Rich Experience Clients

Rich experience clients provide users with full-featured desktop applications for email, instant messaging, and business productivity and require methods for distributing, configuring and updating clients.

Rich experience clients include the following desktop applications:

 Microsoft Office 2010 (including Outlook)

 Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 (including Outlook)

 Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac and Microsoft Entourage® 2008 Web Services Edition

 Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac

 Office Web Apps

 Microsoft Lync 2010

 Office 365 desktop setup

3.11.1.1 Rich Experience Hardware Requirements

Table 16 shows the hardware requirements for operating systems installed on client computers.

Table 16. Operating System Requirements for Rich Experience Clients Operating System Hardware Requirements

Windows XP (SP3) or later  500 megahertz (MHz) Pentium processor or faster; 1 gigahertz (GHz) recommended

 256 megabytes (MB) or more of system RAM Windows Vista SP2 or

later  1 GHz Pentium processor or faster

 1 gigabyte (GB) or more of system RAM Windows 7 Enterprise,

Professional, Ultimate RTM and later

 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

Windows Server 2008 R2  2 GHz or faster 64-bit (x64) processor

 4 GB RAM

3.11.1.2 Rich Experience Software Requirements

Table 17 shows rich experience software requirements for client computers Table 17. Software Requirements for Client Computers

Scenario Supported Version

Operating systems  Windows 7 Enterprise, Professional, Ultimate RTM and above

 Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate Service Pack 2 and above

 Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 and above with RPC over HTTP Update

 Windows Server 2008

 Windows Server 2008 R2

 Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

 Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Note: Windows versions that do not allow for machines to be domain joined (for example, Home or Media Center editions) can be used with Office 365 suite. However, identity federated users will be prompted for credentials each time to use each of the services with Office 365.

System software  Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0+ (Windows XP)

 Java client 1.4.2 (for Macintosh OS X)*

Microsoft Office/email  Office 2010

 Office 2007 (SP2) or later

 Office for Mac 2011

 Office 2008 for Mac and Microsoft Entourage® 2008 Web Services Edition

 Mainstream IMAP client for low fidelity experience

Note: Some features, such as Archiving and Retention, requiring specific versions of Outlook. See License requirements for Personal Archive and retention policies.

Scenario Supported Version

 Internet Explorer 7 or later

 Firefox 3 or later

 Lync 2010 desktop client

 Lync Attendee client (This is a free download that can be used by external users join Lync Online meetings. It is available from the Microsoft Download Site.

Enterprise single

sign-on  Domain joined Windows computer

 Macintosh users will be prompted for credentials Client applications  Windows Live ID components

 Windows Live Sign-In Assistant

 Office 365 desktop setup

Notes:

 Only Windows versions that can be joined to a domain are able to utilize identity federation with single sign-on. (For example, Windows Professional, Business, and Enterprise editions.)

 Outlook 2003 (or earlier editions of Outlook) and Office Communicator clients are not supported.

3.11.1.3 Outlook Client

Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 and Microsoft Outlook 2007 with Service Pack (SP) 2 are the supported Outlook clients for Office 365.

The features only available with Outlook 2010 include:

 Conversation View

 MailTips

 Find a room

 Text message integration with Windows mobile phone

 Ability to remove (mute) yourself from conversations.

For a complete description of Outlook 2010 features, see Top 10 reasons to try Outlook 2010.

Although Office 365 supports Outlook 2007 SP2, some functions available in Outlook 2010 may not be available in Outlook 2007 SP2.

Note: Identity federated users will be required to check the “save my password” option when initially configuring Outlook 2007 SP2. If a user changes their password, they may be required to reenter their password Outlook and check the box again.

3.11.1.4 Microsoft Office Professional Plus Subscriptions

With Microsoft Office Professional Plus, Office 365 provides organizations with the ability to use Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 on a subscription basis.

Subscriptions are managed in the Microsoft Online Services Portal. Users will need to download and install Microsoft Office on their computers prior to being granted a subscription.

Note: On a non-subscription basis, Office 365 supports Office 2010, Office 2007 (SP2), Office 2008 for Mac, and Microsoft Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition.

You can review the Office Professional Plus Service Description for a comprehensive description of Microsoft Office Professional Plus.

3.11.1.5 Lync 2010 Client

The Lync 2010 desktop client should be deployed on each PC that will connect to Lync Online.

You may choose to have your users install the application themselves or deploy via software distribution. For full functionality with Lync Online, the Lync Cumulative Update 2 (CU2) or later should be used, and it can be downloaded from the Microsoft Online Services Portal download page.

Note: Lync has specific client system requirements. See Lync 2010 System Requirements.

3.11.1.6 Manual Distribution of Client Updates

Before rolling out the necessary software and patches in your organization, it is important for large enterprise organizations to determine how to install the following client applications:

 Microsoft Office 2010

 Microsoft Office 2007 SP2

 Microsoft Lync 2010 client

 Internet Explorer 7.0 or later

 Outlook add-ins

 Service packs,

 Hotfixes

 Office 365 desktop setup

this software to users’ computers through Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) or Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), group policy, or another software distribution tool.

All of the updates and patches that are required for Office 365 client setup are listed and

described in the Help topic Manually update and configure desktops for Office 365 for the latest patches.

3.11.1.7 Client Updates with Office 365 Desktop Setup

For smaller deployment projects, Microsoft at no charge provides the Office 365 desktop setup, an application which installs a set of required components and updates to each PC that uses rich clients (such as Microsoft Office 2010) and connects to the Office 365 service.

After the Office 365 desktop setup is installed, it automatically detects when new updates are necessary and installs them on the PC.

Note: The Office 365 desktop setup package is not an authentication or sign-in service and should not be confused with single sign on.