Tag Archives: Retirement

Microsoft Entra Permissions Management

In May 2024 Microsoft announced that Microsoft Entra Permissions Management (MEPM) capabilities were available to be enabled in Defender for Cloud as part of the paid-for Defender CSPM plan. The standalone MEPM product is now being retired – in April 2025 it’s removed from the Product Terms and not available for new EA and direct customers, and won’t be available for new CSP customers from 1 May, 2025. From 1 October 2025 the product will retire, and support will be discontinued.

You can find the announcement article here: https://bit.ly/3RvCcEq, and assurance that nothing will change in the Defender for Cloud experience here: https://bit.ly/42EWNvf.

Viva feature comparison table

There’s an updated (January 2025) Viva feature comparison table which removes Viva Goals ahead of its retirement – see our blog: https://bit.ly/4gPf0fn for details, and get this updated document here: https://bit.ly/3PniYQn.

Retirement of Viva Goals

Microsoft announce that Viva Goals will be retired on 31 December 2025 with no new feature development from 5 December 2024. Customers with existing licences may continue using Viva Goals until their licences expire or until 31 December 2025, whichever comes first.

You can find information about the retirement here: https://bit.ly/40ufuBL, including the reason for the retirement – there hasn’t been enough adoption to justify Microsoft’s further investment in the product.

Retirement of Copilot GPT Builder

Microsoft announce that they will retire Copilot GPT Builder starting 10th July, 2024. This means that users licensed with a Copilot Pro licence will no longer be able to create their own custom Copilot GPTs. All Copilot GPTs created by Microsoft or by customers will also be removed at this time. Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/4bXhrdg.

Upcoming retirement of Power BI Premium capacity

Microsoft announce that Power BI Premium capacity SKUs (the P-SKUs) will be retired in favour of Fabric capacity. New customers will not be able to purchase the P-SKUs after 1 July, 2024, but existing non-EA customers can renew their existing subscriptions until 1 January, 2025 and then (if required) purchase more capacity until the end of the subscription term, and EA customers can, of course, purchase/renew until the end of the EA term. There are no changes to either Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium Per User licensing.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3vLtBq4.

Visual Studio for Mac retirement

Microsoft announce the retirement of the Visual Studio for Mac IDE, with end of support starting 31 August, 2024. Find the announcement and some suggested alternatives to using Visual Studio for Mac here: https://bit.ly/3Z4kdbe.

Retirement of Kaizala

Microsoft announce that Kaizala will retire on 31 August, 2023. Unsurprisingly, the recommendation is for customers to move to Teams and all Kaizala Pro capabilities are already in Teams.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3RaB9YU, with useful links for customers who need to make the Kaizala to Teams transition.

Retirement of SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters

Microsoft announce the retirement of SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters. Existing users will be fully supported on the platform through February 2025 with the software maintained through SQL Server cumulative updates until that time.

There’s advice for replacement and migration options for customers here: https://bit.ly/35Xiblt, and you can find the retirement announcement here: https://bit.ly/3sMVUjl.

Retirement of Cloudyn

Microsoft acquired Cloudyn in July 2017 and have spent the last four years integrating much of the Cloudyn capabilities into the Azure Cost Management tools. Cloudyn will now retire on 30 June, 2021.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3zF3g9Y.

Volume Licensing for Government brochure

If you want an overview of the Volume Licensing agreements available for government customers then you may find this new overview brochure useful.

It covers the agreements available for all sizes of government customers and is up-to-date with changes such as the retirement of the Open License Program announced recently.

Find this brochure here: https://bit.ly/3p5mlN0.