Microsoft Copilot is all around...

  As the debut of Microsoft 365 Copilot approaches, there are a lot of Copilot features set to be introduced across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Here are a few noteworthy additions: Microsoft has unveiled a series of innovative features in the upcoming releases of Windows 11, some of them are already released, and some are currently available in preview builds. The Windows 11 Copilot, conveniently located in the taskbar, eliminates the need to open your Edge browser. It is seamlessly integrated with Bing Enterprise Chat (BEC) and ChatGPT, making it really easy to get started on your creative journey. Included in Windows 11 is the new co-creator feature in Paint. This feature, also in preview, is integrated with DALL-E and provides a swift and straightforward method for creating illustrations and images. If you possess a knack for crafting descriptions, you can generate quite impressive imagery. Another AI-powered feature is image creation directly from BEC. This feature, also integrate

Teams to Skype for Consumer federation is coming

Here is a feature many of my customers have asked for ever since switching from Skype for Business Online to Teams: Teams/Skype Consumer chat and calling interop. 
The feature is listed as Roadmap ID: 53935

According to the message center, the feature will be rolling out in a disabled state, and admins will have to log into the Teams Admin Center to configure it under "external access":


Once configured, users can search the external directory, the same way they can search for internal chat users:

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Once set up, users can chat, call by audio or video, just as they can with other Skype for Business or Teams users. There are a couple of limitations in this initial release, such as no rich formatting, no mentions or emojis. It also looks like you can't search for a Skype ID or phone number, but it is all documented in the interop description found at docks.

And just like that, the world became a little smaller.....