Users trying to run a Power Apps app which requires a licence can now request a licence from their IT department directly from within the product. IT administrators can view licence requests in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and approve them as required.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3AepvVX, along with instructions for IT administrators here: https://bit.ly/3LbOCyV.
Microsoft announce that Defender for Endpoint now supports (in preview) a mix of Plan 1 and Plan 2 licences. Previously, in cases of multiple plans, the highest functional subscription would take precedence for a tenant. Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/43MaubA, and some examples of mixed licensing scenarios here: https://bit.ly/40hiyOw.
Microsoft announce that Windows 365 Frontline is now in public preview. Windows 365 Enterprise and Business became available in August 2021, Windows 365 Government (for US Government) in October 2022, and now Windows 365 Frontline joins this family of cloud PCs.
Like the rest of the family, Windows 365 Frontline delivers a personalised Cloud PC (consisting of Windows, apps, data and settings) to users, but is aimed at shift workers in an organisation. Every licence purchased allows a business to create 3 Cloud PCs which, in effect, cover 3 employees in 8-hour shifts over a 24-hour period. Note that the number of people using a Windows 365 Frontline Cloud PC at any one time can be no greater than the number of licences purchased. So, if you have 3 shifts of 110, 90, and 100 workers you would need to purchase 110 Windows 365 Frontline licences which would allow you to deploy 330 Cloud PCs, of which 110 can be used at any time.
Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/3GySbMQ, a good overview video here: http://bit.ly/3mnfiTV, and join the public preview here: https://bit.ly/3nVu9VN.
Microsoft have made a number of changes to Windows Server 2022 licensing, detailed in the April 2023 Product Terms.
First of all they’ve removed the requirement for a customer to have a minimum of 16 Windows Server Core licences in their estate before they can take advantage of licensing by virtual machine or use the Azure Hybrid Benefit. Secondly, there’s a change to the Azure Hybrid Benefit where Windows Server Core licences no longer have to be kept in groups of 8 when licensing a virtual machine with more than 8 cores – previously a 20-core virtual machine would have needed 24 licences (3×8), now it just needs 20.
Then there are changes to the rights when Windows Server licences are acquired as Software Subscriptions through CSP. If a customer has these licenses then they may use Standard licences with Windows Server Datacenter virtual machines. This right is available to them if they’re running their virtual machines in their own on-premises data centres, or with Authorized Outsourcers.
And finally there are changes when a CSP-Hoster partner sells Windows Server Software Subscription licences as part of a solution which they are hosting and managing for a customer. In this case, there’s no need for Windows Server CALs or External Connector licences, and the right to use Standard licences with Datacenter images also applies as above.
There’s an updated (April 2023) Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises Licensing Guide with just minor changes – simply a correction made.
Find this updated guide here: https://bit.ly/40a0SUZ.
If you want to be the first to know when there’s a change made to the Product Terms, consider subscribing to the new Product Terms RSS feed. If you haven’t added an RSS feed to Outlook before, use the instructions here: https://bit.ly/3AiPz2k with this link: https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/feed/rss.
Universal Print is a software-as-a-service printing solution that runs entirely on Microsoft Azure and eliminates the need to maintain traditional on-premises print servers or install printer drivers. Customers licensed with Windows 10 Enterprise E3. E5, A3 and A5 or Microsoft 365 A3, A5, F3 and Business Premium receive 5 print jobs per licence per month which are pooled at the tenant level, and from 1st May 2023, users licensed with Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 will receive 100 print jobs per licence. If additional capacity is needed there are Add-ons available providing a further 500 print jobs per month.
Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/3KTwARS, and a useful page on the licensing here: http://bit.ly/3Mzfbzd.
There’s an April 2023 version of the popular Microsoft 365 plan comparison document showing you the different components in all of the Enterprise and Frontline Worker plans and the Add-on licences that are available. This time it’s updated for new offerings such as Intune Plan 2 and the Intune Suite. Find this useful document here: https://bit.ly/2LG4gqi.
There’s an updated (April 2023) Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide with just a few small changes. Firstly, the term “Cortana Intelligence” is replaced with “Azure AI”. Then there’s a note added on page 33 that for organisations licensed for Intelligent Order Management, Modern Workplace-licensed users can use Teams to collaborate on Intelligent Order Management records.
And finally, the information on Capacity Add-ons has been reworked a little on pages 40 and 41. Help yourself to this updated guide here: http://bit.ly/40ZeV0j.
There’s an updated (March 2023) Microsoft Azure Customer Solution Licensing Brief. There’s just one change of note – confirmation that if you’re an on-premises hoster you can use the Azure services under your own agreement to protect the on-premises servers with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. The table on page 3 is updated, and an extra FAQ is added on page 5. Find this updated guide here: http://bit.ly/3U6VNLz.