General availability of SharePoint Server Subscription Edition

Microsoft announce the general availability of the next on-premises version of SharePoint Server – the Subscription Edition.

Customers with active SA are entitled to use this edition and will need to maintain the SA to keep using it; if the SA lapses then the customer retains rights to SharePoint Server 2019.

There’s no change to the Server/CAL licensing model or pricing, or existing CAL equivalence rights, but note that there is no longer the option to purchase just a licence for this product.

Project Server Subscription Edition is a part of the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation and thus also available.

Find the announcement article here: https://bit.ly/3qCdRAo.

SharePoint (and Project) Server Subscription Edition

Microsoft announce the public preview of SharePoint Server Subscription Edition, the next version of the on-premises SharePoint Server product.

Back in September 2020 they announced (https://bit.ly/3j8SrEy) that the next versions of Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, Skype for Business Server, and Project Server would only be available with the purchase of a subscription licence entitling organisations to support, product updates, and security patches. Project Server Subscription Edition is a part of the SharePoint Server Subscription Edition installation and thus also available for preview.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/2W34YTx.

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.

SharePoint Server Volume Licensing Brief

There’s an updated (April 2017) Licensing SharePoint Server Volume Licensing Brief from Microsoft. There are no significant changes but this is a useful document if you haven’t come across it before, covering the licensing of SharePoint in intranet, extranet and Internet scenarios.

Find it in the Application Servers section of our Licensing Guides emporium: http://bit.ly/MSLicensingGuides.

SharePoint Server 2016 GA

Microsoft announce general availability of SharePoint Server 2016, and confirm that it’s derived from the same code used to deliver SharePoint Online.

What’s the future of the on-premises product? Well, innovations will (as you’d expect) be delivered to Office 365 first, but many will also be available via Feature Packs to SharePoint Server 2016 customers with Software Assurance.

The first Feature Pack will be available through the public update channel in 2017, and customers will have control over which features are enabled in their on-premises farms.

Full details are here: http://bit.ly/1XbKkIb.

SharePoint and Project Server 2016

Microsoft announce RTM of SharePoint Server 2016 and Project Server 2016, and expect availability in VLSC in early May.

Interestingly, Project Server will now be part of the SharePoint Server installation – but will still require its own licence of course.

Read the announcement here (http://bit.ly/1USnfKe) and find a link to the Project Server 2016 release notes too.