Microsoft this week released a commercial preview bone to cloud-fobes * in the form of local versions of its server and Office applications.
While the software giant really wants its customers to be comfortably installed in the loving embrace of Office 365, realists within Redmond Towers accept that a large portion of their customers prefer to keep their data firmly within their own data centers.
Since those users obviously do not see all the objects that appear regularly in Office 365 updates, version 2019 should provide a temporary sense of parity. More or less.
Exchange 2019
Exchange 2019 can now take advantage of 48 processor cores and 256 GB of RAM. Useful for indexing and searching with Bing, as well as the usual tasks of mail and appointments.
The Do Not Forward feature and simplified calendar sharing, which is already familiar to Office 365 users, make an appearance, as well as tools to help administrators delegate permissions.
Unfortunately, the update fairy gives and takes away, and users say goodbye to the unified messaging feature. An existing Skype for Business Server or a third-party PBX will no longer be able to connect to an Exchange 2019 mailbox. Instead, you will need to jump to Skype for Business Server 2019 and use Cloud Voicemail, or take the opportunity and migrate to Office 365.
There is that annoying cloud again.
Skype for Business Server 2019
Those who have inflicted Skype in their organizations will see an update in the facilities that, frankly, is about functions in the cloud.
With unified messaging discreetly discarded on a practical balcony, Cloud Voicemail will provide voice mail services, with messages stored in the user's inbox unless users choose to continue with the previous version of Exchange. Cloud Auto Attendant is now compatible, providing an always updated way to call users with endless menus. Finally, the Cloud Call Data Connector will derive the call quality data in Office 365, which means that the data does not have to be stored locally.
As expected, Skype Empresarial 2019 also includes tools to give users a boost in the subsequent assistance in their migration to the cloudy world of the equipment.
SharePoint Server 2019
SharePoint has been badly outclassed with the "Modern user experience" standard, since team sites, pages and lists get the "modern" treatment, which Microsoft hopes will lead to more attractive and easy-to-navigate sites.
Libraries receive a face lift similar to OneDrive, which means that OneDrive users should have the experience of loading or creating folders a little less unpleasant. The 10 GB file size limit of SharePoint 2016 has been increased to 15 GB this time and SharePoint 2019 is crawling kicking and screaming in the 21st century as the maximum length of the URL path goes from 260 unicode characters to 400 .
If you are using SharePoint 2019, Microsoft will also be happy to sell you Project Server 2019, which requires the previous platform and obtains some improvements in the reporting area.
Office 2019 and beyond
Users looking for the old world of perpetual licenses of yesteryear still have the option of an Office 2019 package containing Word, Excel and Powerpoint with what Redmond describes as "a significant subset of features found in Office 365". Non-subscribers, however, will not see any new features in the same way as their murky counterparts.
To no one's surprise, those Office 2019 installations will also need Windows 10, while the server products will work in Windows Server 2016 or 2019 (though Microsoft obviously would prefer it to use the latest platform). Exchange 2019 can also take advantage of the Core Server product.
The exception is Skype for Business, which currently includes Windows Server 2016 as a requirement. The Registry has left Microsoft with a line to verify, since the omission of Sever 2019 is curious.
While Microsoft is willing to declare that it understands that customers may prefer to stay on the premises, the wind certainly blows wind in the clouds. Redmond said: "We want to support all of our clients on their journey to the cloud, at the pace that is most logical to them," before ominously adding that "it will continue to assess customer needs and industry trends to determine the need to a future". versions of our products and services. "
So, maybe start packing your bags for Azure if you want to stay on Microsoft's server platform for the next decade.
