I’ve been reading on Technet and other blogs about co-existence issues between MSI and Click-to-Run installations of Office 2013 products. Can’t say for sure if this will continue when Office 2016 comes out, but if I had a nickel…I’d say yes. It seems probable due to the way that click-to-run (C2R) technology works. Most organizations have Project and Visio out there, but when you’re moving to Office 365 it’s easy to forget about them. All the focus is on setting up Cloud IDs and dealing with Office. But if you have users that will be on Office C2R, you need to also plan for their Project and Visio too. Here’s why.
Let’s start with a quick refresher: C2R is the installation/update technology behind Office applications in the Office 365 Stack. It allows you to provision Office products and future updates from Microsoft Cloud down to your devices. Think of C2R as how you hook up your Microsoft Cloud Identity to your Office applications. I use it, and I can personally validate the cool factor of C2R.
I did the full C2R experience, installing my apps directly from my Office 365 Portal. Most organizations will probably use imaging or a SCCM for the install, but when I did the full soup-to-nuts C2R install I was using Office in less than six minutes over my wireless LAN connection. I pushed a button, got the spinning wheel for a few minutes, and then I was doing spreadsheets and email. Rinse and repeat for Visio but that was even faster.
All technical issues aside, this is a good time to take a look at Project and Visio anyway. They’ve evolved – the GUI is slick, there are new cloud options around the Project stack, and user-based subscriptions mean you can run them on multiple devices under one license. Plus, there is appeal to the idea that once you’ve installed it, Microsoft Cloud will keep it up to date moving forward and it’s all hooked up to the user’s single cloud ID in Office 365. C2R provides an opportunity to assess your usage of Project and Visio to make sure you’re getting the most out of these applications.
So – if you’re looking at Office 2013 and Office 365, don’t forget Project and Visio!
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