Tag: Visio Online

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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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Microsoft Office 2013 price increases & license changes


The upcoming 2013 release of Microsoft’s Office suite & the related products brings with it not just great new features but also price increases.

The affected products and the expected increases are:

  • SharePoint Server +38%
  • SharePoint 2013 Standard User CAL +15%
  • Exchange 2013 Standard and Enterprise User Cals +15%
  • Visio Standard 2013 +20%
  • Visio Pro 2013 +5%
  • Project Standard 2013 and Professional 2013 +5%
  • Project Server 2013 +15%
  • Lync Server +400%

An increase in price when a new version is released is quite common, with most manufacturers, but coupled with the December 1st 15% increase on user CALs and just 6 months after the up to 30% price rise relating to the Euro/GBP levelling – I do not anticipate this being well received by customers!

The big takeaway from this is *If you’re looking at purchasing these products, look at the cost of buying now with SA (as well as the extra benefits) compared to the projected costs from December onwards*.

There are also a number of licensing changes about to take effect:

Lync

Lync Server Std & Enterprise are merging into 1 SKU, with a price of around £2000+ – a significant increase over the current Lync Std price. This does bring the failover & load balancing features to all Lync 2013 organizations.

Sharepoint

Microsoft have, in many areas, moved to simplify licensing and SharePoint is another area.

FAST Search Server & Search Server are no longer separate entities, they’re now simply part of SharePoint Server 2013.

A big one here, SharePoint for Internet Sites is no more. Microsoft have done away with the (up to) £30,000+ license, which was required for external user access to SharePoint content, and rolled those licensing rights into the standard server license. From the October Product Use Rights (PUR) document:

“CAL WAIVER FOR USERS ACCESSING PUBLICLY AVAILABLE CONTENT
CALs are not required to access content, information, and applications that you make publicly available to users over the Internet (i.e., not restricted to Intranet or Extranet scenarios).”

I imagine that this will partially contribute to the increase in price we’re seeing with 2013.

Exchange

Basic Anti-Malware protection will be baked into Exchange Server 2013

External Connectors

External connector licenses have been removed for both Exchange 2013 & Lync 2013. Again from the October 2012 PUR:

“External User Access: Licensed with Server”

Visio

Again in a move to simplify the SKU line up and make it easier for customers to make the right selection, Visio Premium is being discontinued and all it’s extra features will be moved into Visio Pro 2013.

Software Assurance

Organizations who purchased any products that are due to be discontinued along with Software Assurance need not worry, your benefits will continue and you will receive access to the relevant 2013 version.

Office 365

Something that Microsoft have not mentioned much at all and have in fact been reluctant to discuss, is that Visio & Project are being made available online via Office 365. This will be of big benefit to many customers, enabling easier collaboration among staff no matter their location.

Another benefit of this may well be around Software Asset Management (SAM). It’s common to see organizations over licensed for Project & Visio, Office 365 may make it easier for them to track how many licenses they have and who they are assigned to.

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