Microsoft releases Free 'PST Capture' Tool for Exchange

Microsoft has released a tool for finding and exchange Outlook PST files into modern Exchange environments. The tool, called "PST Capture," installs an agent to track the file location, which is the personal e-mail folders of Exchange e-mail users.PST capture tool can identify PST files and import them into their user email accounts hosted by exchange online or exchange server 2010.

Microsoft Exchange users "made it clear that PST import is an important area for us to focus on moving forward," wrote Ankur Kothari, a Microsoft senior product manager for Microsoft Exchange

Tracking PST files has become a problem for organizations trying to manage e-mail archives. The files often need to be tracked to ensure compliance with an organization's e-mail retention policies, for instance. Not finding the files also represents a problem for organizations that want electronic discovery capabilities for legal purposes.

Microsoft claims that Exchange 2010 offers more efficient and lower cost storage than earlier version of the product, leveraging direct attached storage instead of storage area networks (SANs). The tool can help bring over the older .PST files to Exchange 2010, and it helps with e-mail indexing in Outlook clients.

"Keeping with the Exchange 2010 theme of large, low-cost mailboxes, pulling a user's old personal archives back into their mailbox not only brings these emails back into the control of the Exchange Admins, but it also increases user productivity as all of these emails will now be index "We put Red Gate's tool through further feature development and a rigorous testing.

Process that included beta testing with customers, passing through our internal product security gates, and overall quality assurance," Microsoft's announcement stated. "It's now ready for prime time and available as a free download here!" and searchable through both Outlook and Outlook Web App," a Microsoft blog claims.
Microsoft recommends installing the PST Capture Central Service and the PST Capture Console on a dedicated computer.The dedicated computer also needs to run Outlook 2010 on x64 hardware, but that's only required for the dedicated computer and not for other PC clients.

Microsoft Sets Office 15 Public Beta For Summer 2012

 

Microsoft already announced, the next generation of Office has entered for the technical preview state, Microsoft said it will launch this summer.

Microsoft said office 15, the product code name, and nothing about its Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint applications in a blog post Monday 30th January, 2012 that announced the preview.

"I'm not able to share too much about Office 15, but I can tell you Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division," wrote P.J. Hough, the executive who is responsible for the Microsoft Office division. "With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio."

 

Hough said the Office 15 technical preview was "already full," but added that "everyone will have the opportunity to try the Office 15 public beta later this summer."

He did not mention a date or set a month for the beta's availability.

Before three years , Microsoft began the technical preview of Office 2010 in July 2009, followed that with a public beta in mid-November and launched the final product in April 2010.

If Microsoft follows a similar time schedule , it will release an Office 15 beta in late May or early June, wrap up the final code in October or November, and  may be start selling the suite in December 2012 or January 2013.

It’s possible, of course, that Microsoft has a faster release cadence in mind, and will ship the next Office alongside Windows 8 — which most experts expect to see in October — to duplicate the simultaneous launch of Windows Vista and Office 2007 in November 2007.

Microsoft may have required the invitation-only testers to sign a nondisclosure agreement that bars them from sharing secrets about the new suite, but that may not stop the unfinished code from leaking to others: Copies of the Office 2010 preview appeared on file-sharing sites even before Microsoft officially opened the program.

The company has not pegged the system requirements for Office 15, but it's possible that the new suite will not run on the decade-old Windows XP because that operating system is slated for retirement in April 2014.

Office 15 refers to the numbering system Microsoft uses to identify each edition: Office 2010 on Windows and Office 2011 on the Mac, for instance, are both labeled as "Office 14." Microsoft skipped "Office 13," jumping from 12 (Office 2007) to 14 (Office 2010) to avoid the unlucky number.

Office is one of Microsoft's largest sources of both revenue and profit: In the fourth quarter of 2011, the Business division, which is responsible for Office, accounted for 30% of all revenues and 52% of all operating income.