In case you didn't know, our beloved UC applications have new icons associated to them. I looked for these and didn't find them together at the same place, so I decided to share them here.
The Lync logo is 220x220px, the other 2 are 256x256px.
You can save the picture by right clicking on them in your browser.
*UPDATE* : you can find an entire set of Office 2013 icons on DeviantArt (in both PNG as ICO files)
Fire up your download managers and burn your internet connection, Office 2013 RTM is now available for download on MSDN/Technet!
Microsoft just released a Visio stencil containing 285 shapes to design your own Lync architectures.
Portion of the icons in the stencil
After installing Lync 2013, I saw that Microsoft updated the Lync 2013 system tray icons that indicate your presence state:
Just a minor change, but they do look a bit fresher to me 
Lync 2013 RTM Documentation
This download contains a compiled help file (.chm) of all the available Lync Server 2013 IT professional documentation in the Technical Library.
Download Here View Online Announcement on Nexthop
Lync 2013 RTM Release Notes
This document contains important information that you should know before you deploy and use Lync Server 2013
UCMA 4.0 Runtime
Unified Communications Managed API (UCMA) 4.0 is a managed-code platform that developers use to build applications that provide access to and control over Microsoft Enhanced Presence information, instant messaging, telephone and video calls, and audio/video conferencing.
Not available through search on the Microsoft download site, but it's already available for download using the direct link below.
Download Here
http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-US/app/lync/ba4b9485-8712-41ff-a9ea-6243a3e07682
When you Join a meeting in Lync 2013 and you also have installed the Lync MX App for Windows 8 then Windows asks you which application you want to use to join meetings.
When Windows asks you which program you have the option to select “Lync” which is actually the Lync MX App for Windows 8 and “Microsoft Lync” which is Lync 2013.
Windows only asks this question once so if you accidentally selected the “Lync” App for Windows 8, you are stuck with this app and does not provide all the functionality.
Meeting joined with Lync MX App for Windows 8
If you want to change this back to Lync 2103 or switch between “Lync” & “Microsoft Lync” then you need to go to
Go all the way down to Protocols and find LYNC15 (URL:Lync15)
Lync is selected as the default application (Lync MX App for Windows 8)
Select Change Program and Select “Microsoft Lync” to switch meeting join with Lync 2013
This should be the result
Now I can join again with Lync 2013 
Windows Phone 8 SDK has been released
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35471
Note : This is a heavy download as you also download Visual Studio Express!
The nice thing is that the Emulator runs in Hyper-V 
You can even configure your email on the emulator
Let’s see if we can install Lync Mobile Client on the Emulator
Unfortunately you cannot access the Marketplace in the Emulator.
Hopefully this will get fixed soon..
Conclusion : unfortunately no Lync Mobile Client on the Emulator
During our recent Lync Community Technical training we delivered (November 18th in Antwerp) together with Microsoft & TechNet there were a few questions on Office Web Apps Server.
The following questions were raised
Office Web Apps Server is a domain joined machine and must be installed in the Active Directory. It is not supposed to be installed on a DMZ or Perimeter network.
A reverse proxy or Load Balancer must be used to publish an Office Web Apps Server farm internally and or externally.
You have to configure Internal and External URLs very much like you are used to do when configuring Lync Web Services. You only provide an autodiscover URL for the Office Web Apps server in Lync and the Real configuration needs to be done on the Office Web Apps Server
More info: Plan Office Web Apps Server
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219435(v=office.15).aspx
More info: Deploy Office Web Apps Server
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219455(v=office.15).aspx
No Office Web Apps server only takes care of broadcasting PowerPoint presentations in Lync Server 2013.
Web Conferencing Overview
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg425913(v=ocs.15).aspx
More info how Lync uses Office Web Apps Server
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219437(v=office.15).aspx#lyncserver
SharePoint 2013 provides new license enforcement that works with Office Web Apps. If you enable SharePoint licensing and then enable Office Web Apps editing, only the users who have the appropriate license can actually edit Office files in a browser. If no Office Web Apps editing licenses are applied for users, only viewing is supported. For more information about how licensing works in SharePoint 2013, see Configure licensing in SharePoint Server 2013.
So it looks like using it for Lync Server 2013 is free as Office Web Apps is only used to view PowerPoint presentations (potentially other office document formats may follow later on).
Office Web Apps Server should be considered additional software for Lync as is the Mediation Server for example.
