April Fools Post 2018. Microsoft introduce a Full User Network licence. This FUN licence will cover a single user for all Office 365 and Dynamics 365 services and will initially be available for both Enterprise and Business versions where, as usual, the FUN Business licence will be limited to 300 users.
FUN licences are available from 1st April 2018: http://bit.ly/AprilFool2018.
Microsoft announce new backup options for Azure Windows Server virtual machines. If you’ve got an on-premises Windows server farm then new Cloud License for On-premises Windows Networks (CLOWN) rights allow you to run a backup of the Azure virtual machine on your own Windows Server hardware.
Find the announcement about these new CLOWN rights here: http://bit.ly/AprilFool2017.
April Fools post 2016 🙂
Microsoft announce a new type of licence which will finally allow concurrent licensing on Office 365 E1, E3, or E5.
The Fixed Unnamed User Licence (FUUL) is available for purchase in fixed amounts of 50 users but then allows ANY 50 users to use the relevant service under the licence. Thus if you’ve got 274 users who need to use the service at the same time then you would need to acquire 6 FUULs.
There are some restrictions on using the service but since the pricing equates to about 1/4 the price of a regular Office 365 USL it could be worth a look for certain types of businesses.
It’s available for a limited period from April 1st and you can read the full announcement and see the list of available features here: http://LS2016AprilFool.
APRIL FOOLS POST 2015.
The Microsoft Band was launched to consumers in the US towards the end of last year and in a couple of weeks it will be available in more countries worldwide. Perhaps more interestingly, it’s at this time that businesses will also be able to purchase Bands through their Volume Licensing agreements, making it the first device to be broadly available through all Volume Licensing agreements. So, how on earth do you license a Microsoft Band? Let’s take a look.
There are, as you’d expect, discounts for volume purchases and while there’s no enterprise-wide commitment required in the EA or Open Value agreements, there ARE further discounts available if you do take the Band across the whole organisation. Customers wanting to protect against upgrades to the Band – this is v1 after all – can purchase Hardware Assurance (HA), and in the Open and MPSA programs this is also available in six-monthly payments known as Half Annual Hardware Assurance (HAHA).
Businesses will also be able to deploy sophisticated and customisable dashboards using Microsoft Band Server to keep track of employees’ fitness and even link it to medical benefits. Microsoft Band Server relies on SQL Server and SharePoint Server for its infrastructure but organisations won’t have to license these products as long as all Bands are licensed with a new type of licence – the Wearable Management Licence.
All in all, it’s an exciting time in the world of licensing! If you want to learn more about the scope of Microsoft Band solutions then this is a good site: http://bit.ly/AprilFool2015.