Visual Studio administrators assign Visual Studio subscriptions to users so that they can take advantage of all the benefits associated with a subscription. There’s a handy guide for administrators with lots of links to useful training and documentation resources which you can find here: https://bit.ly/3wzq6OA.
Author Archives: Louise Ulrick
Retirement of Cloudyn
Microsoft acquired Cloudyn in July 2017 and have spent the last four years integrating much of the Cloudyn capabilities into the Azure Cost Management tools. Cloudyn will now retire on 30 June, 2021.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3zF3g9Y.
Microsoft Scheduler
Microsoft announce the availability of Scheduler, a new Microsoft 365 service to make scheduling meetings easier and faster. Users can now ask Cortana in their own words to schedule a meeting whether that’s with internal attendees, external people, or a mixture of both. Meeting organizers need to be licensed with a Scheduler licence which is priced at $10 per user per month and requires one of a whole host of qualifying licences – essentially Exchange Online Plan 1 or any plan which includes it.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/35CH0zJ, and the Product Terms page with the list of qualifying licences here: https://bit.ly/2OFt7vB.
Azure Virtual Desktop
Microsoft announce that Windows Virtual Desktop is now Azure Virtual Desktop. There are a whole host of new features in preview, as well as a new licensing option. Historically, users licensed with Microsoft 365 E3/E5/F3/Business Premium or Windows 10 E3/E5 or Windows 10 VDA E3/E5 licenses have rights to the service for virtual desktops and apps. Now, there’s a per user option for external users which is a monthly per user price of $5.50 for apps, or $10 for apps + desktops, with a no-cost promotional period from 14 July, 2021 to 31 December, 2021.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3v4aa56.
Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide
There’s an updated (June 2021) Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide. The update is mainly a few clarifications/additions around security roles and default capacities, and “Call Intelligence” is rebranded to “Conversation Intelligence”. The Change Log on page 59 has the full details, and you can find the guide itself here: https://bit.ly/3uXqKDN.
Power Platform Licensing Guide
There’s an updated (June 2021) Power Platform Licensing Guide.
There are just two minor updates, the first being that the availability of the Power Apps Portals login Tier 3 Add-on is no longer just restricted to CSP, and secondly, Process Advisor is added.
Process Advisor helps organisations decide which parts of their processes it would be best to automate, and it’s licensed via a Power Automate per User licence – you can find out more about Process Advisor here: https://bit.ly/3g1GotB, and the updated Power Platform Licensing Guide here: https://bit.ly/2Rv0KSx.
Career Coach licence prerequisites
Microsoft update the Product Terms site for May 1, 2021 by adding the licence prerequisites for Career Coach, which are Office 365 A1, A3 or A5, or Microsoft 365 A3 or A5: https://bit.ly/2OFt7vB.
Find out more about Career Coach here: https://bit.ly/33Co2IN.
External user licensing requirements for Teams
Microsoft update the Product Terms site for May 1, 2021 by confirming that User SLs are not required for any user to join a Teams meeting or a Teams Live event. User SLs are also not required for external users to participate in Teams channels as a Guest with an Azure AD External Identity: https://bit.ly/3eGET3e.
BizTalk Server 2020 Licensing Datasheet
We found a BizTalk Server 2020 Licensing Datasheet from Microsoft. It’s a useful summary of the editions, general licensing models, and options for licensing for virtualisation.
Find this Licensing Datasheet here: https://bit.ly/3nWHKrY.
Audio Conferencing and Phone System
Microsoft update the Product Terms site for May 1, 2021 by adding in Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium as eligible prerequisite licences for Audio Conferencing and Phone System: https://bit.ly/2SEiaMG.