Azure Virtual Desktop users get Teams backgrounds and windowing – Redmondmag.com

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Azure Virtual Desktop users get Teams backgrounds and windowing

Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) service users now have access to some core Microsoft Teams features.

Microsoft this week announced the ability to use background images in Teams video conferencing calls and the ability to run Teams components in Windows. Both features have been longtime staples for mainstream Microsoft Teams users, but are now in the “general availability” retail release stage for Teams users of the AVD service.

Organizations wanting to use the new Teams enhancements for the AVD service should optimally use version 1.5.00.11865 or higher of the Teams desktop client, the announcements say.

With the enhancements, Teams video call participants using the AVD service can select different backgrounds for a video conference call, instead of showing the room they’re in. They can also blur a room via a “background blur” feature. A “Background Filter” feature in Teams allows users to make these changes.

Additionally, AVD users can now use windowing in Teams to bring up things like “chats, meetings, calls, or documents.” These windowed apps can also run full screen, Microsoft said:

Previously, in a Teams meeting, if a user went to view their calendar, the meeting window would shrink to the corner of the screen. Now, with multiple window support, users can view separate full-size windows for meetings/calls and the main Teams client during a Teams meeting.

Microsoft also positioned controls for Teams meetings, such as “mute, video, chat, and leave,” at the “top of the meeting window” for AVD users. This change makes controls “always available” without blocking other content.

Teams users of the AVD service also have access to a “Call me” function. It allows users to access the audio portion of a Teams meeting through a phone, which can be a cellphone or a landline. Teams users may want to use the Call Me feature “when using a computer for audio may not be possible,” Microsoft explained.

AVD is Microsoft’s virtual desktop infrastructure service that was launched a few years ago. With this service, workstations and applications are accessible remotely from a virtual machine hosted in Microsoft’s data centers.

About the Author


Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media’s Converge360 group.



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