Communicator 2011 13.1.2 Release – Lion patch at last
As many of you who have upgraded to Lion in either beta, GM (Gold Master seed) or the release version will know, if you were/are running Communicator 2011 and patched it under Snow Leopard to anything other than 13.0.0 (release version) then you’ll know it crashes as soon as you message someone (or they message you) once you were running Lion.
The ‘solution’ to this was to roll back to 13.0.0 which is pretty messy to be honest, and with Lion having been around for a while most of us expected the patch to have followed the release VERY closely.
Anyway, all that said, Microsoft have released the patch, download it here.
However take note of the kb, pre reqs:Before you install the Communicator 2011 13.1.2 Update, make sure that the computer is running Mac OS X v10.5.8 or a later version of the Mac OS X operating system.
In other words, if you’re running the pre-release, GM or the full release, AND have regressed your Communicator 2011 install to 13.0.0 then the upgrade won’t work. A neat guideline is that if Microsoft Autoupdate doesn’t ‘find’ it, then you’ll get an install error like this
Thanks for the image Nick!
This is pre-release btw. To resolve this error make sure you install the ‘broken’ 13.1.x version update first, THEN the patch will install.
This is made clear in the KB : Additionally, you must install Microsoft Communicator for Mac 13.1.0 Update or a later update before you install the Communicator for Mac 13.1.2 Update.
Successful install of Communicator2011-13.1.2
So to recap, the patch will install on pretty much any version of Lion or Snow Leopard(tested), but you must have patched Communicator to 13.1.0 minimum for it to install. If you regressed your install to 13.0.0, then patch it again, THEN install 13.1.2. Easy way to do this is let AutoUpdate work for you.
Anyway good news for a lot of folk who have put their money into Communicator/Lync etc, justifying the spend on these products is tough enough without having to explain to CEO’s that you’re waiting for a patch and have to roll them back to an inferior version (no screen share, EDGE etc)
Oh and connecting via EDGE … If you’re running Snow Leopard it still works with 13.1.2… Currently testing it on Lion, I’ve had 2 successes and 1 fail, so far I’m going with it still works! good news.
I know it’s life on the leading edge, but still, come on Microsoft, keep up!
Cisco UC Product Tour
I had an interesting trip to see our friends at Cisco HQ (UK) today. It was a multi-purposed session to discuss a multitude of UC subjects.
We’re busy embarking on a Cisco Unity Connection install, to replace our old Unity 4.X installation. We’ve made a few test builds, but that’s largely been to get comfortable with the install process. We wanted to see some of the technology in action, hear some of the marketing and also get an informed demonstration.
Unity Connection: Features like Visual Voicemail and its ability to store voicemail ‘offbox’ in Exchange are what have attracted us. It’s an interesting way to achieve Unified Messaging without incurring the expensive Microsoft licencing costs. I like that unlike Unity, Unity Connection is now a linux appliance, it’s AD integration isn’t some masked Exchange 2003 installation. The only aspect I am currently not impressed by is the personal contacts feature, it’s a manual upload of contacts, with limited fields. It’s not dynamic at all, not linked to Exchange, it’s a one time import via a web portal.
Jabber: Cisco have started to combine open standards based XMPP technology obtained through the Jabber acquisition. This is being integrated into the WebEx and CUPS and CUPC products. There are ‘Cisco Jabber’ applications available for the Android and Apple platforms, and lots of work in progress to bring in more features towards the end of the year. Blackberry solutions require MVS which is essentially some glue to get it to work under the RIM framework. It creates a SIP trunk into CM, to enable you to use your mobile to make calls via CM trunks.
Cisco Quad: A very interesting product, I’m sure there are many ways to describe it and frame what it is, but it’s essentially a fully fledged ‘corporate-facebook-intranet-in-a-box’ That somewhat undersells it, a recent piece of work has seen our company develop its own intranet with social collaboration in mind, this has met with mediocre success. The Quad product would have pretty much full-filled all the technical needs for us in a turn-key solution. I’m not saying it’s all things to all men, but I was suitable impressed. As a social collaboration suite, it tops my interested list. There are Android, iPad and iPhone applications available for Quad.
Cisco CUPS: I’ve known about CUPS for ages, but it’s always been this monstrously huge product, that was a sledge hammer to crack a nut. It always felt expensive and cumbersome. I’ve no doubt it’s still quite a challenging install, but it’s mediation/federation offering to lash together CUCM and OCS/Lync that mean I will definitely be looking it over again now. The CUPC client is also much improved and is very polished. It has become a very polished and attractive product. The product was re-written with the Jabber technology and is now open standards based. Federation will be achieved using XMPP. Version 8.5.
