Microsoft announced 2 new updates to the Office 365 platform today.

1. Password Expiration Notifications in Outlook

Like most people, I don’t keep track of when my password is about to expire. using BPOS, this was not a problem. I got told 14 days before it was due. In comes Office 365 and the notification vanishes. It took a year, but now Microsoft is back in the notification game. They wrote:

Outlook 2007 and 2010 now provides users with password expiration notifications. These advance notifications will be shown in a pop-up message within a certain period of time as configurable by the administrator. They will also include links (URLs) to the Microsoft Online Portal where users can change/update their passwords. Outlook will quit if the user clicks on ‘No’. The user will still be able to access his inbox, but Outlook will show a “need password” notification and no new mail will be synced. For users whose passwords have already expired, Outlook will flash an error message.

Now, if only the notifications would work on Outlook and mail.app on OSX, on my iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Samsung tablet and whatever the Linux people use – everything would be just dandy. IMHO Microsoft could make millions of users aware of their need for changing their password, by simply sending them a mail 14 days before. That would work on any platform. But still, it’s good news.

2. Screenshots Added to Domain Verification Guides

Microsoft wrote:

To use a custom domain with Office 365, administrators must edit DNS records to verify ownership of the domain. The Office 365 portal walks administrators through this verification process, explaining the specific steps to perform at popular domain registrars. These steps now include screenshots that illustrate the exact place in the registrar’s web site to perform each task.

Ehh okay.. I have no comments. It’s good for those who have problems figuring out DNS. I don’t, so it doesn’t give me that much added value as the information above.

[Office 365]