Skype for Business on Mac Now Generally Available

   

By Luke Jones -
October 27, 2016 7:01 pm CET 

Microsoft has moved Skype for Business from preview on Mac and made it available to everyone on download. The service moves to GA with a couple of major new features.

Microsoft originally rolled out Skype for Business to Apple’s Mac platform back in April as a preview release. At the time, Microsoft announced that the client would reach full availability during the third quarter. That timeframe came and went on September 30 with no release. A little later than planned, Microsoft has announced general availability.

Skype for Business on Mac is now available to all users of the platform. The service is now available for download and will likely be a welcome sight for users. That’s because they have not had a Microsoft solution for business contacts recently. Not a modern one at least, with Lync for Mac released way back in 2011.


The company has been updating Skype for Business on Mac with new features in preview. In July, the company rolled out an update that beefed up the feature set before launch. That has continued with this GA roll out with a couple of new capabilities added to the client.

New general release features

Present in a meeting from your mobile app—Now you can present content right from Android or iOS device. No more emailing files and links back and forth when you present from your phone or tablet. Now sharing a PowerPoint deck in a meeting is as easy as selecting the file from your favorite cloud drive and presenting right from your phone. On Android, you can also share a file stored on the device itself. With swipe gestures, you can easily transition between different slides. Once shared, the PowerPoint file also becomes available in the meeting’s content bin for other participants to download or present.


Video-based Screen Sharing for mobile devices—We’re also continuing to enhance the content viewing experience with Skype for Business on mobile devices by using Video-based Screen Sharing (VbSS) for content viewing on iOS and Android apps. The initial setup is much faster, the experience more reliable, while also consuming network bandwidth efficiently. It provides a seamless viewing experience, especially if you are sharing animated content such as CAD models. Learn more about VbSS and how it can enhance your meeting experience.