Lync Client on Linux

I have been wondering lately if it is possible to use Lync from a linux workstation.  As far as I am aware there is no official support or even a chance that the client will run outside of a virtual windows box or similar. (if somone has managed to get the Lync client running under wine or similar i’d love to hear about it) however it seems it is possible to at least have basic chat functionality using pidgin.

For my ubuntu laptop it was simply a case of running:

sudo apt-get install pidgin
sudo apt-get install pidgin-SIPE

Then running pidgin and adding my account details in as a “Office Communicator” account type.

For example:

Protocol: Office Communicator
Username: sipaddress
login: domain\user
Password: password

If all your services are published in DNS you wont need to mess about in the advanced tab but be warned you may get a certificate warning if you used self-signed certs.