Enterprise Cloud Suite FAQ

There’s a new (December 2014) Enterprise Cloud Suite FAQ document if you have access to the Partner Learning Center.

This link (http://bit.ly/1rZZovg) takes you to what appears to be recordings of the L100 to L300 training sessions but the FAQ document is there too. It’s 12 pages of licensing deliciousness and includes sections on Windows SA per User, Licensing for Enterprise Voice and Software Assurance in the context of the new Enterprise Cloud Suite.

Enterprise Agreement Program Guide updated for Enterprise Cloud Suite

The Enterprise Agreement Program Guide has been updated to include the 1 December 2014 release of the Enterprise Cloud Suite.

This document has some useful information on how the Enterprise Cloud Suite offers an alternative user-licensed platform for the EA, and there are a couple of pages of ECS FAQs too.

Get the guide here: http://bit.ly/1j8qQli.

Windows 8.1 Licensing Guide updated for Per User Licensing

The Windows 8.1 Licensing Guide from Microsoft is updated for Windows per User. This is a veritable treasure trove of information! Use it to find out about the new Windows SA per User Add-on and Full USLs, as well as their VDA counterparts.

There’s information on the retirement of the Companion Subscription Licence and how MDOP now extends across multiple devices if Windows is licensed by user.

You’ll also find the downgrade rights for both device and user Windows VL licences, and a useful table showing the SKU availability by VL program. Get this great document here: http://bit.ly/19WbhCI.

The Enterprise Cloud Suite is Announced

Microsoft announce the Enterprise Cloud Suite which is BIG news for Enterprise Agreement customers! Essentially, it’s a new suite which allows you to license the desktop platform completely by user.

Office 365 and the Enterprise Mobility Suite cover the traditional Office and CAL Suite components and there’s a brand new Windows per User licence.

Yes, that’s right, Windows per USER. Get an At-a-Glance guide on ECS and some more detail here: http://bit.ly/13umyz1

Windows per User Licensing Announced

Windows per User licensing is announced! There’s now an Add-on which “userfies” an underlying Windows 8.1 Enterprise with SA licence, or a full USL available for a user with a primary work device licensed with Windows 7 or 8 Pro. See the Microsoft page for some more details and the Windows SA per User At-a-Glance guide: http://bit.ly/1qkeeXp.

Windows 8.1 Licensing Guide

New Windows 8.1 Licensing Guide from Microsoft (http://bit.ly/19WbhCI). Licensing largely the same, as you’d expect, but three key clarifications:

  • Customers covered with SA retain perpetual use rights for Windows 8.1 Enterprise (even after SA has expired and regardless of whether they have installed the Enterprise edition – a change from the original October 2012 Windows 8 Licensing Guide – page 9)
  • VL customers with Windows 8 Pro without SA can upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro, but active SA is needed to upgrade to Windows 8.1 Enterprise (page 5)
  • Confirmation that primary users of a device covered with MDOP and CSL are also covered for MDOP on their companion devices (page 13).