Category Archives: Uncategorized

Office 365 Education – free to eligible students and teachers

Office 365 Education is now available free to students and teachers at schools that have licensed Office institution-wide for their faculty and staff.

The plan allows the installation of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access on up to 5 PCs or Macs, and the Office apps on other mobile devices.

It also includes 1TB of OneDrive storage and rights to Office Online.

See the Microsoft announcement confirming availability from 23 Feb 2015 here: http://bit.ly/1wQvxmg, and details on eligibility here: http://bit.ly/1M4JLJ5.

From SA USL Exception: March 2015

There’s a new exception added to the March 2015 Product List for customers who have more users than devices and want to transition from device licences to Online Services via From SA USLs.

Typically they can only purchase From SA USLs up to the number of qualifying underlying licences, but this new one-time exception allows the customer to purchase more From SA USLs – as long as they purchase a From SA USL for all users of all licensed Qualified Devices. See pages 34, 45, 47 and 58.

MPSA Licensing Manual updated for Public Sector

The MPSA Licensing Manual is updated for the availability of Government and Academic Purchasing Accounts from 1 March 2015. The changes confirm that a single MPSA can now have both Commercial and the new Government and Academic Purchasing Accounts (page 3), and that either of these new Public Sector Purchasing Accounts can have an end-date specified in case an organisation is not able to commit to evergreen terms and conditions (page 3).

There’s a new Agreement Structure section added on page 4 which shows how the terms and conditions of an MPSA are built dependent on the type of Purchasing Account, and there’s a reminder as to the eligibility requirements for Government and Academic Purchasing Accounts – these remain the same as for the other Volume Licensing agreements.

Finally, there’s a note on Price Levels on page 5 which confirms that, in common with Select Plus, there’s a single price level for a Government Purchasing Account which is equivalent to Commercial Level D pricing. There’s also a single price level for Academic Purchasing Accounts although the actual pricing is, as usual, different to a Government Purchasing Account.

Get this updated document here: http://bit.ly/18ERejZ.

EMS available in Open from 1 March 2015

Microsoft announce that the Enterprise Mobility Suite will be available through Open and Open Value licensing programs from 1 March 2015. From early March it will also be available to partners as part of the Internal Use Rights licences they receive through the Action Pack or Silver and Gold competencies. Read the announcement here: http://bit.ly/1LQ86lU.

Updated Windows in VMs Volume Licensing Brief

There’s an updated (Dec 2014) Volume Licensing Brief for licensing Windows for use with virtual machines. The main changes, as you would expect, are for Windows per User licensing and all of the scenarios are updated which means, of course, that the Companion Subscription Licence is banished to obscurity. Get the document here: http://bit.ly/IKPKXE.

CRM in Open Partner FAQ

There’s a new FAQ document for partners selling Dynamics CRM Online through Open and Open Value programs. It covers minimums, existing tenants, how expiry dates work, mixing licence types, as well as partner-revenue related questions.

Find it here: http://bit.ly/1vq4se7.

Learning Path for 74-678

There’s a new Specialist learning path on Get Licensing Ready to help you to prepare for the 74-678 exam. When you’ve worked through all of the recommended GLR modules it’s a great idea to put it all into practice and take our Sample Exam to see if you’re ready to take the real thing.

Find it here: http://bit.ly/74-678

Updated Reimaging Rights Volume Licensing Brief

The Reimaging Rights Volume Licensing Brief is updated for February 2015. The changes are mainly around Windows SA per User and there’s confirmation added that Windows 8.1 Enterprise Volume Licensing media may be used to reimage an OEM PC licensed for Windows 8.1 Pro if the primary user of the PC is licensed for Windows SA per User (page 4).

There’s also a new question added on page 5 which confirms that if a PC is reimaged under Windows SA per User rights, it must be reverted to its original licensed operating system if the subscription expires, and it must be licensed with Windows SA per device if non-licensed users use the device.

Get the document here: http://bit.ly/1a8GtyG.

FAQ: Activation and Product Keys

This is a useful site if you want to learn more about product activation: http://bit.ly/1CoqHlm.

It includes good information on all the basics as well as answering less well-known questions such as: which activation method should be used for virtual computers, what key to use on PCs preinstalled with Windows when you want to downgrade to an earlier version, and why the amount of MAK activations doesn’t match the number of purchased licences.

Overview of the Changes to the February 2015 Volume Licensing Product List

It’s a relatively quiet month as far as updates to the February 2015 Product List are concerned, with the changes split into two main areas – some amendments to use rights, and some new products and offerings.

Amendments to use rights:

  • It’s confirmed that customers with SQL Enterprise Core licences with active SA on 1 February 2014 can choose to deploy SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse in place of SQL Server Enterprise – see page 26
  • The use rights for the EMS and Office 365 Add-ons are extended; previously, the Office 365 Add-ons granted access rights equivalent to a Windows Server 2012 CAL, now both types of Add-ons grant access rights to ALL of the components in the qualifying licences from any device. This is obviously only for the user licensed with the Add-on USL and it does include downgrade rights for the server components, but not for Office Professional Plus. See pages 46 and 59

New products and offerings:

  • The Lync Voice Add-on for the Enterprise Cloud Suite makes its (belated) appearance in the Enterprise Cloud Suite section and is confirmed as an Additional Product, rather than an Enterprise Online Service as the EMS and Office 365 Add-ons are. See page 47
  • There’s a new services offering detailed on page 84 – the Sales Productivity Accelerator. This is a service provided by Microsoft Services over the course of a four week term to deliver a fixed-scope implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
  • CRM Online makes its debut in both the Open programs with its commercial offerings and also as a set of new education offerings through all of the Academic programs. See page 49 for what’s available through what program
  • Customers receive Planning Services days based on the number of qualifying licences that they have, and the Dynamics AX products are added to the list of these qualifying licences on page 68
  • Azure RemoteApp is added on page 47 with the “(Plan)” label indicating that it’s licensed with a USL and does not decrement any Azure Monetary Commitment a customer may have