I will update this post when I find the final answer on this…
Microsoft Lync VDI 2013 plug-in enables you to experience local like audio and video in peer-to-peer calls and conference calls when using Microsoft Lync 2013 in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Environment.
Downloads:
Microsoft Lync VDI 2013 plugin (64 bit)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35454
Microsoft Lync VDI 2013 plugin (32 bit)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35457
Interesting, now there is a Lync 2013 Basic client available, not sure what this means, would this be a free client?
Microsoft Lync Basic 2013 gives you instant messaging (IM), audio and video calls, online meetings, availability (presence) information, and sharing capabilities all from one, easy-to-use program. It’s a slimmer version of the full Lync 2013 client and provides the same core functionality.
With Lync, you can keep track of your contacts’ availability; send an instant message; and start or join an audio call, video call, or online meeting—all through a consistent, familiar interface. Lync integrates with other Office programs and is available for Windows, Mac, Windows Phone, iPhone, iPod, Android, and Office 365 subscribers.
Lync Basic 2013 provides all the basic functionality that’s available in the full version of Lync (Lync 2013). However, if you want to use any of the following features, talk to your workplace technical support about upgrading to Lync 2013:
Downloads:
Microsoft Lync Basic 2013 (64 Bit)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35450
Microsoft Lync Basic 2013 (32 Bit)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35451
You can download the Lync Basic Client
http://www.pro-lync.be/blogs/lync2013/archive/2012/10/31/lync-2013-basic-client.aspx
The installer looks excactly like the Office 2013 installer
The Microsoft Licensing Terms state the following:
1. INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS.
a. Installation and Use. You may install and use any number of copies of the software on your devices for your use solely with Lync Server 2013 or Lync Online.
I read this as FREE software when being used with Lync Server 2013 or Office 365
Installing
Customize Install Options
Very clearly Office 2013 Based installer as it installs some of the Shared Office Features and Tools
Installing
Finished
Start the Lync 2013 Basic Application and login with your Lync information.
It looks excactly the same as the Lync Full Client
(Call Forwarding is set to : OFF which is not my default setting)
Clicking on the Call Forwarding Options you will see that they are grayed out and forwarding is turned off
Going to the options in Lync Basic and Selecting “Call forwarding” options
We see that there are no forwarding capability, Team ring, Delegates or No Voicemail integration
Conversation History is available
The phone environment is also there
(Some voicemails are in there but they obviously come from my full client and sychronised via Exchange Web Services)
Exchange UM or Voice Mail is not available and grayed out
Dialing my mobile number works just like any other phone call
The Parking Lot is grayed out
But I can forward calls to mobile or any other person or number
Meet now works as expected (also adding a whiteboard for example)
You can also do recordings (that is strange as Microsoft says on the download site that recording is not available)
Recording Manager is available
Going to the menu and clicking Response Group Settings does not do anything
As you can see there is no Exchange UM Settings available in the Configuration Information (hence the forward no answer to voicemail options are not available)
Call Park does not work or is grayed out but the “Call Park Server URI” is there
Licensing mode is : Lync Basic
Conclusion
This is a very welcome addition the Lync Clients stack.
Although it has basic features it can do most of the Lync functionality including Peer to Peer, basic Voice and most Conferencing features.
I will need to come back and verify the information if this client is FREE or NOT.
This is great, finally contact cards done right in Lync.
You can Link multiple sources together just like you can in Widows Phone 7 & 8
Then all the information is aggregated into one single contact card.
Information coming from various Sources : Active Directory, Outlook, Lync, Linkedin & Facebook
You can clearly where information is coming from when duplicate information exists.
I do have multiple Lync accounts so if you click next to the IM button you have a choice which account you want to contact
Finally you can even edit right from within the contact card. This information will be saved in Outlook Contacts
How cool is that.
Even search in Lync 2013 works much better than in Lync 2010.
You can for example search for a company (did not work in Lync 2010)
Now we just need the social connector for Twitter & Skype and all is complete
Thanks to Chad McGreanor's Blog for pointing to these wonderfull tools
Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Debugging Tools are provided to help IT Administrators with troubleshooting deployments of Lync Server 2013.
Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Debugging Tools is a collection of additional tools for use by IT Admins to aid in troubleshooting Lync Server 2013 deployments. The collection of tools include:
Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35453
It looks just the same as we know it
And snooper kind of looks the same but has been updated
There is also a conversation viewer that comes in very handy which lets you view the SIP conversation between hops
Something I had problems with is the XML data in the body of a SIP Message, you had to copy and paste into an XML browser to view this in a good way.
