Jason Langridge’s Mr Mobile Blog

Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 has just been released to the web for Download.   It even made the front page of the latest Technet Magazine which is quite surprising for a Service Pack.

There are many key enhancements in Service Pack 1 however from a mobile perspective there are some very important additions.

With Service Pack 1 we have added 30+ new policies for Exchange Activesync.  These new policies will require a future version of Windows Mobile (similar to System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008) however they can be implemented within your Exchange 2007 environment now ready for when that version becomes available. 

There are 2 different categories of policies – the first set control the Sync, Authentication and Encryption settings.  The second set are really focused on controlling functions on the device.

Sync

Within the Synchronisation setup we have the ability to configure many of the synchronisation options on the device:

Configure message formats (HTML or plain txt)
Include past email items
Email body truncation size
HTML email body truncation size
Include past calendar items (Duration)
Require manual sync while roaming

Authentication

With the device password we can enforce more complexity as well as setting a password expiration and remembering password history

Minimum number of complex characters
Enable password recovery
Allow simple password
Password Expiration (Days)
Enforce password history
Allow Windows file share access
Allow Windows SharePoint access

Encryption

From a security perspective we can control the use of SMIME as well as whether Device Encryption is enforced

Require signed SMIME messages
Require encrypted SMIME messages
Require Signed SMIME algorithm
Require encrypted SMIME algorithm
Allow SMIME encrypted algorithm negotiation
Allow SMIME SoftCerts
Enforce Device encryption

As I mentioned previously the second set of policies control much of the device, network and application functionality.

Device Control

Disable desktop ActiveSync
Disable removable storage
Disable camera
Disable SMS and any MMS text messaging

Network Control

Disable Wi-Fi
Disable Bluetooth
Disable IrDA
Allow internet sharing from device
Allow desktop sharing from device

Application Control

Disable POP3/IMAP4 email
Allow consumer email
Allow browser
Allow unsigned applications
Allow unsigned CABs
Application allow list
Application block list

All of the NEW Exchange Activesync policies are described on the Technet Website in detail HERE

There is also a whole host of documentation for Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 available:

· What’s New in Exchange Server 2007 SP1

· Standby Continuous Replication

· Upgrading Clustered Mailbox Servers to Exchange 2007 SP1

· Monitoring Continuous Replication

· New High Availability Features in Exchange 2007 SP1

· How to Install Exchange 2007 SP1 Prerequisites on Windows Server 2008

· Installing Cluster Continuous Replication on Windows Server 2008

· Installing Single Copy Clusters on Windows Server 2008

· New Client Access Features in Exchange 2007 SP1

· New Transport Features in Exchange 2007 SP1

· New Mailbox Features in Exchange 2007 SP1

· New Unified Messaging Features in Exchange 2007 SP1

· IPv6 Support in Exchange 2007 SP1

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If you have a Windows Mobile 6 device that didn’t come with Office Mobile (for example the HTC S620) you can now buy it from the Handango Retail store.

So…..

1) If you have a Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC or Windows Mobile 6 device that came with Office Mobile you can use the FREE upgrade to get support for Office 2007.

2) If you have a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device (ie Smartphone) which didn’t come with Office Mobile (eg. The HTC S620) then you can buy Office Mobile from the Handango Retail store.

3) If you have a Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone there isn’t unfortunately an upgrade path or way of getting Office Mobile. 

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OK – so we had a bit of a false start before…. but…

Office Mobile 6.1 has now been released for Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC and Windows Mobile 6 devices. 

The upgrade is a FREE download from Microsoft.com and will allow you to open and edit Office 2007 file format documents from Word (.docx) and Excel (.xlsx) You can also view Powerpoint 2007 (pptx) documents. 

Other improvements include:
• Enhanced viewing experience for charts in Excel Mobile.
• Ability to view SmartArt in PowerPoint Mobile.
• Ability to view and extract files from compressed (.zip) folders.

This free upgrade works only for Windows Mobile powered devices that have an earlier version of Office Mobile. If your Windows Mobile powered device does not have Office Mobile applications, this upgrade will not work for you.

You can download it from HERE

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Today I’m at our Mobius Conference and we showed the next version of Windows Mobile to a number of influential bloggers.

Sites such as Engadget,  WMExperts and Modaco.com amongst others are carrying some details about the next release.

I’ve had a number of people email me asking for more.. but unfortunately I can’t share anymore other than what exists on the sites above……

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Live Search is still my favourite application for Maps and Local information however Google has just released an updated version of it’s competitive application Google Maps Mobile 2.0 now has support for My Location, a positioning feature that works without the need for a GPS. You can download it from www.google.com/gmm.

