[m365weekly] #40

☁️What’s on my mind

Two weeks ago, Microsoft held its yearly Inspire conference – again in a virtual environment, of course. Inspire offers a great insight into what’s happening shortly. In other words: we got a good weather report on where Microsoft clouds will go next.

We will hear a lot about further improving the hybrid work environment, modern workplace, employee experience (Microsoft Viva). And I will cover these changes in this newsletter in detail. So, stay tuned.

Have a great week.
Matic Z.

💻 Productivity & Modern Workplace

First Look at Microsoft Teams 2.0. The new Teams app is not yet released but guys at Petri managed to get their hands on the preview version. It was enough to get the feeling of where the development is going.

How Microsoft Whiteboard evolved from a ‘nice-to-have’ to a ‘must-have’. A journey of merely replicating a physical whiteboard to a really unique service in which you can include rich content and enables groups to collaborate.

Lists or Planner? Do you know what are benefits of using Lists vs Planner when trying to manage tasks and recurring task lists? But there are cons, too. This article is a nice overview of both Lists and Planner regarding task management.

Microsoft Teams now has an option to lock or unlock meetings. Removing or denying people from entering scheduled Teams’ meetings was manual work. Not anymore. You can lock the meeting. How to do it? Read on.

What’s New with Microsoft Forms for Education. Forms are a useful tool for education professionals, especially in covid times. And Microsoft is making the service even more user-friendly with lots of new features.

Microsoft Sends Moca Boards to the OWA Calendar. Project Moca and Moca boards are getting their place in the Exchange Web App (OWA). Whether these features will eventually land on a desktop version of Outlook is unknown.

Top 10 hidden gems when using Microsoft Lists. A few tips & tricks on how to use Lists in an effective way. From using templates to importing data from Excel data.

24 services you get with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft 365 services explained in layman terms. Are you sure you know all services you get included in most subscriptions?

Microsoft’s Walkie Talkie experience is coming to Teams phones. Walkie-talkie feature on desktop phones – just press the button and talk to your team. Release the button to listen. Planned for September 2021.

☁️Sysadmin Stuff

Understanding self-service licensing in Microsoft 365. To tell the truth I’ve heard about the existence of self-service licensing only recently. Why would any sysadmin or a management person allow users to purchase services themselves? A short read explaining few caveats.

Renaming the SharePoint Online URL for an Office 365 Tenant. Ok, you can now rename SharePoint Online URL. But is this always a smart thing to do?

Tenant-to-Tenant Migrations: Project Scoping and Proper Tool Selection. When considering migration options you can use native built-in tools already available in a tenant or use 3rd party tools. Which option is the best? It depends on a variety of factors.

☁️Security & Data Governance

Configuring Microsoft Defender for Office 365. When configuring Defender for Office 365 your best friends will be Preset Policies and Configuration Analyzer. Those two will help you to more or less strictly follow best practices.

When coin miners evolve, Part 1: Exposing LemonDuck and LemonCat, modern mining malware infrastructure. Malware is gaining in complexity and is becoming a nightmare for IT security professionals. In this article, you can read an in-depth analysis of LemonDuck and LemonCat malware miners and few ideas on how to fight against similar types of malware.

☁️Noteworthy (long)reads

Back to school with my digital toolbox. In her own words, Rebecca Jackson is a 24/7 Nerd, Digital Adoption Specialist, Psych Student, and Microsoft MVP. Find out what is in her digital toolbox.

What do Business Data need to Be Backed Up in Microsoft 365? Are you unsure what business data needs to be backed up in Microsoft 365 and what should be left alone?

💻 Slightly Off-Topic

How to download Windows 11 Insider Preview ISO File. At the moment you can’t simply download an ISO file for Windows 11 installation. You practically need to make your own. Here’s a detailed step-by-step guide on how to do it.

Microsoft Unveils Office Refresh to Match Windows 11. With Windows 11 we’ll obviously get new Office desktop applications also. How will they look like?

AWS vs. Azure vs. Google: Which One Puts You on Cloud 9? Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud are all battling for your cloud spending. A short comparison of major cloud providers.

☁️On a Less Serious Note

worst tech prediction ever
The worst tech prediction ever.

☁️ Last but not least …

Here are a few things you can do if you enjoyed reading this newsletter: