Tag: Microsoft 365 F1

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Microsoft Product Terms: June 2020


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June is the last month of Microsoft’s financial year but they’re still made a few changes worth noting in this month’s Product Terms:

  • 5 year reservations for Azure VMs are added – with a 35% early termination fee
  • Azure Hybrid Rights for SQL have been expanded so now:
    • on-premises SQL Server Standard licenses can be used to run SQL Server Enterprise VMs in Azure
    • on-premises SQL Server Enterprise licenses can be used to run SQL Server Standard VMs in Azure
  • Changes to the eligibility for Office 365 and Microsoft 365 F1 & F3 licenses

SQL Server

The core conversion ratio is different for the two new scenarios:

4 x SQL Server Std on-prem cores w/SA = 1 x SQL Server Ent Azure core

1 x SQL Server Ent on-prem core w/SA = 4 x SQL Server Std Azure core

You can see the above table, and the info, on pages 54-54 of the June 2020 Product Terms.

F1/F3 changes

Microsoft have again changed the rules around who is eligible for a “Firstline” SKU. The new requirements are that to qualify for an F1/F3 license a worker must satisfy at least one of these conditions:

  • Uses a primary work device with a single screen smaller than 10.1”
  • Shares their primary work device with other qualifying Microsoft 365 or Office 365 Firstline Worker licensed users, during or across shifts
    • Other licensed Microsoft Firstline Worker users must also use the device as their primary work device
    • Any software or services accessed from the shared device requires the device or users to be assigned a license that includes use of those software or services

The previous guidance, updated in November 2019, was:

“A Dedicated Device is a computing device used for work with a 10.1” screen or larger, used by the user more than 60% of the user’s total work time during any 90-day period.”

These new rules should make it a bit easier for everyone to police but, for organisations already licensed for F1/F3 prior to June 1, 2020, you can continue to license based on the previous rules until your next renewal.

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Microsoft 365 changes in March


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Microsoft have announced a few big changes in March 2020 around:

Microsoft 365 F1 & F3 – a new SKU and a name change

Per-device licensing for Office 365 ProPlus

Name changes to certain Office 365 products

I’ve gone into detail on all 3 here – https://www.itassetmanagement.net/2020/03/31/microsoft-365-changes-march-2020/

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Microsoft Product Terms: November 2019


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I’ve taken a look at some of the highlights of this month’s Microsoft Product Terms document.

Big news is SQL Server 2019 is here – with a new SKU type and expanded fail-over rights.

We now have “SQL Server Big Data Node (BDN)” – available in 2-core packs via EA & EES. Requires a “master node” of SQL Std/Ent core with SA and includes certain SA rights.

Each SQL Server Ent Core license with SA gives 8 BDN licenses and each SQL Server Std Core license with SA gives 1 BDN license, when assigned to a “master node”.

The updated fail-over info is there too, but I’ll look at that properly in a separate article.

New language that M365 & O365 F1 licenses can only be assigned to users without a dedicated device.

“A Dedicated Device is a computing device used for work with a 10.1” screen or larger, used by the user more than 60% of the user’s total work time during any 90-day period”

F1 licenses are aimed at users who tend not have a device – drivers, nurses, warehouse staff etc. but I know some organisations are looking at them as a way to license traditional office workers and reduce costs. This new language looks to prevent that.

The new Project Plan 1, 3, and 5 licenses are added – only available via CSP. Plan 1 not available in France or South Korea for some reason. 🤔

Terms have been added to cover Azure Spot offers. <– Interestingly, I haven’t seen Microsoft use this term themselves until now. They have referred to them as “low-priority VMs” in Azure, with Spot being a term used by Amazon AWS.

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Microsoft Product Terms: October 2017


Microsoft have introduced a number of changes in the October 2017 Product Terms document – let’s take a look.

SQL Server 2017

Linux

SQL Server 2017 has been released, and the big thing is its support for Linux.

Microsoft point out page 29 of the Product Terms that “SQL Server Licenses are platform agnostic” and can be used on “Windows or Linux platforms”.

Machine Learning Server

The Product Terms also states that only customers with SQL Server Enterprise + SA may use updates to “Machine Learning Server for Windows or Linux” that are released after October 2017.

Additionally, for each SQL Server Enterprise core license with active SA, customers may run “Machine Learning Server for Hadoop” on up to 5 (five) servers.

What is “Machine Learning Server” you ask? Good question! It was “Microsoft R Server” and now, with the 9.2 release, it becomes “Machine Learning Server”.

For more info – head to this Microsoft blog.

R Server

The various flavours of “R Server” are being retired and so there are transition plans in place for those organisations with Software Assurance.

R Server for Hadoop

For each 1 (one) R Server for Hadoop license with active SA, you may renew SA for 2 (two) x SQL Server Enterprise Core Licenses.

R Server for Linux

For each 2 (two) R Server for Linux licenses with active SA, you may renew SA for 2 (two) x SQL Server Enterprise Core Licenses.

R Server for Teradata DB

For each 1 (one) R Server for Teradata license, you may renew SA for 6 (six) x SQL Server Enterprise Core Licenses.

SQL Server for Linux Promotion

On page 95, we see there is a promo running from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018 where:

“Microsoft will offer a Linux-specific subscription license for SQL Server 2017”

and, unlike the regular license this promo offering will:

“allow use of SQL Server on the Linux platform only”.

I can currently only assume that this promo offering will be cheaper than the license that offers dual platform rights, but let’s see!

Microsoft 365 F1

This is a new offering, aimed at those “Firstline” (formerly Kiosk) workers, for whom Office 365 F1 (formerly K1) was intended. Microsoft are now looking to extended the features and benefits of Windows 10 and EMS to these workers too – hence an F1 version of the recently renamed Microsoft 365 bundle license.

There are a couple of key things to note:

“The Windows component of Microsoft 365 F1 operates as an Online Service” and does NOT have rights to:

  • Prior versions
  • Different language versions
  • Different platform versions
  • Lower editions of Windows (including LTSB)

Nor does it grant rights to access or use “virtualized instances of Windows”.

A Microsoft 365 F1 USL DOES grant access to Windows Servers, but is not a “CAL Equivalent License” for any other product.

A “step-up” from Office 365 F1 to Microsoft 365 F1 is available.

 

Visio Online licensing

There have been changes to the licensing here. We can see on page 5 of the Product Terms that:

Visio Pro for Office 365

has been removed and replaced by:

Visio Online Plan 1 & Plan 2

There doesn’t appear to be any further public info on what the plans contain etc. but, as it appears, I’ll be sure to post.

Exchange Online Inactive Mailboxes

A new license has been added to the Exchange Online product line – the “Exchange Online Inactive Mailbox” SKU.

The product name is fairly self-explanatory as this license is required when licensing inactive mailboxes. Again, when there is more public information, I will update with the ins & outs.

UPDATE: Microsoft have confirmed that this change WILL NOT be taking place currently. Although the SKU has been added to the Product Terms, it is not active.

Skype for Business Online Renaming

We get confirmation this month of the Skype for Business Online name changes:

Skype for Business Online PSTN Calling = Calling Plan

Skype for Business Online PSTN Conferencing = Audio Conferencing

Skype for Business Online PSTN Consumption = Communication Credits

Skype for Business Online Cloud PBX = Phone System

Education

We see that Microsoft 365 (the bundle of Windows 10 Enterprise, Office 365 & Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS)) A3 & A5 have been added to the product line-up.

There have also been changes to the Student Use Benefits:

Student Use Benefit

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