Questions tagged [lync]

Microsoft Lync (formerly Microsoft Office Communicator) and Microsoft Communicator for Mac are instant messaging clients used with Microsoft Lync Server or Lync Online available with Microsoft Office 365 and Live@Edu. They are replacements for Windows Messenger which was used with Microsoft Exchange Server.

Both Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Communicator for Mac are enterprise software, requiring connection to either an on-premise Lync Server instance, or a server instance in-cloud, such as Office 365.

The Lync client contains a contact list of contacts, along with their Presence status. Presence is automatically updated according to Outlook calendar activity, keyboard locking, making or receiving a AV call etc.

Lync supports a number of modalities, including IM, Audio, Video, Desktop Share, File Share. There is some low-level provision to extend this to add custom modalities.

A typical Lync installation will extend Outlook, Sharepoint and Dynamics CRM to presence-enable any Lync contacts displayed. Microsoft have also made available Silverlight/WPF controls to allow developers to Lync-enable custom applications easily.

Useful Links:

1. Microsoft Lync landing page
2. MSDN Lync landing page
3. Lync 2013 SDK Documentation
4. What is Microsoft Lync (a non-technical introduction)
5. Wiki: Lync Server 2010 Features and How to Configure Them