Controlling the Client Experience with Skype for Business

Skype for Business will roll out as an update to Lync on April 14th as part of regular Office monthly updates. If you are using Lync Online today with Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 Business Premium or Office 2013, the updated Skype for Business client—inspired by the look and feel of Skype—will be the default user experience and replace the Lync user experience.  If you are using Lync Server today, the Lync UI will be the default experience.

The good news is that regardless of whether you are using Lync Online or Lync Server, you have the ability to control when the updated experience is rolled out to your users.

The attached PowerPoint presentation provides details on how you can control the client experience with Skype for Business. The document builds on the information provided on this blog - https://blogs.office.com/2015/04/01/whats-new-in-skype-for-business-and-how-you-can-take-control-of-updates/?garage=true and provides prescriptive guidance for all possible server and UI combinations.

4/13/2015 Update - We have updated the attached PowerPoint file to include an additional option for controlling the UI in Lync Online. Please review the updated deck for additional details.

4/14/2015 - The client updates have now been published and can be found here:

Skype for Business 2015 desktop client (lyncmso)
https://support.microsoft.com/KB/2889923

Skype for Business 2015 desktop client (lynclochelp)
https://support.microsoft.com/KB/2889853

Note: The two links above are still working their way through the system, so please be patient if they are not immediately available.

Please download the latest PowerPoint file from here:

Controlling the Client Experience with Skype for Business_v1.2.pptx