Aroh's Microsoft 365 Musings: July 2012

Hi All,

Microsoft has unveiled latest version of the SharePoint 2013 preview on 16 July 2012 along with the Office 2013 preview. These are Official Microsoft download links:

SharePoint Foundation 2013 Preview (Free)

SharePoint Server 2013 Preview
It has to be noted that server 2013 preview is for limited time along with the product key.

In my previous blog post, SharePoint vNext and Windows 8 Developer Preview, I mentioned that Microsoft is pushing to unify all its products (Office 2013, SharePoint 2013 etc) to have a similar look and feel across different platforms such as mobile, PC, Office products, Servers along with Microsoft's new foray into cloud computing technology. Although Microsoft Azure was released two years ago, Microsoft wants to leverage it into in its upcoming Office products i.e. Office 2013 & SharePoint 2013.

The line of Microsoft products is cloud centric and it includes Windows Server 2012, SharePoint Server 2013, Office 2013 etc. Windows Server 2012 RC is already released by Microsoft and here an illustration of Microsoft licensing for the Server editions:

I have the subscription for Andrew Connell Blog and he has provided FREE webcasts for SharePoint 2013 with the following schedule:

Introducing SharePoint 2013
Thursday, Jul 26, 2012 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM EDT (YouTube: Critical Path Training SharePoint 2013 Office Hours: Introducing SharePoint 2013)
What's New in SharePoint 2013 for Developers?
Monday, Jul 30, 2012 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM EDT (YouTube: What's New in SharePoint 2013 for Developers?)
SharePoint 2013 App Model
Monday, Aug 6, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT (YouTube: SharePoint 2013 App Model)
What's new with Workflow in SharePoint 2013
Thursday, Aug 16, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT (YouTube: What's new with Workflow in SharePoint 2013 )
What's new with Web Content Management in SharePoint 2013
Thursday, Aug 30, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT (YouTube: What's new with Web Content Management in SharePoint 2013)

There are couple of demos and training posted on TechNet and MDSN.

The SharePoint 2013 Hardware and software requirements are way beyond previous version of SharePoint.

Although in the TechNet and Module 2: SharePoint 2013 system requirements is a bit confusing for me. There are new features in this version of SharePoint:

New Apps:In my previous blog post, Office 15 technical preview Microsoft is going usher into apps world and specifically into Office products and SharePoint 2013. It was pretty evident when I downloaded the Office 15 SDK and SharePoint vNext SPApp, SPAppCatalog and SPAppInstance classes.
Microsoft has a short video about its new apps. Here is an official link to Microsoft that details Apps for Office and SharePoint. Applies to: SharePoint Foundation 2013 Preview | SharePoint Server 2013 Preview
Authorization:
SharePoint 2013 OAuth 2.0 supports and "allows users to grant apps in the SharePoint Store and App Catalog access to specified". OAuth 2.0 is an industry standard. It supports many client libraries such as iPad, iPhone and services Facebook, Foresquare, Windows live etc. OAuth 2.0 facilitates users to apps to SharePoint resources. Applies to: SharePoint Foundation 2013 Preview | SharePoint Server 2013 Preview
BCS:
SharePoint 2013 can connect to OData source, supports alerts external systems and App scoped external content types. The data (Introducing OData) could be client (web browsers, mobile phones - iPhone, Android, WP7, BI tools like Excel, Custom applications - .NET, JAVA etc.) and OData provides an abstract data model & exposes to any data source. Applies to: SharePoint Foundation 2013 Preview | SharePoint Server 2013 Preview
eDiscovery, Records management and compliance, Business intelligence, Social computing:
There are enhanced in SharePoint 2013 and exclusive to the SharePoint Server 2013 only. To develop you need a powerful machine that could support minimum 24 GB. Applies to: SharePoint Server 2013 Preview
Web Content Management:
There are improvements in the content authoring, variations for multilingual sites, Friendly URLs, Refiners and faceted navigation, Device-specific targeting where SharePoint Server 2013 could detect different devices such as smartphones, tablets etc. Applies to: SharePoint Server 2013 Preview
Workflow:
SharePoint Server 2013 leverages Windows Workflow Foundation with .NET Framework 4.5. Previously in SharePoint Server 2010, your development environment (for Workflow development) could be a single box (or a multiple farm set up) with Windows Server 2008 SP2 or R2, SQL Server 2008 SP1 or SP2, Visual Studio 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010.
SharePoint Server 2013 has given a boost in terms of Workflow development. SharePoint Server 2013 provides a new service named Windows Azure Workflow. Architecturally, SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013 are quite different as illustrated in the TechNet:

SharePoint Server 2013, TechNet

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2013 Preview
To summarize, there are huge changes in terms of Infrastructure in SharePoint 2013 and specifically in SharePoint Server 2013.

Office 2013 Preview:

Microsoft has released the Office 2013 preview. Like SharePoint 2013, its Office suite software includes cloud computing. The new Office UI looked very impressive when I downloaded it.

Download the new Office 2013 using this link. Click on the "Sign Up" and you will get a splash screen which indicates the you are going to sign up for Office 365 Home Premium Preview. Click on the "Try now".

It directly prompts for "Microsoft Account". I simply keyed in my hotmail account. The next screen showed up "My Account" with the my computer name, when I installed it, any Updates and on top of right I got four links "Hotmail", "Messenger", "SkyDrive" and My name as illustrated below:

When you click on the "Install" button, they get connect to your account. Microsoft shows a short video about new Office features. Because its connected your account, it will show up your name and you choose your customized/personalized theme: