AngryTechnician

Didn't the DfE make some noise about the whole SIMS re-purchasing and put a stop to it?

The only thing I miss is the built-in guest portal that Meraki has that can take credit cards. Ruckus has a guest portal, but it doesn't have payment methods built-in. To be fair I think Meraki is the only brand that has this as standard.

Personally I would just register the class sets all to one Google account and then use the Google Play store to push out the apps. Meraki System Manager now has some Android MDM features. It is limited at the moment, (doesn't do push installs, I checked), but the stuff it does do is free.

At the moment, I'm guessing your shortcut has a target of %windir%\system32\cmd.exe, yes? Try changing the target to %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c "\\Batch Location"

OK, testing with Kerberos on an alternate port eliminates the problem, so that looks like the way forward. Will do some further testing and update if there are any problems.

The WebClient service wasn't started when I checked it. Starting it had no effect on the problem. That's top of my list of things to try this afternoon. Any hints on side-effects this might have?

Our Smoothwall is configured for NTLM authentication, and this generally works fine for us. However, with Office 2013, I'm seeing a LOT of requests for proxy auth credentials: The hostname varies, and the request will appear just by opening documents, or even just by opening Excel with a blank document. I've already added the following to our noauth lists, which has eliminated most of the auth requests: officeimg.vo.msecnd.net office.microsoft.com odc.officeapps.live.com However, I've just found that clicking any URL in a document, or in OneNote, will prompt for credentials (unless the site is on the noauth list). In this case, the hostname listed after "Connecting to proxy server" is always the host specified in the URL. If I supply valid credentials, Office just asks for them again, as if they are invalid. However, if I click cancel, the URL then passes to IE and opens fine. I know Office 2010 was picky with NTLM auth (YouTube embedding never worked for us, for example), but it never prompted just for clicking on a link before. Office 2013 does, and I can't deploy it like this. Suggestions?

Just an FYI: I've now deployed the Office 2013 RTM KMS host licence, and while the Office 2010 installs are still fine, the activation threshold doesn't carry over to Office 2013, so you will still need at least five Office 2013 installs before they start activating, even if you have hundreds of Office 2010 installs activating from the same KMS server.

Confirmed: Skype - The Big Blog - Talk to your Messenger Contacts on Skype

Interesting, as I actually removed WLM in favour of Skype on my home machine on Friday. It had got to the point where I only really used WLM as a Facebook chat client, and Skype does that now too, only better.

Given that this is proprietary software from RM, any link provided that isn't directly from RM themselves would almost certainly be an illegal download. You should contact RM for support. If you don't have a support contract I'm afraid you may be out of luck.

@localzuk is correct. The exact location of the data center is not important when it comes to DP compliance under Safe Habor; what is important is that the company is a US company and is registered under the scheme. Safe Harbor allows for data export outside the EEA by multinational companies if they commit to enforcing data protection to at least the EU levels of protection, regardless of local laws. It doesn't restrict storage just to the US, it is just restricted it to companies based in the US.

Domain renames are a festival of pain. It is as bad as it sounds. The last time I saw it done (against advice, and due to a school rename), they ended up having to rejoin all 600+ of their workstations to the new domain name manually, and reset everyone's profiles. Honestly, I suspect a migration may be easier. I've done that before and it wasn't as much trouble as the guys had doing the rename. Of course, it could all be down to planning. If the head insists on making this part of their vanity project, make sure they understand it WILL cause problems for a while and that they commit to taking the heat off of you when there are complaints.

Could you elaborate on which of these issues it addresses? Yah... that too. Always hated how bloated SCCM is, especially for smaller schools like mine, and if it turns out to be the only option I'm going to hate it more.

You're right, it''s no different. But it should be, and I expected better from Microsoft. On the iPad it doesn't matter what the publisher decides, if it's in the iTunes store, I can bulk buy it and deploy it. Right now we are all looking at a future where teachers want to know why the dozen free apps they want for their class aren't automatically available on every computer. They will want to know why they are having to waste their time guiding children through installing them. They are going to be annoyed about it. And, for once, they are going to be perfectly justified.