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I spotted this great cartoon on Steve’s blog from the Fake Steve Jobs Blog about the class structure in the UK and how Brits will adopt the iPhone. 

The cartoon from the Telegraph is very funny…

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We’ve just announced 2 events in the UK next year which will focus on our recently announced System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Product as well as Windows Mobile. 

If you want to learn more about the future roadmap of Windows Mobile or are interested in understanding more about System Center Mobile Device Manager (whether that be the device management, security or mobile VPN capabilities) then you should try and come along:

The events are being held in Manchester and London in February and you can register via the links below:

19 February 2008, Manchester: Windows Mobile and System Center Device Manager
26 February 2008, London: Windows Mobile and System Center Device Manager

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I had to laugh when I read Steve’s blog article about what to buy the man who has everything… (Of course the standard response is Nothing…) My Wife was asking me the exact same thing at the weekend.  She was further annoyed because I’d already been out and bought new socks….. what was there left

It actually got me thinking there should be a Facebook (or other social networking related site) application where you can reach your wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend/significant others friends to build a Christmas gift list for your loved one….  That way my wife could ask all my techy friends what to get me for Christmas! 

I’ve circumvented the need for this year by giving my Wife my friend Yatty’s email address (he is the one person I know who’s house I always come away from needing to make a technology acquisition)  (One of my friends actually refuses to come to my house anymore as he says it always costs him too much money in technology purchases )

Now in all seriousness for Steve – and all other similar geeks out there… the top options have got to be:

1) SONOS – www.sonos.com – this has to be the coolest way to distribute music around your house (and it’s a doddle to setup too!)

2) Guitar Hero 3 – http://www.guitarhero.com/ – http://www.guitarherogame.com/gh3/ – Forget Air Guitar – this is massive fun – especially with the new wireless guitars!!

3) Scene It – http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/s/sceneitlightscameraaction/ – another XBOX game but a great way of avoiding the re-run of Wizard of Oz….Check out those cool wireless controllers!

4) LapJacks – www.lapjacks.com – How to turn your boring laptop into something very cool!  You can even get a custom image made into the laptop cover!

4) Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt – http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/991e/ – Can’t survive without bandwidth – this t-shirt is for you (Steve – I know you are going to hate this one)

5) Ultra Mobile PC – The Sony Vaio VGN-UX1 was incredibly expensive but has just been slashed in price (in the UK) by nearly 40% – Of course you could buy the EEPC (running XP or Vista of course) but for me the UX1 is much much nicer!

6) VOIP Mouse – I’ve been using one of the Sony VN-CX1 VoIP mice with Office Communicator for the past few months now… you can use it with Skype too.  Nothing quite beats – Firstly people thinking you are completely mad and talking to your mouse, then them realising that it’s a phone and a speakerphone!

7) Igo Charging solution – www.igo.com – I’ve invested in these chargers and all the tips so I can charge anything, anywhere with just one charger! A very cool solution!  (I’m still waiting on that Zune Tip though)

Hopefully something there for every price range

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Last week Vodafone announced their half yearly results.  What was interesting was that Vodafone now separate out non-voice revenue into messaging and data revenue.

The total revenue for non-voice was 967 million UK Pounds which was approximately 20% of the overall group revenue. 

Voice revenue only grew 7%, Messaging revenue grew 9% whilst Data grew a massive 49%.

So what’s driving this revenue growth?  I suspect it’s a combination of 3G Handsets now reaching mass adoption combined with the availability of some very good mobile sites, web 2.0 applications and mobile internet usage in general.   I also believe it’s due to the consumer friendly ‘capped’ tarrifs that have been introduced.

You can read more about their results HERE

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I was talking with a customer who was confused why they couldn’t get their email to sync to their device even though they could still receive new email on their PC. 

After a bit of investigation – This was due to Mailbox Quotas – the mechanism in Exchange to enforce limits on how much email you can store in your Mailbox.  Essentially if you can’t manage your mail then you will be prevented from using it

When you setup Mailbox Quotas in Exchange there are 3 quotas you can set:

1) Issue a Warning

2) Prohibit Send

3) Prohibit Send and Receive

Somewhat strangely – Your Mobile device will stop syncing when you eclipse the second quota (Prohibit Send) – the reason is that the second quota prevents you from writing any new data to the Exchange store and the sync operation requires you to store the sync state in the mailbox. 

Of course you can always free up some more space in your mailbox by going to Menu > Tools > Emtpy Deleted Items in Outlook Mobile.

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