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Visual Studio 2015 Licensing Guide

An updated Licensing Guide is available for Visual Studio 2015, so here’s an overview of the changes to the licensing which are all documented in the guide

Visual Studio Editions

  • Two editions remain unchanged (Visual Studio Professional and Test Professional), and two editions (Premium and Ultimate) are replaced with a single Visual Studio Enterprise edition (page 7)
  • These editions come with an MSDN subscription, although Visual Studio Professional is available without MSDN in some Volume Licensing programs
  • These products are no longer available as Full Packaged Product
  • Customers with active Visual Studio Ultimate/Premium with MSDN subscriptions are automatically converted to Visual Studio Enterprise with MSDN (page 31)

MSDN Subscriptions

  • The MSDN Operating Systems subscription is discontinued, and MSDN Platforms remains (page 7)
  • Extra functionality is added into the MSDN Platforms subscription – Lab Management and IntelliTrace (page 15)
  • Active MSDN Operating Systems subscribers can renew into Visual Studio Professional with MSDN (page 31)

Team Foundation Server

  • Team Foundation Server is licensed with the Server/CAL model but there are some tasks that actually require users to be licensed with more than a CAL ie with Visual Studio Enterprise or Test Professional, or with an MSDN Platforms subscription. The list of features that are available with only a CAL is increased and you can find the list on page 25. If you want a bit more detail and explanation, then Microsoft’s Brian Harry’s blog is a great place to go (http://bit.ly/1MclcwM)

Visual Studio Team Explorer

  • Visual Studio Team Explorer is no longer available as a standalone product (page 27) and again, Brian Harry’s blog gives some great background to this decision and also recommends some alternative ways of working

You can download the Visual Studio 2015 Licensing Guide here: http://bit.ly/1hkf7gn.

Extension to RDS rights date

Native RDS support for Office 365 ProPlus arrived in September 2014 meaning that Office 365 ProPlus could be installed in an RDS environment – previously, customers were given a right to use corresponding Office 2013 Volume Licensing media to make this work.

In September, customers were given until 31 August 2015 to make the change to the Office 365 ProPlus software, but page 57 of the August 2015 Product Terms document extends this date to 31 March 2016.

Microsoft Sway General Availability

General Availability is announced for Sway, the Microsoft digital storytelling app. It’s available to customers with an Office 365 plan that includes Office Online, Office 365 Business, or Office 365 ProPlus, although some Office 365 plans that are no longer in market will apparently not give access to Sway.

See some examples of “Sways” and find full details here: http://bit.ly/1DuJAGP.

Bridge CALs now USLs

EA customers transitioning from Office and a CAL Suite to Office 365 or the Enterprise Mobility Suite need a Bridge CAL, and from 1 August 2015 the Core and Enterprise CAL Suite Bridges are only available as User Subscription Licences.

See pages 14/15 of the August 2015 Product Terms document.

Windows SA per User Reference Guide

Licensing Windows on a user basis was introduced in December 2014, and this 2-page Microsoft reference guide gives you the low down on the licensing options.

There’s a comparison table showing the Windows SA per User and VDA per User licences, and a list of the benefits that user licensing gives.

Grab this useful document here: http://bit.ly/1N98njQ.

“Product Terms Explained” Guide

If you’re new to Microsoft licensing then you may find this just-released introductory guide from Microsoft useful. It goes through some of the licensing basics (what is a licence, what is SA etc) and introduces the new Product Terms document. Then you meet Wendy, the Director of IT for Trey Research, and look at the projects she’s working on and see what licences she’s going to need. It’s a different way of introducing licensing and worth a look through: http://bit.ly/1SJDo4F.

May 2015 MPSA Licensing Manual

There’s an updated (May 2015) MPSA Licensing Manual with information added regarding the process of verifying compliance, divestiture licence transfers, and attaching SA to OEM/FPP.

Find the document here: http://bit.ly/1P4E277.

August 2015 Online Services Terms document

August 2015 is the first month that the Online Services Terms document is released on a monthly schedule. There are few changes from the July 2015 document and page 3 of the document has a good summary of the amendments: Advanced Threat Protection is added, Power BI for Office 365 changes its name to Power BI Pro, and there are some slight changes to various terms, the most notable of which is the “Disclosure of Customer Data” section which describes Microsoft’s approach to third party requests for Customer Data. Get the updated document here: http://bit.ly/MSvlterms.

The 74-678 Exam

If you want to demonstrate competence in Microsoft licensing then the “Designing and Providing Microsoft Volume Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations” is a great exam to have under your belt. Microsoft have a range of certification exams and this one is the one aimed at people who work in the licensing industry.

The syllabus is published here (http://bit.ly/1SFLcUW) and you’ll see that you need knowledge of three key areas: how the individual products are licensed, the programs through which you can purchase them, and the whole range of Software Assurance benefits.

There are a number of ways that you can prepare for the exam. Many people find face to face training the most useful and we’ve got a great one day course. You can find the agenda (http://bit.ly/1G7GumX) and book on a public course running in the UK for just £175 in dates in September through December 2015. Alternatively, many organisations book a dedicated course on their own site. Note if you book on a public course in August or September you get a free Exam Voucher included.

When you attend one of our courses you get a printed copy of our Exam Preparation Guide which has good explanations, clear diagrams and hundreds of revision questions to support your learning. Many people prepare for the exam with just this guide and it’s available on Amazon in both the printed form and as a Kindle book. You can find it, along with the great reviews, at this location: http://bit.ly/74-678-US-Kindle. Thank you reviewers!

Towards the end of your preparation it’s useful to make sure that you’re on track in terms of applying your knowledge in the exam – sometimes people feel that they know their stuff but they’re not sure whether they’ll be able to answer the exam questions correctly. We’ve got a Sample Exam to help out here: the real exam has 40-odd general licensing questions followed by a scenario where you have to read all about a fictional company and then answer ten or so questions. Our Sample Exam mirrors this exactly and you can find this exam here: http://bit.ly/74-678.

When you come to take the exam you’ve got some options: you can either go to a Testing Centre, or opt to take it in the comfort of your own home or office using the new Online Proctored option. If you’re interested in this new approach, this is where you’ll find more information: http://bit.ly/1BoRyg1.

And finally, there’s some good news if things don’t quite go to plan: between 12 July 2015 and 12 January 2016 if you don’t pass the exam at the first attempt, then you get a free retake. This initiative is called “Second Shot” and you can find full details at this link: http://bit.ly/1DjXETK.

August 2015 Enterprise CAL Suite Changes

There are two changes to the Enterprise CAL Suite from 1 August 2015.

Firstly, Advanced Threat Analytics is added and is, in fact, added to all the Enterprise CAL Bridges and the Enterprise Mobility Suite too (see page 70 of the August 2015 Product Terms).

Secondly, the System Center Client Management Suite is “removed” – in quotes because the rights to use it will be included in the Enterprise CAL Suite and ECAL Bridge for Office 365 through 31 December, 2016 (page 86).

Due to these changes there are also August 2015 updates to two Volume Licensing Briefs:

Both of these briefs include the amendments noted above along with Skype for Business Server CALs replacing Lync CALs, and the second document has a jolly nice definition of Advanced Threat Analytics if that’s a new product for you.