I stumbled across some good Lync Client tools and applications on the Microsoft Lync Adoption and Training Kit website, which I think are very useful for end users and IT professionals. These include:

• IM an Expert
• Conversations Analyzer
• Conversation Translator
• Information Dashboard
• Tabbed Conversations
• Group Chat Stress
• Lync Custom Intranet Site
• Lync How-to

Here’s the Microsoft description of each tool/application:

IM an Expert

IM an Expert is a social networking tool that helps the people in your organization who have questions find the people in your organization who have answers. IM an Expert was originally developed by Microsoft Research and allows users to ask questions on any subject using Lync 2010 instant messaging (IM). IM an Expert parses the question to determine the topic area, finds topic area experts in its user-populated expert database, and forwards the question. A willing expert responds to the initial question and follow-up questions using Lync. IM an Expert builds a knowledge base of questions and answers and provides statistics on queries, answers, and perceived quality.

Conversations Analyzer

Conversations Analyzer is an application that reviews your Lync instant messaging (IM) conversation history and gives you scores for your use of trust-building language in day-to-day communications with business associates and friends. Conversations Analyzer applies trust rules to determine the occurrence of words and phrases that have a positive or negative effect on trust. Only your IM conversation history is reviewed. The results are not uploaded anywhere. The scores are meant to be used only by you.

Conversation Translator

Conversation Translator provides a real-time language translation service for Lync instant messaging (IM) conversations. With Conversation Translator, both the sender and receiver can converse in their native language, and Conversation Translator handles the translation. Powered by the Microsoft Translator Web Service, Conversation Translator currently supports translation between 35 languages.

Information Dashboard

Information Dashboard helps you start a conversation with a remote contact by providing current information about the contact’s location. For example, if you are calling a coworker or a client in Shanghai, China, you can open Information Dashboard and enter the location of Shanghai before making the call. Information Dashboard will return the day, date, time, whether you are calling during regular working hours, the weather forecast, and a news feed of articles related to the location. A contact’s location is saved after you set it and is recalled automatically when you start a new conversation.

Tabbed Conversations

Tabbed Conversations provides a tabbed conversation window to allow multiple instant messaging (IM) conversations in a single window.

• Presence indicators in tabs Tab headers include presence indicators that show the availability of a contact.
• Presence indicators in the Tab List The Tab List shows presence indicators for all contacts in tabbed conversations.
• Tab notifications Tabs are highlighted when they require attention (for example, when a contact is sending an instant message to you or calling you).
• Quick access to common tasks In Windows 7 operating systems, Tabbed Conversations provides quick access to common tasks. You can start a new conversation or make a call rapidly from the taskbar.

Group Chat Stress

You can use the Group Chat Stress package to help verify your Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat hardware deployment. Group Chat Stress is made up of two applications: Group Chat Stress Tool, a UI application, and Group Chat Loaders, the stress engine (which has no UI). Use Group Chat Stress Tool to create the configuration files for the loaders and to distribute the binaries to the remote machines that will be running the loaders. Use Group Chat Loaders to apply the specified load parameters on the Group Chat Server.

Lync Custom Intranet Site

The Lync Custom Intranet Site provides a way for you to deliver a version of Lync 2010 online Help that exactly matches the way your organization works. The site includes HTML source code for all Help pages. It also includes all the short how-to videos, Help topics, Microsoft PowerPoint training presentations, and other resources currently available online.

Lync How-to

Lync How-to is a user education and training tool that provides step-by-step instructions and short videos for common Lync 2010 tasks. You can customize the content by editing the rolodex.xml file that is provided with the Lync How-to download package. For example, you can:

• Add, remove, or modify categories, subcategories, and topics to match your deployment.
• Add or remove videos to match your deployment.
• Modify URLs for related links, training, and feedback to point to your organization’s resources.
• Modify branding to use your organization’s name.

The Lync How-to user education and training tool can be implemented as an HTML or Microsoft Silverlight solution on your website.