Tag Archives: Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 Enterprise Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (February 2026) Microsoft 365 Enterprise Licensing Guide. Although it’s designed to help you to see the difference between the Microsoft 365 plans, the chosen features listed are strange: Clipchamp and Loop are front and centre, with no mention at all of Power BI Pro and Teams Phone Standard… It’s a document that was useful when traditional, on-premises EA customers were first moving to Microsoft 365, and all the scenarios target this sort of customer. This version of the Licensing Guide sees the removal of the useful detail in the Extended Use Rights section, as well as the not-quite-so-useful, outdated FAQs.

Hard-core Licensing Guide enthusiasts can keep their Licensing Guide collection complete by grabbing the updated document here: https://bit.ly/4tg2eNo.

Windows 11 Virtual Desktops Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (February 2026) Windows 11 for Virtual Desktops Licensing Guide. This document has a number of tables showing which licences give rights to different virtualisation solutions and a row’s been added throughout for the Microsoft 365 E3/A5 Student Use Benefit. There’s also been a bit of useful reordering in the tables grouping similar licences together. Finally, there’s text added to confirm that VDA E3/E5 licensed users can access Windows 11 VMs running on the dedicated servers of Listed Providers.

Grab this guide here: https://bit.ly/4rMxPFc.

Modern Work Plan Comparison documents

The February 2026 Modern Work Plan Comparison documents have been refreshed, with the exception of the Education flavour, which hasn’t had an update since December 2025. In the Enterprise document, Teams now accurately reflects being available in the regular Office 365 plans, and the Microsoft Defender Experts Suite has been added. For the first time, Microsoft 365 Business Premium (maximum 500 users!) appears in the lineup of the GCC High plans. Otherwise, minor corrections, formatting, and wording changes are sprinkled throughout. The latest PDFs for Enterprise, SMB, US Government, and Education sectors can be accessed in our searchable Licensing Guides Gallery: https://bit.ly/GuidesGallery, exclusive to our subscribers. Non subscribers can find them in the usual place here: https://bit.ly/4hn2hS2.

If you’re a partner looking for the Excel version, please email info@licensingschool.co.uk from your work email address and we’ll send it over.

Microsoft 365 training

We’re kicking off the year with Microsoft 365 month at Licensing School. This January, we’re hosting two sessions covering fundamental and advanced licensing, everything from the Apps and Online Services to security and compliance, and more! To help navigate the minefield of choosing the right offering, we’ll share expert tips and introduce our new Plan Picker tool. Subscribers can register here: https://bit.ly/LS_Training.

If you’re not a subscriber and would benefit from this kind of training course, discuss your options by contacting info@licensingschool.co.uk.

Modern Work Plan Comparison

The December 2025 Modern Work Plan Comparison documents are now available. Key updates include the addition of Security Compute Units to Microsoft 365 E5 (see our blog post: https://bit.ly/4oUwHgS), the availability of Microsoft 365 Copilot Business as an Add-on to SMB licences, and a correction regarding Office 365 A1 being a valid prerequisite for the Defender Suite and Purview Suite. Separate PDFs for enterprise, SMB, US government, and education sectors can be accessed in our new, searchable Licensing Guides Gallery: https://bit.ly/GuidesGallery, exclusive to our subscribers. Non-subscribers can find them in the usual place here: https://bit.ly/4hn2hS2.

If you’re a partner looking for the Excel version, please email info@licensingschool.co.uk from your work email address and we’ll send it over.

Office 365 and Microsoft 365 features and pricing update

Microsoft announce new features and price adjustments for Office 365 and Microsoft 365, scheduled for 2026.

The updates include incorporating Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 in the E3 licences, integrating more Intune features into Microsoft 365 E3 and E5, and adding 50 GB of mailbox storage to the Microsoft 365 Business plans. These enhancements come with a price increase ranging from 5% to 33% and will impact commercial and not-for-profit customers starting July 1, 2026. US government customers will see similar increases applied (where necessary) in two separate stages.

Details of the new features and price changes can be found here: https://bit.ly/3Mre86j, alongside the government-specific material here: https://bit.ly/4pqBqYy.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Business

Microsoft 365 Copilot Business has been announced! It’s a new plan offering enterprise-grade AI capabilities at a lower price point for SMB customers. It provides the same features as a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, with a cap of 300 users. It’s available as an Add-on to the Microsoft 365 Business Basic/Standard/Premium plans or can be bought bundled with them.

The worldwide launch is on December 1, 2025, with promotional pricing available for certain combinations. The launch announcement can be found here: https://bit.ly/4oNs3C3, and information on the promotions is here: https://bit.ly/3Kd6kEu.

SQL 2025 is now GA!

Microsoft announce the general availability of SQL Server 2025! Unsurprisingly, there’s a heavy focus on its AI-powered enterprise database capabilities, and important updates to security and performance. Other key changes include Power BI Report Server becoming the default reporting solution, no 2025 version of the Web edition, and a new Standard Developer Edition joining the lineup.

The long-awaited announcement can be found here: https://bit.ly/47N1XsO.

Retirement of Office Online Server

Microsoft announce the end of support for Office Online Server, effective December 31, 2026. The software, which lets an organisation use browser-based Office applications from an on-premises server host, won’t receive any more security updates, bug fixes, or technical support from this date. The recommended alternative is, of course, Microsoft 365, for its collaboration, security, and integration with other Microsoft services.

Read the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3JTnTJK.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium for GCC-High

Microsoft introduce Microsoft 365 Business Premium for GCC-High. This offering, aimed at suppliers to US government organisations, provides robust security and compliance features for up to 500 (not 300!) users. It helps meet complex compliance requirements like the CMMC, providing essential enterprise-grade capabilities for smaller organisations in regulated environments.

Find out more here: https://bit.ly/4r4Y6is.