A client of mine recently decided to move to Lync 2010 – from OCS 2007 – after having a chat with the technical specialist from MS.
They were very happy with OCS 2007, but were keen on the hi-def video/voice, integrated client and dial-in conferencing (yes, they didnt go 2007 R2 just for that feature).
While i knew that RCC had been “de-emphasised” is was un-aware of the croppling that had taken place. For example, when using the Lync Client with RCC enabled, video is disabled! yes! apparently, its too confusing for users! (what a load of shit MS! just bloody well say “we hate cisco and were going to punish you if you use it!” ) no more address book either!
Now im as pro-MS as they come – their products – when used correctly, are great. This however is the type of shit that just makes me shake my head in disbelief at the american “we’re Microsoft – everyone should just do what we say” arrogance.
Lync 2010 – as good as it is, isnt going to make clients throw out their investment in Cisco overnight (for those that already have a fully deployed CCM solution) – and if you think it is, you’re a fucking moron.
Lync 2010 has the opportunity to add functionalty – which this particular client loves – but if they are pushed down the current path MS are pushing them, they will ditch Lync and go all Cisco – including the desktop client.
Once Lync 2010 is in, we can then use sip trunks for the dial-in conferencing, and hey, while you have the sip-trunk, use that for some of your users…. the next thing you know, it is a vital part of the comms infrastructure – and does (in a generation or two) have a chance of displacing the cisco environment.
As per usual, MS are pushing too far, too fast – with a product that while very good – is a baby in its segment. (and ofcourse being driven by fucking salespeople and their spin rather than technical superiority!)
* Update 1/5/2012 * – As i imagine many of you would have seen, CU5 foir Lync 2010 enables video for RCC users – with a caveat, you still cannot “split” calls…. i.e. have the voice homed in your call manager environment and the video in Lync – as it remains, “too confusing”
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2666709
We chave clients who loved the ability to be able to do this in OCS… but it is a step in the right direction.
HayesJupe's Blog 
Just a quick note on this one. It was clearly stated in the release notes for the RTM product. Video, Address Book etc disabled when you use RCC (prior to that however MS reps were pushing it hard with no indication to clients on what they would lose). Gotta read those release notes! On the topic however, I have having severe kickback from anyone who used RCC video and integration with say Tandberg or Polycom!!! Yes you can still do RCC we will support it going forward but we will cripple it so you can never trust us with it again !! I totally agree.
Comment by Bakky — March 17, 2011 @ 10:42 am |
yep – not arguing – it was in the release notes…. you are aso right on MS reps not mentioning this when they talk to clients who are clearly using non-MS products for VOIP and are interested in RCC – it just gets “forgotten”….
Comment by hayesjupe — March 17, 2011 @ 5:51 pm |
[…] example – in the case of https://hayesjupe.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/lync-2010-rcc/ – imagine if MS had just said “we have intentionally killed functionality when you use Lync […]
Pingback by Exchange 2010 activesync and Windows Phone 7 « HayesJupe's Blog — June 24, 2011 @ 5:06 pm |
Is there some sort of registry hack to re enable video with RCC? It seems to be a client side limitation because the OCS client allows it.
Comment by jumper4000 — July 20, 2011 @ 2:07 pm |
yes it is client side – and no, no registry hacks as far as im aware.
I would be surprised if there were any work-arounds, as this is intention nobbling by MS in order to curtail integration with a competitor.
Comment by hayesjupe — July 20, 2011 @ 6:21 pm |
[…] https://hayesjupe.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/lync-2010-rcc/ […]
Pingback by [Microsoft Lync Server 2010] Remote Call Control et Vidéo - Le Cloud de Christophe BOUCETTA — September 3, 2011 @ 4:23 pm |
I’m also stucked with the upgrade to Lync at my company and customers. It’s still not time to kill or repay the investment made in telephony (Cisco or Siemens) before replacing all with a full Lync IP-PBX.
There are rumors of an update for this quarter (http://www.reijling.nl/?p=675) but no one at Microsoft has confirmed.
If you use the MOC client connected to the Lync server you can use both RCC and video calls. But this is not what we want… we want to show user new and improved features and interfaces
Comment by LuisR — January 19, 2012 @ 7:30 pm |
Hey Luis,
yep, ive heard those rumours too…. independantly of that article…. but am in the same boat as everyone else – just have to wait and see if it actually does happen.
MOC client with RCC – yes, but only up to a certain version – if you patch it to the latest, the fucntionality has been taken out… (i dont know off the top of my head which exact version this happened at, but its kinda irrelevant, as you cant keep a dead-ended poroduct with no patch support in production)
MS really do like to make things difficult as far as interopability…. its one thing to want to own the market… but getting there via having the best technical product doesnt always seem to be path that MS take.
Comment by hayesjupe — January 19, 2012 @ 8:14 pm |