#LYNC FOR MAC CLIENT SOFTWARE#

Office 2011 for the Mac (the new Word / Outlook / Office software that is now publicly available) includes Mac Messenger 8, however this Mac Messenger 8 client does NOT connect to a corporate OCS or Lync environment.

#LYNC FOR MAC CLIENT FOR MAC#

Orgs with OCS 2007 R2 today with Macs will greatly benefit by having their Mac users install the Communicator 2011 for Mac client (replacing the old Mac Messenger 7.x client) as Mac users will immediately get VoIP support! (assuming the org has OCS 2007 setup for VoIP today (if the org has OCS 2007 R2 for just IM / Live Meeting, the Mac user really doesnР В Р вЂ Р В РІР‚С™Р Р†РІР‚С›РЎС›t get a whole lot more with the Communicator 2011 client than they have now with the Mac Messenger 7.x client, so really the focus of the Communicator 2011 client is for VoIP support!).It's kind of weird, the Mac user can attend a Web Conference, can take control of someone else's (Windows) shared desktop in a Web Conference (as a 'presenter'), the Mac user can share their desktop in an adhoc way with others, the Mac user just can't schedule a meeting and use their Mac Desktop to share out to others as the key presenter. The Mac user CANNOT schedule the sharing of their desktop in an Online Meeting request. The Mac user can share their desktop with multiple people, but it's done real time, meaning that the person gets invited to access the shared desktop right there and then. ) so Mac users are now able to share their desktops in OCS or in Lync! Note on Desktop Sharing for Macs: While Mac users can now share their desktops, it really is more of a personal peer to peer type sharing where the Mac user is sitting on their desktop, IM chatting with someone, and then offers up to share their desktop with the other person.

#LYNC FOR MAC CLIENT UPDATE#

UPDATE Dec 22 2010!: Microsoft just released Communicator 2011 for Mac v13.1 that now supports Desktop Sharing right within the Communicator client for Mac users (.

#LYNC FOR MAC CLIENT UPGRADE#

Because of this limitation, organizations with Apple Macs that do a lot of Live Meetings should upgrade to Lync 2010, install Communication 2011 for Mac on their client systems, and they can then use the Silverlight client for full Live Meeting functionality. This Java Web client for OCS 2007 allows the Mac user to be a presenter or an attendee, but it does NOT provide any audio streaming in a Live Meeting (so Macs against OCS 2007 R2 have to Р В Р вЂ Р В РІР‚С™Р РЋРЎв„ўdial inР В Р вЂ Р В РІР‚С™Р РЋРЎС™ to a phone to listen to the Web conference). Mac users wanting to do Live Meeting against OCS 2007 R2 get an existing OCS 2007 Java Web client.

This Live Meeting Silverlight client will NOT work against OCS 2007 R2.

So for orgs migrating to Lync 2010, Macs will have Web Conferencing access through this Web/Silverlight client and will get audio/video over their Communicator 2011 for Mac client

Web Conferencing (formerly known as Live Meeting) for Mac users is supported through a separate Silverlight client ONLY to Lync 2010.

Note though that Р В Р вЂ Р В РІР‚С™Р РЋРЎв„ўLive MeetingР В Р вЂ Р В РІР‚С™Р РЋРЎС™ support is handled separately from the Communicator 2011 client (Update Dec 22, 2010, see 3rd bullet below for modification of this note):

Peer to Peer Voice (aka Communicator Voice)Р В РІР‚СњР В РІР‚С›LL of the above functionality is fully supported against OCS 2007 R2 and Lync 2010 just by upgrading the client on the Mac to the Communicator 2011 for Mac client software.

This Communicator 2011 for Mac allows for:

#LYNC FOR MAC CLIENT LICENSE#

We Mac users now have (nearly full) Apple Mac Client support in Lync 2010 (as well as (mostly) backwards compatible for OCS 2007 R2 implementations)! Microsoft has now made available Р В Р вЂ Р В РІР‚С™Р РЋРЎв„ўCommunicator 2011 for MacР В Р вЂ Р В РІР‚С™Р РЋРЎС™ (available for download for Enterprise License clients and TechNet subscribers). However, I've had a heck of a time trying to find 'real' information on what works and what doesn't work, so with my new MacBook Air arriving this week (256m solid state drives and razor thin and super light!), I loaded up Office 2011 for the Mac as well as the Communicator 2011 for Mac software and wrote up this real world experience article. With the (Sept/2010) release of the Communicator 2011 for Mac client and with the release of Lync 2010 (that replaces OCS 2007 for instant messaging, web conferencing, and VoIP), Apple Mac users now have near feature parity as Windows users. With the new '2010' release of products, Apple Macs are finally reaching parity in terms of features / functions / support! Take for example Exchange 2010, Mac users get the same Outlook Web Access capabilities when they use Apple Safari browser as Windows users running Internet Explorer (drag, drop, etc), and same for Sharepoint 2010 Mac users get the same functionality in document libraries, lists, etc as Windows users do. For the longest time, Apple Mac users have been 2nd class citizens in a Microsoft network and application world.

Lync for mac client