Microsoft Ignite 2018 - My Review!

New enclosure for Surface Go

In September, Tyler Gastineau, Doug Polston and I attended Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft's annual technology conference in Orlando, FL.  During the event, we learned about a lot of new things coming from Microsoft including updates to everything from Windows to Office and impacting services like SkyLab and Hornet 365.

We all attended different sessions and demos throughout the week.  Here are my top takeaways:

• The OneDrive for Mac client is getting an update to bring it more on par with the Windows version!  The best new feature--files on demand.  This means you don't have to sync all your files down to your Mac.  OneDrive will intelligently sync only those you're using to avoid filling out your hard drive!
• There are a lot of new SharePoint features coming that will greatly enhance our intranet capabilities with Hornet 365.
• One of the new features is News, which syndicates user-personalized news feeds across all of SharePoint.
• Teams is now feature equivalent to Skype for Business, plus lots of new integrations are being added making Teams the hub for your collaboration and communication needs.
• Office 2019 was released the day of the conference, but ESU will not be using Office 2019.  We will be moving to the newly branded version called Office 365--it's the same desktop software we're used to using at home and, unlike our current version, it'll be patched and have features added automatically!
• There's an all-new version of Microsoft Project Online coming!  Unlike the current version, it looks more modern and is expected to be available April 2019!

Brian Osbourn

Director, Web & Digital Strategies

Walking on an interactive video board at Ignite!