Microsoft announce the public preview of GitHub Enterprise Local to enable organisations to deploy GitHub Enterprise Server entirely within a customer’s infrastructure using Azure Local.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/4xyesTL.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
SQL Server 2016 ESUs
Microsoft announce a change for SQL Server Extended Security Updates (ESUs) as SQL Server 2016 approaches its End of Support date on 14 July, 2026.
ESUs are optional purchases that extend support by providing an additional three years of Critical updates for on‑premises and cloud‑based workloads. You can buy these as 1‑year ESU licences or through a Pay‑As‑You‑Go ESU meter via Azure Arc.
For SQL Server 2014, migrating SQL workloads to Azure removed the associated ESU costs. However, that’s no longer the case with SQL Server 2016, and instead ESUs are chargeable across all deployment options, including Azure VMs and Azure Stack. SQL Server 2016 ESUs are now available, providing coverage until July 2029.
For more details, you can read the blog announcement here: https://bit.ly/4enD0Yg. Subscribers can join us in July for in-depth training. Not yet a subscriber? Contact us at info@licensingschool.co.uk for details.
Copilot Credits Guide
Microsoft have released a brand-new Copilot Credits Guide!
While some sections are the same as the existing Licensing Guides for Copilot Studio, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform, this 12-page guide adds to that information with details of Copilot Cowork, Work IQ API, and some more guidance on AI administration.
You can grab your copy of the (increasingly rarely-published) PDF guide here: https://bit.ly/4esvZUM or view the website version here: https://bit.ly/44ov5Uz.
Free 30‑day trial for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business
Microsoft announce a free 30-day trial for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business.
Available from July 2026, customers can access the trial from within Copilot Chat without needing to enter any payment information. As with the full license, you must have a valid Microsoft 365 Business license in place, and there’s a maximum of 300 users.
While a readily available trial could be a cause for compliance concerns, Microsoft provide an overview of the considerations and recommend that you have AI usage guidelines in place. To assist with this, admins, as usual, have the ability to disable trials for users within the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
Find the blog announcement here: https://bit.ly/4uvlSo4, the Message Centre post here: https://bit.ly/4uzcdgt, and the prerequisites for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business here: https://bit.ly/4amhBMq.
GitHub Pre-Purchase Plans
Microsoft announce two new GitHub Pre-Purchase Plans.
The first is just for GitHub AI Credits to pay for overage for GitHub Copilot, but the second covers usage across the GitHub portfolio – so you could cover monthly license costs for GitHub Enterprise or GitHub Copilot, as well as GitHub AI Credits.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/4a3NN7n.
Agent 365 updated prerequisites
Microsoft update the prerequisites for Agent 365 once again, with a mid-month change to the Product Terms.
Following the prerequisites added on June 1, 2026 (see our blog post here: https://bit.ly/3SjxSMa), the June 15 update adds further options:
• Microsoft 365 A5
• Microsoft Defender Suite and Microsoft Purview Suite
• Microsoft Defender Suite Edu and Microsoft Purview Suite Edu
A standout point here is that both the Defender AND Purview Suites are required, not just one or the other.
So the (current!) state of play means that alongside Microsoft 365 E5/A5 and Microsoft 365 Business Premium, the Frontline Worker, Education, and Enterprise flavours of the Defender and Purview Suites are all now valid prerequisites. But what about the SMB Defender and Purview Suite bundle? Although not officially listed in the Product Terms, the latest FAQs confirm that you do indeed need it for Agent 365 to work.
Find the Product Terms update here: https://bit.ly/4eaLnGt, the latest Agent 365 FAQs here: https://bit.ly/3QybL46, and a partner FAQ here: https://bit.ly/4uFAbGG.
Work IQ API is generally available
Microsoft have announced the general availability of Work IQ API from 16 June 2026.
Work IQ has been around for a while, providing the intelligence system that connects Microsoft 365 Copilot to an organisation’s internal Microsoft 365 data such as emails, chats, and documents that are exposed via Microsoft Graph. The news is the access to the Work IQ API external interface that lets developers build custom AI Agents outside the standard Microsoft 365 Copilot ecosystem, while providing those Agents access to the same insights you’d get with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Consumption-based charges apply based on app and Agent Work IQ API calls, and on grounding in Microsoft 365 data. A static charge per call applies, paired with a variable cost based on the complexity of the request. Microsoft have introduced a new Cost Management Dashboard in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center to help IT admins review and manage charges and spend. Work IQ API usage is paid for using Copilot Credits, and no separate licence or SKU is required. The usual purchasing options apply: Pay-As-You-Go, Copilot Credits Capacity Packs, Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan, or an Agent Pre-Purchase Plan.
Find the customer announcement here: https://bit.ly/44h1WL1, the partner announcement (with some useful resources) here: https://bit.ly/4vaBZsh, an article with pricing scenarios here: https://bit.ly/3QgQETR, and extra details in a partner-only FAQ here: https://bit.ly/4ebpnv7.
Microsoft Copilot Studio Licensing Guide – June 2026
Microsoft have updated the Copilot Studio Licensing Guide (twice!) for June 2026.
Whilst the first version had minimal changes, a mid-month update completely reworks the document into a couple of main sections – explaining what Copilot Studio is, and explaining how to pay for it.
A few existing errors have been corrected, but some new ones have snuck their way in! If you’re a subscriber, don’t forget that we help you navigate these with our “Cautionary Notes” in the Licensing Guides Gallery: https://bit.ly/GuidesGallery. You can also add the latest guide to your collection with a copy here: https://bit.ly/4x3HSsO.
Dynamics 365 licensing resources – June 2026
Microsoft have updated the Dynamics 365 licensing resources (twice!) for June 2026.
This month we’re treated to a bumper Licensing Guide which has expanded from 72 to 90 pages. The extra pages are mostly due to handy new Entitlements tables outlining the features, usage limits, prices, and Dataverse capacities across a range of products. The Sales Research Agent is now GA and thus gets most of the Agent spotlight this month, offering a natural-language interface to produce visual charts, summaries, and insight around sales data.
Version 2 of the licensing resources corrects a duplication and some errors with the Dataverse capacity allowances. Subscribers can view the Cautionary Notes in the Licensing Guides Gallery to help navigate these kinds of problems, as well as find details of what’s new with each revision: https://bit.ly/GuidesGallery.
Grab the latest Licensing Guide here: https://bit.ly/3RZSuZP and the Licensing Deck here: https://bit.ly/3SlFqOl.
Teams Breakout Rooms
Microsoft announce new limits for Breakout Rooms in Teams as of July 2026. Breakout Rooms were first introduced in 2020, providing sub meetings that a meeting organiser can manage centrally.
They let you split a large main meeting into smaller groups for focused discussion, brainstorming, and collaboration. Until now, a limit of 300 users and 50 Breakout Rooms applied, but this news means that those caps will automatically increase to 1,000 users and 200 rooms.
You can view the Message Center announcement here: https://bit.ly/4aBU4Y7, and a handy 5-minute YouTube video with a live demo of the feature here: https://bit.ly/4xzIo24.