There’s been a fair amount of panic in some quarters as a colleague heard that one of the “patch Tuesday” updates will update our Lync 2013 clients to Skype for Business (which became generally available today). That brings a new user experience and potentially confusion for our users (who are only just getting their heads around switching from OCS and WebEx!). Later on it seemed that the update only applied to Click-to-Run Office ProPlus subscriptions (we have perpetually-licensed MSI-based installations) and finally we got something that I could use to set my colleagues’ minds at rest in a blog post from Scott Stubberfield:

1. “Patch Tuesday” implies security updates but the Skype for Business update is part of the April monthly update for Office 2013 (i.e. an optional update).
2. Quoting Scott’s post, “If you are using Lync Online today with Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 Business Premium or Office 2013, the updated Skype for Business client […] 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.”. That last sentence is the vital one [although I could have saved a lot of time and effort if I’d seem Martin Boam’s post earlier in the day!].
3. It is possible to control the user experience (there’s a PowerPoint presentation linked in Scott’s post). We knew that anyway but some of the documentation suggested the registry change needed to be applied in advance of the update. Certainly on my preview client I can switch back and forth at will between the two UIs, using the [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Lync] key, with a value name EnableSkypeUI, and the data 00 00 00 00. I haven’t got the update yet to test the final release.

Background information

There’s a whole load more information in some really useful posts that Tom Arbuthnot and Matt Landis have put out in the last few days (and an older post from Mark Vale):

• Important Changes coming to the Lync 2013 Client UI/UX in the April 2015 Client Patch.
• Lync 2013/Skype for Business Client User Interface Changes.
• Skype for Business: What’s Coming?

More Skype for Business information

On the topic of Skype for Business, Microsoft is running some webinars in a two-part series (aimed at users, not techies). There’s also a stack of help topics available online and the following links might be useful:

• Run more effective meetings by learning Skype for Business.
• Lync is now Skype for Business – see what’s new.
• Find Skype for Business adoption materials in the Office 365 Customer Success Center.

Also, although it’s a bit late now for Office 365 users, Microsoft did publish some awareness and readiness planning guidance for the Skype for Business client running with Lync Online (which could be re-purposed for on premises updates).