My personal experience with Windows 10 Technical Preview

Last week I did the upgrade from Windows 8.1 Enterprise (which is needed for Direct Access) to Windows 10 Technical Preview. When looking for a download just look here. In my case the installation was done in 15 a 20 minutes on SSD drive, not too bad! After the upgrade everything seems to work okay, applications and data were still in place, and new functionality was added. Let's have a look at a few new (and really cool) features!

First there is the new Start menu (where everyone is talking about). Personally I think it's great to have it back now. No more switching between desktop and tiles is easier then loosing focus on desktop everytime. The combination of applications and apps is a good match, and looks/feels good. > Welcome back Start menu!

When you want to change back to tiles or have a tablet device, the Start screen (known from Windows 8.x) can be displayed as well. Just use what you prefer, and fits best on the device you are using. Windows 10 is looking at the device you're using and switch on Start menu or Start screen by default. Seems okay to me!?

When looking at the task bar you will see a few new icons added. They are all handy for sure. First there is 'Search' to find data (documents for example), which is much easier then before. Second there is 'Task view', where you can quickly see which programs or folders are opened/active. Just click the window you want. Another one is 'Favorites', where you can find most used and opened files and folders (e.g. Favorites, Frequent folders and Recent files).

Another great feature is when moving a task to the left- or right side of the screen. In the other part an overview is displayed on other active tasks. Just click a task, and that one will be showed in the other part of screen. When dragging a task to a random corner, it will be placed there, without showing other active tasks. In that scenario you will see 4 opened tasks with only a few clicks. You can also generate a new desktop where (active) programs are not visible at once. Just start tasks on multiple desktops with this!

Applications and apps can run both in same screen now, instead of switching from desktop to tiles screen. Apps can run in a full windows or in a window as shown in the screenshot. Much easier that way if you ask me. No need to go left above to switch from a fullscreen app to desktop (remember?), when working on a fat client device. Things are now as they should be in the first place.

Maybe I missed some more features, but for me these are enough reason to move on to Windows 10 already! No need to worry about things like Direct Access, Office 2013 or other features. All seems to work okay! Expect a Final release in May 2015 and multiple Preview versions (Consumer Preview, Release Candidate) in between.

Windows 10 may be the best OS since Windows 7 finally! Windows 10: One product family, One platform, One store. Love it!

Update: Back to Windows 8.1 now because of Privacy Statements for Windows Technical Preview. But for the few days I used it, I personally think that the OS is great already. Just want some more features like Cortana, and it will be even greater. Thanks!

How to setup a MS Office 2013 KMS Host on Windows Server 2012

Last month I did a blogpost about "Usage of Microsoft Office 2013 KMS Host License Pack". This one is needed to activate Microsoft Office 2013 through KMS. When using the License Pack things can still go wrong. Let's have a look how to setup Microsoft Office 2013 KMS Host on Windows Server 2012 first.

The KMS activation process for MS Office 2013 is the same as what it was for MS Office 2010. However, the interface to setup the KMS host for MS Office 2013 on a Windows Server 2012 has been updated to use the Volume Activation Tools.

1: Download the Microsoft Office 2013 Volume License Pack from the Microsoft Download Center (MSDL) site;
2: Double-click the downloaded EXE to run it;
3: Once the EXE finishes running, the Volume Activation Tools wizard will appear;
4: On the next screen, choose Key Management Service (KMS) and browse to, or specify the name of, the system running Key Management Service. Typically, this would be the system you are running the Volume Activation Tools on;
5. Next, enter the KMS host (CSVLK) key;
6. Choose activation method, online or phone;
7. Activation Succeeded (or not);

When the activation fails because of STATUS_SUCCESS error, change the KMS listening port from 0 to 1688. Then it will be fine after all!

Configuration succeeded! Yeah!!

To trigger activation manually on the KMS client, run ospp.vbs /act at the command prompt. cscript "%installdir%\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\ospp.vbs" /act

Source (partly): How to setup Microsoft Office 2013 KMS Host on Windows Server 2012

Usage of Microsoft Office 2013 KMS Host License Pack

Another blogpost about KMS again. Before this 3 other blogposts where available, just have a look at that one also:
Key Management Services (KMS) explained
Using KMS Client Setup Keys during deployment  
Usage of Microsoft Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack

The Microsoft Office 2013 KMS Host License Pack must be installed before importing the KMS key. It can be downloaded at this location: Download Center. During installation the Office 2013 KMS key can be imported successfully.

Volume license editions of Office 2013 client products require activation. This download enables IT administrators to set up a Key Management Service (KMS) or configure a domain for Active Directory-Based activation. Either of these volume activation methods can locally activate all Office 2013 clients connected to an organization’s network.

Just make sure your KMS host is running on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012.

Files necessary to run the Office Customization Tool were not found

When starting Setup.exe /admin from Microsoft Office 2013 RTM, I got the message "Files necessary to run the Office Customization Tool were not found.  Run Setup from the installation point of a qualifying product." When doing the same in Microsoft Office 2010 the Office Customization Tool (OCT) is started. With OCT you can create a MSP (answer) file for silent installation.

Looking on the web I found the following solution for this HERE.

This occurs when the admin folder is missing from the installation point. For it seems Office 2013 Preview Administrative Template Files are needed to start the Office Customization Tool. Just download the tools (x86/x64 choice) and start it to create a admin and admx folder. The admin folder must be copied in the Office 2013 source afterwards. After that OCT is working as usual again. Strange thing that admin files are not included by default!?

The Office 2013 Preview Administrative Template files (ADMX/ADML) and Office Customization Tool can be download HERE.

Installing Microsoft Office 2013 Customer Preview

Today I installed the new Microsoft Office 2013 Preview. Because the existing Office 2010 installation on my Windows 8 Release Preview device, I choose for a upgrade. The installation is done in a few minutes and a reboot is needed afterwards. Then the new functionality can be used. The following tiles are available after installation:

 

Just notice that Lync 2013 is installed by default now, no other installation is needed for that. Programs that are still exists after the upgrade are:

• SharePoint Workspace 2010
• Office Picture Manager
• Lync 2010

As far as I can see everything works fine after the upgrade. Nice to see that Microsoft Office 2013 will have support for Touch devices, SkyDrive, Yammer, Skype and Cloud services now!

Microsoft Office 2013 Customer Preview has arrived

Yesterday a new Office has arrived. It's called Microsoft Office 2013.

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the customer preview of the new Microsoft Office, available at office.com/preview.

The next release features an intuitive design that works beautifully with touch, stylus, mouse or keyboard across new Windows devices, including tablets. The new Office is social and unlocks modern scenarios in reading, note-taking, meetings and communications and will be delivered to subscribers through a cloud service that is always up to date.  

The new, modern Office will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility for both consumers and business customers. It is a cloud service and will fully light-up when paired with Windows 8

While the full lineup of offerings and pricing plans will be announced in the fall, Ballmer discussed three new Office 365 subscription services. When available, each new subscription offer will include the new 2013 editions of the Office applications. In addition, subscribers will receive future rights to version upgrades as well as per-use rights across up to five PCs or Macs and mobile devices. More about new functionality HERE

MSDN members can download Office at CLICK

Office Language Packs and other downloads at CLICK

Nice to see that Microsoft Office 2013 will have support for Touch devices, SkyDrive, Yammer, Skype and Cloud services now!