Show and Share: I’d describe it as corporate YouTube. It enables users to share and collaborate with video/media rich content, tagging and making video content searchable. You can record a piece via a video enabled device and with 1 click publish it as online content. Also known as Cisco Digital Media Manager.
Video Conferencing (Telepresence): Cisco has done a lot of work integrating the Tandberg end points into their product range. I was impressed with the speed that this integration seems to have happened.
Communicator 2011 Mac connect via Edge? Yes!
I honestly haven’t found a straight answer to this question. Does it connect via Edge or not?
Well, the short answer is yes! When I first installed Office it was almost a surprise when it installed a mac version of Communicator, pleasantly surprised too. I installed it, got it working on the lan and then jumped on a train armed with my 3G dongle. I fired it all up got Outlook connected without vpn and duly then expected Communicator to work. It didn’t.
I know that the Windows version was working fine, so I was confident I had no SRV funnies. I went to the forums/technet/support/google and found no answer, only some other folk asking similar questions. I loaded my vpn tunnel and presto, communicator connected. I tried again and again, on various internet connections, plain dsl etc, it didn’t work. I came to the conclusion it wasn’t in the feature set. Most answers in forums were to offer vpn, this just seemed a backward step and unnecessary admin overhead
Last week I installed the latest patch for Communicator 2011 (13.1.0 (101123)) and nosed around the desktop sharing feature and wrote my article on it here. I encouraged my colleagues and team to install the patch also. The following day, Nick in my team was working at home and left me a message to say he’d signed in via Edge!
Being the unbelieving pessimist I am, I had to see it for myself, I fired up 3G and presto, it took a little time, but it signed in over Edge on 443.
So, yes, it works, but only on the latest patch.
Microsoft Communicator for Mac 2011 13.1 Update
Microsoft have released a patch for Communicator 2011 for Mac (13.1.0) Essentially it’s the addition of desktop sharing. I think I’m more pleased about the fact there is obviously work going into this client than I am about the actual addition 
The Microsoft article on this can be read here
The install is 122Mb, so it’s no small update, I suspect it’s pretty much a rework of the client overall. The most obvious feature after logging in is the ‘Share Desktop’ button in the top bar.
Clicking it gives you a list of all your contacts with their status in brackets. Selecting a user brings up a security prompt telling you if you proceed, the recipient will be able to see your entire desktop.
You click OK, and the recipient is then prompted to accept, you can see that below.
As soon as they accept, your screen is shared, now realise this is the ENTIRE screen and isn’t selectable for any single app, you know it’s shared as it’s surrounded by a bright green border. Ending this session is simple, just click the button to ‘Stop sharing’.
Considering that other MS apps like Live etc (admittedly on Windows) have the option to pick a specific application/window to share, it’s a little basic and I’ll admit to being disappointed. However, it’s a step in the right direction.
Microsoft Communicator for Mac 2011 (Version 13.0.0)
The new version of Office for Mac 2011 (std) is available to download for MVLS customers. It’s very early as I didn’t expect the release until mid October. One surprise for me was the inclusion of a Communicator for Mac (Version 13). I hadn’t realised (I can’t admit to having done piles of research!) that there was the intention of releasing a full communicator client for mac. I have until now been using the MSN client, which functioned very well.
Setup was very easy with all the SRV records in place, it was very straightforward, email address, username and password and I was in. First impressions are excellent, I can’t see anything I am missing. It prompts for it to be your default presence client and also your default voice client for Telephone and Conference.
I’ve yet to try out the voice side of things, but I’m interested to se ow it fares with a live meeting request.
As per the Windows version of the Communicator 2007 client, logging options are offered, which I am pleased about, and places the log files into your /users/username/library/logs folder.
Mac features like bouncing apps in the dock are all present, with options for Once or continuous bounce.
Displaying of your out of office is optional as is presence indicators based on Exchange calendar.
Another intersting inclusion is the option to use Bonjour to allow local users to be displayed in your contacts list, additionally allowing to block or allow their ability to see you.
Video, conversation saving (prompted or auto) are also there.
Amusingly the status indicator (that has always been round) is a square, just to be different.
Final verdict? Well, i think it’s great, I spent the day using it at home today to connect back to the office over dsl, and where the windows client would have dropped out a few times, it was rock solid. Fantastic.
Luke Darby
Technology Infrastructure | Media | Communication | Broadcasting
United Kingdom
