Anyone using Microsoft Office 365

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Technofreak

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#90375 20-Sep-2011 23:09

I'm interested in feedback from anyone using MS 365. There is two or three areas I'm particularly interested in.

How much data does it chew through? - I'm looking using it with a laptop on mobile broadband.

Some of the information I've read indicates it can be used offline and then synced when you go on line, is this is the case then the need for mobile broadband diminishes .

How well does 365 work? What software do you need on the laptop/PC and how much processing capacity does the laptop/PC need?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

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nakedmolerat

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#523811 20-Sep-2011 23:16

office 365 looks really neat. what is the guaranteed uptime?

edit: no android support? sigh

ArcticSilver

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#523817 20-Sep-2011 23:33

It does have Android support via "exchange".

The main issue (and the reason im moving off it) is support.

I submitted a very imporant (and urgent) service request, it took them one month to reply!

Oh and to top it all off, the reply was completely generic, they didnt even read the question properly. They didnt answer it!

CYaBro

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#523836 21-Sep-2011 05:56

ArcticSilver: It does have Android support via "exchange".

The main issue (and the reason im moving off it) is support.

I submitted a very imporant (and urgent) service request, it took them one month to reply!

Oh and to top it all off, the reply was completely generic, they didnt even read the question properly. They didnt answer it!

It depends on which plan you are on as to what type of support you get.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

trig42

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#523840 21-Sep-2011 06:24

We have just been migrated at work from Exchange server to Office 365 for email/Lync/Sharepoint.

So far I have only used Mail and Lync and they work fine.

I does keep an offline copy of your email (in an OST file) so you don't need to be connected the whole time, and I don't think the data usage is all that high (it will take a chunk when you upload everything to the cloud)

freitasm

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#523898 21-Sep-2011 09:33

Data usage will depend on the volume of emails you receive - no way around that.

You can use with any mobile device that supports Exchange Activesync. This includes Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, Symbian, Apple iOS, Android, Palm OS, Web OS and whatever else supports the protocol.

On a PC you can use browser-based Outlook Web Access or Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Uptime is what you'd expect from a service like this, which means if there are downtimes at all you won't notice really. We use Microsoft BPOS (the previous service) and it's consistently good.

As for support, I actually disagree. I had two tickets open on BPOS and had replies in less than 30 minutes, including a phone call to check if everything was ok.

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Technofreak

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#523911 21-Sep-2011 10:12

I've been reading the info on the Microsoft website. I started off thinking that 365 was a web based MS Office platform incorporating Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc, along with MS exchange type functions for email.

However in the requirements section it says you need MS Office 2007 or 2010. Am I correct in saying that MS Office needs to be installed on the computers accessing 365? Is is really just a cloud server for your documents and email applications?

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trig42

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#523937 21-Sep-2011 10:41

Depends on the package you go for. I think in the professional versions of Office 365 there are web based versions of office products. I haven't used them.

The enterprise versions come with licences to install Office 2010 on your PCs (and a download to get them).

I am using the Enterprise version, and that includes a licence for Office 2010.

Ragnor

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#523995 21-Sep-2011 12:14

Technofreak: I've been reading the info on the Microsoft website. I started off thinking that 365 was a web based MS Office platform incorporating Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc, along with MS exchange type functions for email.

However in the requirements section it says you need MS Office 2007 or 2010. Am I correct in saying that MS Office needs to be installed on the computers accessing 365? Is is really just a cloud server for your documents and email applications?

You can use Outlook Web Access via web browser to access email from any browser.

If you want a desktop email client you'll want Outlook 2007 or 2010 (or Outlook 2011 for Mac) these are not included in the cheaper subscriptions but there is an option to subscribe to get office apps.

A lot of people are looking to upgrade from an internal SBS 2003, looking at the cost of SBS2011 and thinking Office 365 or Google Apps look good. Evaluating this at work myself.

What I found useful was to register a couple of test domains and setup both google apps standard and office 365 trial on each nd just try them out extensively.

freitasm

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#524002 21-Sep-2011 12:21

You will find that Google's support is abysmal. If you are on the free service then it's forum-based only, and Google people doesn't seem to monitor the forums.

If you are a paid customer then you get a PIN for access to support services. I tried it. Twice their first reply was "please check or post in the forums to see if there's someone with a similar problem".

Nope, go with Microsoft 365 if you want to pay for something.

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Ragnor

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#524021 21-Sep-2011 12:39

Yeah I've heard that a bit from people who tried in in 09/10, but I know other companies who have been using Google Apps for years with no issues.

Google Apps for Business has 7 days a week 24x phone support now, did they have that when you back when you used it, did you try it?

http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/static.py?page=contacting_support.html

CYaBro

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#524028 21-Sep-2011 12:51

freitasm: You will find that Google's support is abysmal. If you are on the free service then it's forum-based only, and Google people doesn't seem to monitor the forums.

If you are a paid customer then you get a PIN for access to support services. I tried it. Twice their first reply was "please check or post in the forums to see if there's someone with a similar problem".

Nope, go with Microsoft 365 if you want to pay for something.

The cheap Office 365 plans are also only forum based support.
You have to pay for an enterprise plan to get support from Microsoft.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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Ragnor

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#524030 21-Sep-2011 12:53

From what I can see Office 365 has no IMAP support which is a bummer...