Tag Archives: Office

Licensing changes for hosted solutions

Microsoft announce some upcoming licensing changes for hosted solutions. These will allow partners to offer more solutions (notably hosted desktop solutions comprised of Windows and Office), and will allow customers more flexibility in where they use their existing licences.

This increased flexibility will come via changes to Software Assurance which will expand to allow customers to use their Windows, Office and Windows Server licences with any Cloud Provider partner on dedicated or multi-tenant hardware.

There’s no word yet on when exactly these changes will be implemented, but in the interim you can read the (very long) blog post here: https://bit.ly/3lkgvqD.

Microsoft productivity servers: the future

Microsoft announce that the next versions of Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, Skype for Business Server, and Project Server will be available in the second half of 2021.

What will be different is that they will only be available with the purchase of a subscription licence which will entitle organisations to support, product updates, and security patches.

There will also be a new perpetual release of Office for Windows and Mac in the same timeframe.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3j8SrEy.

Office software Licensing Brief

There’s an updated (April 2020) Office software licensing brief. The main changes are to update for the changes to the licensing terms for Outsourcing Software Management in October 2019, and to remove references to Office Home & Student 2013 RT.

Licensing Microsoft Office Software in Commercial Licensing April 2020Download

Availability of Office 2019 Servers

Microsoft announce the release of Exchange Server 2019, Skype for Business Server 2019, SharePoint Server 2019, and Project Server 2019.

Find the announcement with links to more information on the new features of each product here: http://bit.ly/2Pqv4L3.

Office 2019

Microsoft announce Office 2019, likely to be available in the second half of 2018. This release will include updated applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) and servers (Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business Server).

Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/2y3MZPb.

Home Use Program FAQs

The Home Use Program FAQ site is updated for Office 2016.

Of note:

  • if you have Office 2013 HUP you must uninstall before installing Office 2016, and
  • you can’t install Office Professional Plus 2016 if you have Office 365 (including the trial) installed.

Find the full FAQ here: http://bit.ly/1GCAXWM.

Installing Office 2016 Applications

If you’ve got Office 2016, are you allowed to install a subset of the applications?

This Microsoft article (http://bit.ly/1OQrDXg – see question 6) confirms that the ability to install individual applications is not available with Office 2016.

OneNote Licences Discontinued

OneNote licences are being discontinued; page 6 of the October 2015 Product Terms documents confirms that commercial customers may acquire rights to use OneNote with the purchase of an Office Professional Plus 2016 licence.

Office HUP

There’s a change to the Home Use Program rights: previously you could install HUP software on up to 2 devices (2 PCs or 2 Macs), now the October 2015 Product Terms document confirms that it’s only one device – see page 75.

Customers will be able to install Office 2016 beginning on 7th October 2015 – see question 4 on this site: http://bit.ly/1OQrDXg.

Office 2016 for Mac is Available

Microsoft announce that Office 2016 for Mac is now available. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, and is available today to qualifying Office 365 subscribers and as a one-time purchase option in September.

Read the official announcement here: http://bit.ly/1UFyG6A.