August 01, 2019
Coming to your task bar – Microsoft Teams
The Office of Information Technology (OIT) this week is pushing out Microsoft Teams to all campus devices running Windows 8 and beyond.
For now, the only noticeable change will be the purple “Teams” icon on your desktop computer. After clicking the icon and launching Teams for the first time, there will be a small purple Teams icon in your taskbar.
OIT is installing Teams to prepare for the use of Teams’ unified communication system this fall. Teams is an exciting platform that will provide the campus with many different ways to communicate and collaborate across campus using tools for:
- chat, voice and video calling,
- file storage,
- and meetings.
Teams also contains and/or integrates with hundreds of Microsoft products and apps.
Since Skype for Business (SfB) has been rolled into Teams and large enterprise systems are also transitioning to Teams, active SfB users will be the first to be affected. SfB users have plenty of time to make the transition by Oct. 1 when Teams will replace SfB.
After Oct. 1, SfB will no longer be available, although SfB tools and functionality will then be available in Teams. SfB users can activate Teams now or when convenient to become familiar with it while SfB is still available.
A comprehensive comparison of SfB and Teams is available for those wanting to delve into the differences between SfB and Teams and see the upgrades made in Teams.
If you see the purple Teams icon and are ready to move to Teams, click on the icon and follow the simple instructions to activate this new software. Call SalukiTech at 453-5155 or email them if you need assistance.
NOTE: The comprehensive comparison above is from an outside resource. When you click the link, you will see a window asking you to register with that site. You can click the X icon in the top right of the window to close it, and will then have access to the article.