General Availability of Azure DevOps Server

Microsoft announce the General Availability of Azure DevOps Server; this is the latest version of the product you may know better by its previous name of Visual Studio Team Foundation Server.

There are no changes to the licensing of this new version and you can buy Server and CAL licences through a Volume Licensing agreement.

Alternatively, Visual Studio standard subscriptions include rights to the Server licence and one User CAL, and all users licensed for Azure DevOps Services have CAL rights too.

You can find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/2FgTv7U, along with confirmation that Azure SQL Database can now be used with Azure DevOps Server in an Azure virtual machine.

Windows 7 Extended Security Updates

Microsoft announce that Extended Security Updates for Windows 7 will be available for purchase starting 1 April, 2019.

This is where you’ll find the announcement: http://bit.ly/2THC3SZ, along with a link to download some FAQs.

If you’re interested in some facts and figures around running older software then this infographic is worth a look: http://bit.ly/2TcV7TU, and there’s a customisable sales guide for partners who want to help customers transition to a modern desktop with Microsoft 365 here: http://bit.ly/2Y3Ymk3.

Windows and SQL Server End of Support FAQ

Windows and SQL Server reach the end of mainstream support in July 2019 (SQL) and January 2020 (Windows). Customers who want to continue to run 2008/2008 R2 workloads will have the option of purchasing Extended Security Updates from 1 March, 2019.

There’s a new FAQ from Microsoft which is useful, and if you don’t want to read all 57 questions then focus on question  9 (pricing details), 34 (options for hosted environments), and 37 (how these ESUs will be delivered).

Find this FAQ in the Core Infrastructure section of our Licensing Guides emporium: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides, and add it to your weekend reading list.

Microsoft Teams Rooms

Microsoft announce the rebranding of Skype Room Systems as Microsoft Teams Rooms. You can find the announcement as well as details of new and upcoming features here: http://bit.ly/2E3bMVw, and if you’re a bit hazy on the licensing of Skype Room Systems then this is a good article to get started with: http://bit.ly/2Snjwut.

Comparing Microsoft 365 Plans

For a detailed comparison of what’s in each of the Microsoft 365 E3, E5 and F1 plans, this site is useful: http://bit.ly/2t8ckU2.

It’s right up-to-date with the recent inclusion of MyAnalytics in all plans, the merging of Office 365 Cloud App Security into Microsoft Cloud App Security, and the combining of Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection and Threat Intelligence into Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection Plan 2.

Visual Studio Licensing Guide

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.

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 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.