Read that earlier. Unless my reading comprehension has utterly failed, it doesn't answer any of my questions beyond what I've already said above. That document is pretty clear that volume licensing is entirely down to the developer, and you can't install any app unless they provide you with the package.

I've been looking at the Windows Store today, and have come to the conclusion that I am either missing something huge, or the Windows Store is an almost unmitigated disaster for admins. Here's why: 1. You can't push install an app? Any app from the Store, including a free one, has to be installed manually by the user? Really? 2. Sideloading is only available if the publisher makes a package for it? And it's per-user? Even though we've paid for Windows 8 Enterprise, you can only install Windows 8 apps without the store if the publisher specifically provides you with a .appx package to allow you to do that. You can't just take any app from the store and mass deploy it. Also, the install is per-user, not per-machine, and you have to use a PowerShell script at login. (Technically you can provision a sideloaded app into the deployment image using MDT, and those load for every user, but you are arbitrarily limited to 24 apps using this method) 3. There's no volume purchase? Let's say I train our 5 year-olds how to navigate the Windows Store and install an app, like good little consumers. Do I also have to train them how to put the school's credit card number in too? I can't see any way for a school or business to bulk buy from the Windows Store. OK, so we only got the Apple VPP to do this with the iPad this term, but I thought Windows 8 was supposed to save us from the consumer-focused Apple BS, not emulate the same model (only worse). 4. No automatic updates? You've got to be kidding me.

Has anyone signed up for this yet? When you go to register the only country option available is United States... does that mean it can only be used to make purchases from Amazon.com?

Oh, and I just noticed that the Recent Documents list from 2007/2010 (including pinned items) does not carry over into Office 2013. That is just great.

I don't think it's been released to Software Assurance customers yet (which includes EES); the download is on the TechNet Subscriptions site but you only get a handful of single-use keys. Everyone with SA gets a single TechNet login to use which is handy for getting a heads-up on this sort of thing, which I'm doing so I can see what needs doing for the rollout when the VLK download is available along with KMS keys.

Oh, and the Outlook bug where the 'new mail' overlay persists on the taskbar and in the system tray when you mark the message as read in another client (i.e. webmail or phone) is STILL there.

This is why I always laugh at people at conferences when they tell me we don't need wireless because all the pupils have amazing 3G on their phones now.

Thoughts on the first 30 minutes: - The minimalist interface isn't as bad as I feared once you switch to a non-white theme. In white though, it's a travesty; too little visual separation between UI and document content. First thing I added to my list of GP settings to implement. - The new interface actually suits OneNote better than the old one, in my opinion. As long as it isn't white. - Something feels... different... with the font rendering (DirectDraw hardware rendering maybe?). Just enough to put me on edge, but I'll probably not notice it in a few days. - Removing the mail folder icons from Outlook is a horrible step backwards. This makes even less sense when you discover the icons are visible in the Folders view, just not in Mail view. - Outlook To-Do bar no longer show upcoming appointments (only today's) and won't show more than 1 month's calendar when you widen it. This is annoying. I have a nice wide screen and having that extra detail was useful. - Only spotted this once I started taking screenshots: when maximised, Alt+PrtScrn captures the edge of the taskbar below the window and the edge of adjacent windows on a multiple monitor setup. Minor, but will make user guides more tedious to create than ever. Smells like a UI bug as a result of stripping the window edges on Windows 7, and betrays a lack of testing if so. - Password-protected sections and per-page history in OneNote? YES PLEASE. - The 'slow' caret is really annoying when typing. Hopefully I'll get used to it soon. - BUG: I expanded a contact card earlier and it couldn't close it. Had to quit Outlook to get rid of it. - Starting with templates view instead of a new blank document is quite nice, but glad I can turn it off for individual applications (I frequently open Excel just to paste in some CSV text, for example). - Printing emails from Outlook is as butt-ugly as ever.

I'll consider paying for 4G when I can get a reliable 2G (yes, 2G) connection in my office. A good deal of the time I can't even receive calls, and we're in suburban area in a major town.

Another option might be to look into Active Directory-Based Activation EDIT: Unfortunately it requires a Server 2012 domain schema, so not as useful in this scenario as I first thought.