This one is big I think, now we have an inline XML viewer
There is a log selector but not sure how that works jet, need some more digging around.
Another handy feature is you can open the tekst file and go to the location where you are located in the snooper tool
The test file opens in notepad on the correct message
a Time Shift tool as in my local time the logs are usually a few hours off
Some other options available
Thanks for bringing back our favorite troubleshooting tools and their additional features
You can use Microsoft Lync Server 2013, Best Practices Analyzer to identify and resolve problems with your Lync Server deployment. The Lync Server 2013, Best Practices Analyzer gathers configuration information from Lync Server 2013 components.
With the proper network access, the Best Practices Analyzer can examine servers running Active Directory Domain Services, Exchange Server Unified Messaging (UM), and Lync Server. You can use Best Practices Analyzer to do the following:
Best Practices Analyzer provides the following features:
Lync Server 2013 Best Practices Analyzer
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35455
For this post I am logged on as a regular user without any Administrative credentials.
Just type a name and Join the meeting
The Lync Web App wants to download/install an HTML5 plugin to enable Audio & Video
Run the application as a regular user, no credentials are request and no UAC dialog is displayed. The plugin just installs
Joining the meeting
You have to add the URL to the trusted sites or admit it every time (your choice)
Joining to the meeting including Audio
This is awesome, no credentials required and any user can join Lync 2013 meetings with all functionality without requiring a full client or admin credentials.
I bet this will hurt Webex hard!
Technet Meeting - Lync 2013 Architecture
Lync Server 2013 introduces many new features, along with significant enhancements to existing functionality. This session provides a high-level introduction to these new features and enhancements as well as covering a more in depth look at topology, high availability, scale and disaster recovery. This includes architectural underpinnings for these changes and details around the Lync 2013 enterprise grade resiliency and how the administrator experience toolset is expanded for new scenarios.
Download: http://www.pro-lync.be/media/p/1628.aspx
Technet Meeting - Lync 2103 Video & Meetings
Lync Server 2013 introduces the following new video features: HD video with resolutions up to HD 1080P in two-party calls and multiparty conferences, Gallery View In video conferences that have more than two people and 264 video codec which is now the default for encoding video on Lync 2013 clients. H.264 video supports a greater range of resolutions and frame rates, and improves video scalability. The Lync Web App adds computer audio and video to provides a complete in-meeting experience...
Download: http://www.pro-lync.be/media/p/1629.aspx
Technet Meeting - Lync 2013 Architecture
Lync Server 2013 introduces many new features, along with significant enhancements to existing functionality. This session provides a high-level introduction to these new features and enhancements as well as covering a more in depth look at topology, high availability, scale and disaster recovery. This includes architectural underpinnings for these changes and details around the Lync 2013 enterprise grade resiliency and how the administrator experience toolset is expanded for new scenarios.
View recording: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/lync-server-2013-architecture-administration.aspx
Download slides: http://www.pro-lync.be/media/p/1628.aspx
Technet Meeting - Lync 2103 Video & Meetings
Lync Server 2013 introduces the following new video features: HD video with resolutions up to HD 1080P in two-party calls and multiparty conferences, Gallery View In video conferences that have more than two people and 264 video codec which is now the default for encoding video on Lync 2013 clients. H.264 video supports a greater range of resolutions and frame rates, and improves video scalability. The Lync Web App adds computer audio and video to provides a complete in-meeting experience...
View recording: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/whats-new-in-lync-server-2013-video-and-meetings.aspx
Download slides: http://www.pro-lync.be/media/p/1629.aspx
Recently I got interesting information about some 3rd party solutions developed for Lync.
Both of these solutions work together with the Ferrari Electronics Gateways officially certified for Lync 2010/2013
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/gg131938
2 Solutions are profiled here:
View the video’s here
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=FB75B89C952F035B&id=FB75B89C952F035B%21124
Finally Music on Hold for the Aries phones :)
This update also fixes the following problems:
Description of the cumulative update for Lync Phone Edition for Aastra 6721ip and Aastra 6725ip: December 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2737909/en-us
Description of the cumulative update for Lync Phone Edition for HP 4110 and HP 4120: December 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2737910/en-us
Description of the cumulative update for Lync Phone Edition for Polycom CX500, Polycom CX600, and Polycom CX3000 telephones: December 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2737911
Description of the cumulative update for Lync Phone Edition for Polycom CX700 and LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540 telephones: December 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2737912
