Some new M365 F5 Security bundles made available – further expanding what’s possible for protecting frontline workers.
Microsoft Sustainability Manager added. This is what we’ve been calling Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability…it seems that will be now an umbrella term and Sustainability Manager will come under that.
Clarification that the SQL Server Enterprise SA benefit of running Power BI Server applies in a fail over OSE too
Tidying up of various clauses and terms.
No mention of the major changes they announced for cloud BYOL rules around Windows Server, Windows desktop, and Office.
Apparently, they’ve changed the Cloud for Healthcare licensing model from per-user to per-tenant. The “User Subscription License” option has been replaced but none of the other terms have been changed, so it still refers to add-on SLs etc. and doesn’t mention that it’s per-tenant anywhere other than the change summary. It makes sense as the other clouds are per-tenant…but we need all the info!
Microsoft Endpoint Manager Remote Help add-on has been added. Eligible pre-requisites are Microsoft 365 E3/E5/F1/F3, Enterprise Mobility + Security E3/E5, and Microsoft Intune.
System Center 2022 has been added.
“Dynamics 365 Customer Voice and Digital Messaging” added.
Windows 11 Pro (per Device) is now available via CSP.
Microsoft Bookings added to Student Use Benefit for O365 A3 & A5.
Again, not a huge amount of change in the Microsoft Product Terms for March 2022:
Microsoft 365 Privacy Management has been rebranded “Priva”…I thought they might change their mind on this one 😂 I guess they wanted to make sure there was something people could confuse with Viva?!
Expanded pre-requisite licenses for Cloud for Healthcare add-on
Azure Virtual Desktop per user access promo extended to March 31st, 2022 (although the section doesn’t appear to have actually been updated)
SQL Server Big Data Nodes have been retired – anything other than the “core” SQL editions just never seems to quite work does it?
Updated “no cancellations after 72 hours” terms for online services under CSP NCE
After all the excitement of the price increases and CSP changes during August, the actual Product Terms changes this month are minimal.
Various terms have been clarified including Online Services step-ups and Azure Virtual Desktop. Also a statement that the Glossary terms apply.
Windows Get Genuine licenses appear to have been removed.
A mid-month update saw a new version of the Data ProtectionAddendum, the “Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum” (formerly called the “Microsoft Online Services Data Protection Addendum“) published. This also means that a variety of data collection related updates were made throughout the Product Terms.
We have confirmation of Windows 365 Enterprise base license requirements:
Windows 10 Enterprise
Intune
Azure AD P1
and the bundles that count too:
Microsoft 365 F3/E3/E5/A3/A5/Biz Prem/Student Use
Microsoft note that swapping a user’s Win365 license (by “resizing”) is not “license reassignment” and so can be done as frequently as required.
Also, you can’t use it for “digital asset transaction validation workloads” (aka Bitcoin mining I assume).
We also get confirmation that Windows 365 Business has no license pre-requisites (unlike Enterprise) although Windows 365 Business w/Windows Hybrid Benefit requires a Windows 10 Pro primary device (which is used periodically).
Azure Arc SQL has been added and Hybrid Benefit can be used…but prevents use on Listed Providers infrastructure.
There is a $0 license offer for Azure Virtual Desktop (until December 31, 2021) where you “serve Azure Virtual Desktop Customer Solutions to third parties on Azure”.
There was a pretty big change this month as Microsoft removed a key requirement for “From SA” licenses. These allow organisations that have on-premises licenses with Software Assurance (SA) to migrate to Microsoft 365 at a reduced price – taking into account the investment in SA.
Back in early 2020, Microsoft added a clause that customers had to retain their existing on-premises licenses throughout the “From SA” subscription period. This presented a barrier for organisations in Europe looking to engage in the 2nd-hand software market and re-sell their (now unwanted) on-premises licenses.
However, in June 2021 Microsoft said:
For customers who choose to purchase “From SA” licenses, we removed the requirement that customer retain the corresponding Qualifying Licenses throughout its From SA license subscription period
It’s a very interesting move from Microsoft and I am keen to see what related announcements we might see at their Inspire conference in July.
Further changes include:
Windows 10 Enterprise/E3 has been removed as a pre-requisite for the M365 F5 add-on SKUs.
Remote Work Starter Plan added to CSP <– This seems to have launched in Japan in August 2020 and looks to be basically a “Teams+OneDrive” SKU
Customers with Microsoft Project Plan 1/3/5 are only permitted to use Universal Resource Scheduling to schedule Project and Task tables within the context of a project
Here are the Microsoft Product Terms changes for May 2021:
M365 Business Basic/Standard/Premium added as pre-requisite licenses for Audio Conferencing and Phone System
Microsoft 365 Career Coach USL has been added for Academic customers
Microsoft 365 Scheduler has been added. This includes a “human-assisted AI Service” for complex scheduling requests.
Microsoft Teams: Terms added to confirm licenses are not required to join meetings/live events hosted by licensed users. Also that external users don’t need a license for Guest access via AAD External Identity.
Power Platform: All Power Platform licenses now have “extended term eligibility” under EA/EAS/SCE
A relaxing of the terms around Project for the web and how the data can be viewed.
Updates to the CAL/ML Equivalency tables to make them clearer Updates to Dynamics 365 Purchasing Minimums table Updated Azure Maps API results clause to include Weather
I can’t help but feel like there are some big things coming in a couple of months…
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 