Office 365ProPlus Update Branches

The feature updates for Office 365 ProPlus are managed in a similar (but not quite the same) way as for Windows 10.

There’s a Current Branch and Current Branch for Business, but no Long Term Servicing Branch – if you want a static version of Office then you’ll need to deploy Office Professional Plus 2016.

There is, however, a First Release for Current Branch for Business to give organisations a chance to evaluate the CBB build before deployment.

There are some good explanations and diagrams in this TechNet article – it’s definitely worth a look: http://bit.ly/1Ov0l8Q.

Home Use Program FAQs

The Home Use Program FAQ site is updated for Office 2016.

Of note:

  • if you have Office 2013 HUP you must uninstall before installing Office 2016, and
  • you can’t install Office Professional Plus 2016 if you have Office 365 (including the trial) installed.

Find the full FAQ here: http://bit.ly/1GCAXWM.

October 2015 Volume Licensing Briefs

There are two updated Volume Licensing Briefs for October 2015: “Licensing Office 365 ProPlus in VL” and “Licensing Microsoft Office Software in VL”.

There are no major changes, the documents are just updated for the removal of the Office Multi Language Pack as an SA benefit – it’s now included with the licence, and the possibilities of Shared Computer Activation – including running Office 365 ProPlus in Azure.

Get the briefs here: http://bit.ly/MSvlbriefs.

Using Windows VL Licences on Azure

Microsoft announce some interesting things about using Windows VL licences on Azure…

Firstly, if you have Windows Server licences with SA then you’ll be able to procure an Azure virtual machine without Windows Server and then upload your own Windows Server VM image which will be licensed by that existing VL licence.

And secondly, if you license Windows 10 by user then you’ll be able to run Windows 10 Current Branch for Business on Azure.

What’s more, there are plans to allow customers to take their Windows licences to other cloud providers too. And the timing of this? – “soon”.

Read the full FAQ here: http://bit.ly/1jeqDj6.

InfoPath 2013 Licences

Microsoft announced in January 2014 that InfoPath 2013 would be the last version of this product (http://bit.ly/1kfnAoa).

The October 2015 Product Terms confirms on page 6 that InfoPath 2013 will be included with licences for Office Professional Plus 2016.

Installing Office 2016 Applications

If you’ve got Office 2016, are you allowed to install a subset of the applications?

This Microsoft article (http://bit.ly/1OQrDXg – see question 6) confirms that the ability to install individual applications is not available with Office 2016.

OneNote Licences Discontinued

OneNote licences are being discontinued; page 6 of the October 2015 Product Terms documents confirms that commercial customers may acquire rights to use OneNote with the purchase of an Office Professional Plus 2016 licence.

Microsoft Hosting and CSP Newsletter

The September 2015 Microsoft Hosting and Cloud Service Provider Newsletter is out.

There are three things of particular note; firstly, the launch of a new SPLA contract (SPLA 2016) on 1 December 2015 – the old contract may be used up to 1 March 2016. Then there’s a new format for the SPUR starting on 1 December 2015 where it will also start to be published monthly, and finally, if you’re interested in the Cloud Solution Provider program then there are workshops all around the world you can register for: http://bit.ly/1L4ENPf.

Sign up for the newsletter here: http://bit.ly/1iVEvxV.

Windows 10 Activation

This is a useful page on the different ways that Windows 10 can be activated, ranging from the new “digital entitlement” when you’ve used the free upgrade to Windows 10, to the traditional product keys required when Windows 10 is purchased through a Volume Licensing agreement.

There’s also help on what to do when you need to activate after reinstalling Windows 10 or when you’ve made a hardware configuration change.

Read all about it here: http://bit.ly/1JMzIEG.

Office HUP

There’s a change to the Home Use Program rights: previously you could install HUP software on up to 2 devices (2 PCs or 2 Macs), now the October 2015 Product Terms document confirms that it’s only one device – see page 75.

Customers will be able to install Office 2016 beginning on 7th October 2015 – see question 4 on this site: http://bit.ly/1OQrDXg.