Windows 10 Servicing Options

There’s a jolly useful article published by Microsoft on the different servicing options for Windows 10. If you still haven’t got to grips with Current Branch, Current Branch for Business, and Long Term Servicing Branch then this article is worth a read: http://bit.ly/1OcDI7B.

There’s confirmation that Feature Upgrades will be published 2 or 3 times a year, and Service Updates (security fixes) will continue to be published monthly on Update (Patch) Tuesday. It’s also worth noting that all new releases, of either type, are cumulative so that installing them brings a device completely up to date.

Exchange Server 2016 Announced

Microsoft announce Exchange Server 2016 and are describing this release as “forged in the cloud” – in other words, the features that are already in Exchange Online have now arrived in the on-premises product.

Exchange Server 2016 is also added to the October 2015 Product Terms document and there are no changes to the licensing.

Read the announcement article for an overview of the new features here: http://bit.ly/1Gn43tl.

Get Licensing Ready Updates

Today (1st October) the two English portals in GLR, UK English and US English, have been consolidated into one new English portal.

All exam passes in both languages have been transferred to the new portal, and you’ll find that your GLR experience is otherwise unchanged. End of an era for us UK-Englishers!

Take your exams (in English or one of the many other languages) here: https://getlicensingready.com.

Project 2016 Availability Announced

Microsoft announce availability of Project 2016 (30 Sept 2015).

What exactly is “Project 2016” though? Well, this Microsoft article (http://bit.ly/1WA5wFN) explains that there are updates to Project Professional (the traditional device-licensed client), Project Pro for Office 365 (its user-licensed counterpart) and Project Online (the hosted Enterprise Project Management solution), but that we’ll have to wait for equivalent features for on-premises EPM with the launch of Project Server 2016 in the spring of 2016.

The article is worth a look to get an idea of the sort of features being added.

Office Online Server in Preview

Office Web Apps Server was launched in 2012 to provide browser-based versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote running on a standalone on-premises server. The Web Apps later changed their name to Office Online and now the server follows suit – Office Online Server (OOS) is now in preview as the successor to Office Web Apps Server, but there’s no word yet on whether the licensing changes.

Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/1YKdwpX.

Office 365 Import Service

The Office 365 Import Service is in preview. Essentially, this service is used to move PST files to Office 365 mailboxes and/or to import data files to SharePoint Online. Customers use the preparation tool to get their content ready and then can choose to upload data over the network or, for large amounts of data, to copy it to hard drives and ship them to Microsoft.

The service is free at the moment but will turn into a chargeable Office 365 service later. See the announcement here: http://bit.ly/1LXn0EH or this TechNet article for more details: http://bit.ly/1MUooOi.

August 2015 MPSA Licensing Manual

The MPSA Licensing Manual is updated for some of the key changes that have happened recently.

This August 2015 document includes text on page 4 that confirms that there are no minimums when purchasing Azure consumption services through the MPSA, and there’s an extremely useful paragraph at the top of page 6 that details how the new multi-year duration options work.

Essentially, certain Online Services are available to order up to the second or third Purchasing Account Anniversary and subsequent orders of the same service need to align to the original multi-year order, but are eligible for best price protection too.

Get the document here: http://bit.ly/1QfuR3U.

Licensing Office with RemoteApp

If you want to share Office applications from the cloud then there’s a good article from Microsoft that explains how you need to license this scenario.

Essentially you need an Office 365 ProPlus subscription and an Azure RemoteApp USL – note that a traditional Office Professional Plus 2016 licence isn’t an option.

The article also covers notions such as shared computer activation, Visio and Project, and an overview of how you get started with Office 365 and Azure RemoteApp. It’s definitely worth a read – find it here: http://bit.ly/1MpF6lB.

Office 2016 Availability

Today is the worldwide release of Office 2016 for Windows and there are details in this Microsoft blog post on the new features that you can expect: http://bit.ly/1NRcRzd.

Office 2016 for Mac is also available as a one-time purchase for the first time – since its launch in July it has only been available to Office 365 subscribers. And, as if that wasn’t enough, 2016 versions of Project and Visio are available too.

September 2015 MPSA Changes

Microsoft announce that there are two big updates for the MPSA from 1st September 2015, with the addition of:

  • Enterprise Cloud Suite (ECS)
  • Multi-year subscriptions for Online Services

ECS was previously only available via the Enterprise Agreement (EA) and includes Office 365 E3, the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) and Windows per User, as well as a number of other services– see more info here http://bit.ly/13umyz1.

The second addition enables MPSA customers to order one, two, or three-year subscriptions for certain Online Services with price protection for all incremental orders.

The Microsoft WWLP blog post is here http://bit.ly/1F9uB61