts containing links to information about changes and tasks that still needed to be performed like upgrading SharePoint sites.
I didn’t expect any big issues, but I was a bit worried if my SharePoint customizations would keep working correctly:
It is possible to leave the SharePoint site the way it is (at least with this upgrade), but you can also upgrade it and take advantage of the new options. If you are considering upgrading the SharePoint site, you can perform a health check and you can also request an upgrade evaluation copy of the site collection before you actually upgrade.
Probably because of my customizations, the Site Collection Health Check found some problems related to Customized Files that could result in unexpected visuals or behavior.

For now, everything seems to be working fine though on my upgrade evaluation copy of the site collection, so I’ll probably upgrade my site collection soon. If you want to, you can take a look at both the pre-upgrade SharePoint site and the post-upgrade SharePoint site. The evaluation post-upgrade version will only be available until the 23rd of June.
What I did notice, is that the interface of the services have improved and have also been changed to better suit for touch devices. By example the white space between navigation items seems to have increased and everything is a bit bigger.
After the upgrade, I also had to restart some Office 2013 apps once.
Of course the upgrade to Wave 15 provides many more advantages, but in this post I only wanted to share my service upgrade experience without really changing anything. All in all, I think the upgrade experience went very well.
Tags: Exchange, Exchange online, experience, Lync, Lync online, Office, Office 365, service, service upgrade, service upgrade experience, Sharepoint, Sharepoint online, upgrade, wave 15, wave 2013
In yesterday’s blog post I mentioned that I was looking forward to being upgraded to the new Office 365 in the next 4 weeks.
I did encounter an issue however that I was not able to open files on SharePoint using the desktop version of Office 2013. I kept on getting the message: “call us overprotective, but we need to verify your account before opening this document”. This never succeeded and I couldn’t modify my file using Office 2013. The Office Web App version was working fine though.
After googling around a bit, I found out that this was a common issue for people that are planned to be migrated (pre-upgrade). The solution/workaround for this issue is described here:
Office 365 pre-upgrade users cannot open or synchronize SharePoint files after the Office 2013: March 12, 2013 update is installed
Tags: call us overprotective but we need to verify your account before opening this document, Cloud, Excel, Microsoft, Office, Office 2013, Office 365, OneNote, Powerpoint, Public Cloud, Sharepoint, Sharepoint online, upgrade, Visio, Word
Introduction
Even though Windows 8 has been available for quite some time for IT pros and developers, it is now available for the general public as well.
Microsoft has also released its own Windows RT based tablet (Microsoft Surface) in some countries and is expected to release a Windows 8 based tablet (Microsoft Surface Pro) within the next three months. For more information about Windows tablets and the differences between Windows RT and Windows 8, read my previous blog post.
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Tags: all in one, convertible, desktop, Free, laptop, limited time, limited time offer, Microosft Surface, Microsoft, offer, slider, surface, tablet, ultra portable, ultraportable, upgrade, Windows, Windows 8, Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8 Media Center Pack, Windows 8 Pro, Windows RT
Last week I got a beta exam invite for exam “70-688 Managing and Maintaining Windows 8” (in beta it is 71-688). As with most beta exams lately, you only have max two weeks to prepare and there are no books available yet that you can use to study. Therefore I start with looking at what skills are being measured and if there are preparation guides available. From there on I start looking for relevant learning resources for each subject and adding them to the skills that are being measured for easy future reference.
I hope it is useful for you as well.
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Tags: 070-688, 071-688, 70-688, 71-688, ACT, Action center, AEM, Agentless Exception Monitoring, App-V, App-V 5.0, application compatibility toolkit, application reputation, Application Virtualization, Applocker, asset, asset inventory, authentication, Azure, backup, bcdboot, bcdedit, Beta, biometrics, BitLocker, BranchCache, certificate, client hype-rv, CMAK, computer inventory report, ConfMgr, ConfMgr 2012, ConfMgr2012, Connection Manager, Connection Manager Administration Kit, DaRT, DaRT 8, DCA, DEM, deployment strategy, Desktop Error Monitoring, Diagnostic and Recovery Toolkit, DirectAccess, DirectAccess Connectivity Assistant, disk image, disk image backup, DISM, DNSSEC, domain, EAS, EFS, EHD, Encrypted Hard Drive, Encrypting File System, Endpoint Protection, Exam, Exchange Active Sync, Exchange Activesync, file history, find and fix problems with devices, Firewall, folder redirection, group policy, hardware, hardware and devices troubleshooter, high-touch, Hyper-V, image, IPv4, IPv6, Learning, learning resource, learning resources, lite-touch, Live Mesh, live service, live services, LiveMesh, local account, Managing and Maintaining Windows 8, MBAM, MDOP, MDOP 2011 R2, metered network, metering, metro application, microsoft account, Microsoft Application Virtualization, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Bitlocker Administration and Monitoring, Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, migrate, migration, mobile, mobile device, mobile device management, multifactor authentication, name resolution, native boot, Near Field Communication, network, network metering, NFC, off-network, Office 365, Office 365 Desktop Setup, offline files, Packaged App, PC refresh, PC reset, picture password, Powershell, PowerShell Remoting, prep guide, preparation, preparation guide, prepare, print management, printer, rdp, RDS, Recimg, Recimg.exe, recovery drive, recovery media, remote access, remote desktop protocol, Remote Desktop Services, Remote Server Administration Tools, RemoteApp, removable storage devices, report, roaming profiles, roaming user profiles, RSAT, SCCM 2012, SCCM2012, Secure SIM, security, shim, sideload, sideloader, Skydrive, Skydrive Pro, smart card, Software Restriction Policies, SRP, Storage Spaces, study, Sync center, System Center, System Center 2012, System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection, System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection client, System Center Configuration Manager, System Center Configuration Manager 2012, System Center Desktop Error Monitoring, System Center Endpoint Protection, system restore, trust, trust relationship, Trusted PC, two-factor authentication, UE-V, upgrade, upgrade path, User Experience Virtualization, user state migration tool, usmt, VDI, vhd, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, virtual hard disk, virtualization, VPN, wet, Windows, Windows 7 file recovery, Windows 8, windows 8 application, Windows 8 FIle History, Windows 8 Image, Windows 8 PC refresh, Windows 8 PC reset, windows 8 upgrade path, Windows Azure, Windows Defender, windows easy transfer, Windows Firewall, Windows Intune, Windows Recovery Environment, Windows store, Windows To Go, Windows Update, wireless, workgroup, WRE, WSUS, zero-touch