News
        
        Microsoft Gives 'Lync Room Systems' the Skype Treatment
        
        
        
			- By Kurt Mackie
- November 09, 2015
Starting  Tuesday, Microsoft's Lync Room Systems products will become Skype Room Systems.
A cumulative update scheduled for Nov. 10 will change  the branding of Lync Room Systems -- video-conferencing appliances with  built-in audio, video and white-boarding capabilities that are made by  Microsoft's hardware partners -- to Skype, Microsoft  announced late last week. Microsoft had rebranded its Lync  products to "Skype" back in March. 
The update also will affect the screen's appearance, adding a  "darker theme." Additionally, some of the Lync Room System controls will  get altered.
While end users could get confused by a new software design,  Microsoft's announcement promised minimal user interface (UI) changes. For  instance, PowerPoint's UI won't be changing. Also, meeting room use scenarios won't  change, such as those involving starting meetings, sharing content and making changes  to the display.
That said, the UI will have "the Skype for Business  look and feel" after the update gets applied, Microsoft's announcement  explained.
Microsoft added one new feature with this update. A new "Private"  option will hide the subject line of a meeting from scrolling on Skype Room  Systems, if wanted.  
The Skype Room System changes will arrive via a cumulative  update. Lync Room Systems built by Crestron, Polycom and Smart will automatically  update to become Skype Room Systems, depending on local update settings.  Alternatively, these systems can be manually updated. 
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
            
        
        
                
                    About the Author
                    
                
                    
                    Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.