Cloudy with a chance of Licensing
Latest news and updates on Microsoft licensing & cloud
Clarification to the Online Services “Acceptable Use Policy” that crypto-mining is prohibited without Microsoft’s prior approval. I wonder when they will give permission for this?!
DevOps Server 2022 added
A clarification notice around Microsoft’s communication services, relating to taxes and relations to 3rd-party services.
This month we’ve 2 new M365 data related SKUs:
M365 Advanced Data Residency
M365 Cross-tenant User Data Migration
There is also the removal of:
Microsoft Threat Experts
SharePoint Advanced Management Plan 1
The SharePoint SKU was only added last month but there was very little info available, so it seems likely it was added in error. Let’s see if/when it reappears.
A nice addition – Azure Active Directory Basic now allows unlimited SSO (Single Sign On) – the previous limit was 10 apps so à really significant change.
There is a 50% off promo for Defender for Endpoint on EA from Nov 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023
Most of the focus is on the changes that Microsoft have made to cloud and virtualisation licensing for Windows Server, Windows 11, Office and more – you can check out my analysis of that here – but there are other changes this month too.
Three new products are added:
I cover this in more depth here but it is now in the Product Terms and there’s a clause that organisations must use a Viva Sales connector to link it to their CRM…so no 3rd-party or in-house connectors.
I’ve not seen any info about this and am still looking for details – let me know if you have any info!
Again, no info about these yet. Looking at Microsoft Learn/Docs, workload identities are “applications, service principals, and managed identities” but I’m not sure how this relates to the new SKU.
There was also:
The removal of Intune for EDU (device) from MCA
Windows 11 Home to Pro availability expanded to Central and South America
After a bit of a wait for Redmond to publish, the latest update is here. Not surprisingly, given the time of year, there’s nothing major – mainly just a bit of tidying up this month:
Added/updated terms for:
Windows AutoPatch
MCA cancellations
Azure Limited Access Services
Removed old references for:
Business Voice
GitHub Learning Lab for Organizations
Office 365 Add-ons
Change to show 3.5K AI Builder Credits are included per SharePoint Syntex license
Academic plans added to Cloud for Non-profit qualifying licenses
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.
It’s almost the end of Microsoft’s financial year and typically things quieten down, but there is one interesting change this month:
SQL Server Standard can now use Distributed Availability Groups (AG*), a feature which has been an Enterprise only feature up until now. However, it is limited by the fact that the DAG may only synchronise with Azure.
The Microsoft Docs page (like this one https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/availability-groups/windows/distributed-availability-groups?view=sql-server-ver15#version-and-edition-requirements) haven’t yet been updated…
*Microsoft say that “DAG” is used for Exchange’s Database Availability Group feature and this SQL feature is to be shortened to “AG” instead.
The couple of other Product Terms changes are:
A few areas of activity this month:
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
Another relatively quiet month in Feb 22 but there are a couple of things to note:
It’s the first Microsoft Product Terms of 2022 and, as expected, it’s a very quiet one.
A statement re: the end of Open Licensing confirms that:
“…commercial, government, education, and non-profit organizations won’t be able to buy new or renew software licenses, Software Assurance, or online services through the Open License program”
Another name change: “Phone System” is now “Microsoft Teams Phone Standard”.
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 