“Knowing which Product Use Rights to use” – a good post on Microsoft’s Volume Licensing Blog. The two key scenarios are covered: which PUR should you use when you a) upgrade software with SA, and b) downgrade software through downgrade rights.
More Flexibility in Purchasing Windows Azure through an EA
Announcement from Microsoft regarding more flexibility in purchasing Windows Azure through the EA: “On Nov 1, Microsoft will offer Enterprise Agreement (EA) customers access to discounted Windows Azure prices, regardless of upfront commitment, without overuse penalties and with the flexibility of annual payments.” Read the full press release here: http://bit.ly/1e5qNRy
Licensing Windows and Office in Complex Scenarios
Our very own Louise Ulrick writes about licensing Windows and Office in complex scenarios on Microsoft’s Volume Licensing blog: http://bit.ly/GDH7NH
Overview of the Changes to the October 2013 Volume Licensing Product List
This month’s headliner is CRM in both its online and on-premise flavours. Although it’s not the place to go into the changes in the licensing here (a future blog post perhaps?) you’ll find that the new CRM Online licences replace the old, and all the CRM 2011 offerings are traded up to their 2013 equivalents. However, what’s perhaps more interesting is that there’s further useful CRM licensing information threaded throughout the document:
- Planning Services: SQL Server Deployment Planning Services (SSDPS) now include deployment planning for Microsoft Dynamics CRM – I guess we should be grateful they didn’t try to get CRM into the (already long enough) acronym! There’s also confirmation that CRM CALs and Server licences are now qualifying licences to contribute points towards the Planning Services days. See pages 63/64
- Transition rights: when a new product with a slightly different set of licences appears, specifics on the transition rights are always useful and pages 149-151 detail the SA migration path, downgrade rights, as well as the licence grants associated with the end of life of the CRM 2011 External Connector
- CRM Online Support: pages 93-95 are devoted to a brand new section on various CRM Online Support Offerings
Office 365 Add-ons are cast in a supporting role this month. As a group, these are new offerings for EA customers to bolt onto their existing enterprise-wide CAL Suite commitment, and there are two items of note:
- There’s a brand new Windows Azure Active Directory Rights Management Add-on User SL which customers who have the Enterprise CAL Suite as a qualifying licence may purchase. The tables on page 104 are a useful resource
- There’s confirmation, also on page 104, that customers may buy Add-on licences before they buy the qualifying licences. Sound bizarre?! Essentially, it’s just confirming that between anniversaries, customers may acquire Add-ons and then true-up the desktop products in the usual way, and thus be compliant with their qualifying licences at that point
And finally, there are a few changes for Bing if that’s your thing:
- The Bing Maps Public Website Usage 250K Transactions Monthly Subscription is removed – the remaining SKUs are for 100K and 420K transactions
- A couple of other products (Bing Maps Enterprise and the Mobile Asset Management Platform) have a reported price decrease and thus decrease their points in the Select Plus program from 50 to 25 points
- The section on “How to access the Bing Maps Service” is overhauled on page 127
Gartner Report on the Value of Windows SA
A Gartner report on the value of SA for the Windows client gives some useful pointers on how to evaluate if it’s worth acquiring Windows SA for you or your customers: http://gtnr.it/14Vqje6
Running MSDN Software on Third Party Shared Servers
Most MSDN software can now (from 1 June 2013) be run on authorised third party shared servers, including Windows Azure. Both the Product Use Rights (page 56) and the Visual Studio/MSDN Licensing Guide (page 13) have been updated. Get to all of the Microsoft Licensing Guides in one place at: http://bit.ly/182fp9f
CAL Decision Tool from Microsoft
The CAL Decision Tool from Microsoft could help in recommending either User or Device CALs. Even if you don’t use the tool, the questions it’s based on are useful to consider if this is something that’s keeping you awake at night. Worth a look: http://bit.ly/15qjHSc
Office 365 Add-ons Datasheet from Microsoft
Need a simple datasheet to introduce customers to the Office 365 Add-ons? This one from Microsoft might do the trick: http://bit.ly/1dFJ8Vh
Azure Virtual Machines and RDS
Wording added to the July 2013 PUR (page 88) about using Remote Desktop Services with Windows Azure Virtual Machines (although expect more changes next year):
- RDS Subscriber Access Licences purchased through SPLA MAY be used to deliver graphical user interface functionality on Windows Azure virtual machines
- RDS CALs purchased through Volume Licensing programs may NOT be used with Windows Azure virtual machines
- Virtual Desktop Infrastructure functionality may NOT be used on Windows Azure virtual machines
Windows 8.1 Enterprise RTM
Microsoft’s Erwin Visser confirms that Windows 8.1 Enterprise RTM is available to VL customers (via TechNet). Key licensing takeaways: Windows 8 Pro VL customers will be licensed for Windows 8.1 Pro even with expired SA, Windows 8 Enterprise VL customers must have active SA for rights to Windows 8.1 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Pro and Enterprise available through VLSC on 18 October 2013, and both are on the November price list from 1 November 2013. bit.ly/14lXwz0