[m365weekly] #61

☁️What’s on my mind

One of the most disturbing news of the last year was that Microsoft decided to jump on the same bandwagon as Facebook and others. Meta(verse), Mesh, and the like is, in my humble opinion, pure BS.

I know I sound a bit like Steve Ballmer when he used to make stupid comments on the iPhone, saying that people needed a physical keyboard to type on the phone, but in the years to come it turned out that he couldn’t have been more wrong.

My true fear is that metaverse will really be a big hit in the years to come. But deep down in my gut, I feel that this is not a step in the right direction for humanity.

How do you feel about this metaverse BS? Drop me a line, just press reply (and don’t forget to send).

Matic Z.

FEATURED STORY: MY TECH STACK

I think it’s probably a good time to get a bit more personal in this newsletter. Let me start with my tech stack.
I do practically 99% of my work on a Lenovo Thinkpad T14 laptop, with an i7 processor and 48 GB of RAM.
I can’t imagine working without a good mouse. I have loved Logitech mice for quite a few years. At the moment, I’m a fan of the Logitech MX Anywhere 3.
About a year ago I got the Sony WH1000XM3 headphones. I think they are one of the best headphones on the market. You can get a newer model here – Sony WH1000XM4.
My home office is modest, but the foundation of it is an automated standing desk so I can work sitting or standing. I have a much better feeling standing up when giving webinars. I keep my laptop on a docking station.
My website runs on WordPress. I compile issues of M365 Newsletter as an ordinary blog post and when I publish it the Newsletter Glue plugin converts it to email and sends it towards MailerLite service where I do some final HTML touches if needed.

💻 Productivity & Modern Workplace

12 features that should land in Microsoft Teams in 2022. Teams is now 5 years old, but of course, it is far from perfect. What the author of this article would like to see finally get a place in Teams …

How to Create a Registration Page in Microsoft Teams. Last year, Microsoft made Teams more webinar organiser-friendly. You can also create a registration page for your webinar where participants can sign up. You can find out how to do this on the link.

Microsoft 365 E3 vs E5 Plans Compared. Learn the differences between Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 plans to make it easier to decide which one is right for your organization.

Why “Always Keep on this Device” Doesn’t. The “Always keep on this device” feature has misled people into deleting and losing important files. Here’s why, and what to do instead.

Microsoft Teams is adding local time to users’ profile cards. Microsoft is getting to update the profile card in Teams to make it a bit more useful.


☁️Sysadmin Stuff

M365 Maps. A collection of Microsoft 365 licensing diagrams to view in browser or download as PDF, PNG, SVG, and Visio files.

PowerShell Basics: How to Force AzureAD Connect to Sync. The default refresh intervals between on-prem AD and Azure AD are sometimes simply too long. When you need a quick refresh of the data, resort to Powershell cmdlets.

Managing Office 365 Quarantine Confusion. Some don’t even know that Exchange Online quarantine exists, let alone use it. Let’s shed some light on the matter at hand.


☁️Security & Data Governance

Using Defender for Endpoint API and Power Automate. Integrating Defender for Endpoint API and Power Automate makes wonders. Only the sky is the limit. How to start? Read on.

Opt-in to the Exchange Online Endpoint for Legacy TLS Clients using SMTP Auth. I do not recommend this but when there’s no other way, you still have the option to use legacy TLS 1.0 and 1.1. Here’s how you enable it.

Hackers Are Getting Better At Defeating 2FA Security. How will we protect ourselves if this fortress of security falls?


☁️Noteworthy (long)reads

Paul and Nancy’s 2022 predictions for the digital workplace – Digital Workplace Group. Some predictions on what will happen in remote working space in 2022.


DATES TO KEEP IN MIND

1 January 2022 – No more transacting in OLP program. From then on perpetual licenses are available in CSP.

January 2022 – Microsoft launches “New Commerce Experience”, a new way of transacting in CSP. Important for Microsoft partners (resellers) and MS distributors.

1 March 2022 – First Microsoft 365 price increase since 2011 (source). It’s going to be a substantial price increase.


😂 On a Less Serious Note

Could this happen this year? 😂

☁️ Last but not least …

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

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