The Visual Studio Licensing Guide has some updates, mainly for the name changes of Visual Studio Online Services to Azure DevOps, and Microsoft BizSpark to Microsoft for Startups.
As usual, find this guide here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.
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Office 365 ProPlus Licensing Articles
If you’ve got an interest in deploying Office 365 ProPlus in an enterprise environment then the list of articles here (http://bit.ly/2GaurkA) is worth a look.
Of particular usefulness to those focusing on licensing is an “Overview of Shared Computer Activation for Office 365 ProPlus” (http://bit.ly/2t4biIn) and an “Overview of Licensing and Activation in Office 365 ProPlus” (http://bit.ly/2MLhSwy).
One for your weekend reading list!
Office 365 Home Use Program Benefit
The new Office 365 Home Use Program benefit is added to the February 2019 Product Terms. If a customer has SAM coverage on the Applications pool then employees may buy an Office 365 Home or Personal subscription through the Microsoft Home Use Program website at a discounted rate.
What’s interesting (and different to its Office 2019 HUP counterpart) is that employees may renew the subscription at the special HUP price regardless of whether they’re still employed by the qualifying organisation and that organisation’s SAM coverage status.
Find these details on page 80 and get the February 2019 Product Terms here: http://bit.ly/MSproductterms.
Microsoft Social Engagement discontinuation
Microsoft announce that effective 16 January, 2019, Microsoft Social Engagement will no longer be included as part of any Dynamics 365 licence for new customers. Existing customers will be able to continue to use the service until 16 January, 2020, or the end of their subscription, whichever occurs earlier. As an alternative solution, customers are recommended to evaluate Dynamics 365 Market Insights which is currently in public preview.
Find the announcement and more information here: http://bit.ly/2MzL7SW, and a comparison between Social Engagement and Market Insights here: http://bit.ly/2DCestb.
Microsoft 365 Licensing Updates
Microsoft’s December 2018 Licensing News article has three topics of interest covering Microsoft 365 licensing updates. Firstly, EA and MPSA customers can now take advantage of a single SKU for Microsoft 365 which means that they see a single item in their Admin Centers and License Summaries, rather than seeing Office 365, Windows and EMS as separate components.
Secondly, there’s details of Microsoft’s new Home Use Program offer. Historically, HUP has been a Software Assurance benefit where users of devices licensed with Office + SA could purchase Office for their home PCs at a heavily discounted price. That benefit still exists for Office 2019 but the article reveals that this will come to an end on 30 June, 2019.
The new HUP offer allows individuals to purchase Office 365 Home or Office 365 Personal annual subscriptions at a 30% discount. This is available to customers who have Office with Software Assurance but is also available to customers who qualify with a certain number of Office 365/Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 licences: 2,000 for commercial organisations, and 13,000 for education or charity institutions.
Now, this isn’t available worldwide yet and although you can see it’s live in most countries (see the UK site here, for example http://bit.ly/2B6guQG), the article states that China and Japan will have this benefit on 1 April, 2019, and if you check out the US site (http://bit.ly/2sOPW1Q) there’s a message telling you that the US launch will be in early 2019.
And finally, there’s an update on the dual use rights available when a customer has a Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 From SA licence. Currently there are special rights detailed in the Product Terms which allow customers to install “traditional” Office Professional Plus as well as Office 365 ProPlus. The article states that these rights will be removed from 1 August, 2019 so customers renewing agreements after that date will no longer be entitled to the special installation rights.
Find the December 2018 Licensing News article here: http://bit.ly/2R3bV2u.
Dynamics 365 for Operations Server On-Premises Licensing Guide
There’s an updated (January 2019) Dynamics 365 for Operations Server On-Premises licensing guide. If you haven’t seen a recent version of this guide you’ll notice the new look, and there’s a useful section on page 9 detailing the licensing of Retail scenarios – something’s that only been available since late 2018.
As usual you’ll find this guide here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.
Office 365 for Mac available in the Mac App store
Microsoft announce that Office 365 for Mac is now available on the Mac App store, where users with an Office 365 subscription that includes the Office apps will be able to install the Mac versions of the Office products with a single click.
Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/2RAfNV6 Apple also make the announcement (https://apple.co/2WhsCY4) highlighting the further benefit that businesses will now be able to use the Apple Business Manager to easily distribute the apps to employees.
Updated Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide
There’s an updated (January 2019) Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide. There are some licensing scenarios for Dynamics 365 Marketing added on pages 15-17, and page 47 is updated for the non-availability of Social Engagement from 16 January, 2019.
Find this guide, as usual, with all its Licensing Guides friends here: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.
Dynamics 365 April 2019 Release Notes
Microsoft announce that the April 2019 Release Notes for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform are now available, detailing the hundreds of new enhancements and capabilities across the Dynamics 365 applications. Key dates for your diary include 1st February, 2019 when the preview of some of the new features starts, and 5th April, 2019 when it’s General Availability time.
Find the announcement and download the 315 page PDF here: http://bit.ly/2R6qOwV.
Visual Studio Subscriptions
Visual Studio subscriptions provide access to developer tools, as well as cloud services and software to support all types of dev projects. Microsoft have sold Standard subscriptions through Volume Licensing agreements and annual or monthly Cloud subscriptions through the Visual Studio Marketplace. Note that annual Cloud subscriptions are no longer available, but that existing customers can continue to renew, increase, decrease, or cancel their subscriptions.
The Cloud subscriptions page is here: http://bit.ly/2HrksJj.