Cloudy with a chance of Licensing
Latest news and updates on Microsoft licensing & cloud
Not much this month at all:
Teams Rooms Standard & Premium swapped for Basic & Pro
Qatar added as a data location
Clarified terms for Azure Databox & Stack Edge
Microsoft also revealed further details around the upcoming cloud licensing changes (which I’ll post about separately) but these aren’t in the Product Terms this month…will likely be October.
The Product Terms were on time this month (😊) but not a huge amount has happened (as expected).
The M365 F1 & F3 maximum screen size limitation is increased from 10.1″ to 10.9″ – this expands the devices available to F SKU users and – perhaps – widens the scope of who can be assigned such a license?
“Home Use Program” is renamed “Workplace Discount Program” – no changes to terms…yet…
Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting added (although the specific page currently has an error)
Still no sign of the rule changes around 3rd-party cloud licensing that were announced in May…
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
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 Protection Addendum, 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.
Microsoft have introduced a number of changes in the October 2017 Product Terms document – let’s take a look.
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”.
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.
The various flavours of “R Server” are being retired and so there are transition plans in place for those organisations with Software Assurance.
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.
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.
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!
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:
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.
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.
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.
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
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:
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 