As of March 1, 2024, the Services Provider Use Rights (SPUR) is now available online. It appears Microsoft will continue to publish the Word version of the SPUR, but they have yet to create a March 2024 version as of the publishing of this blog.
Please click here to see the new online Services Provider Use Rights (SPUR)
Microsoft’s Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server offers customers significant value, except under one scenario. Customers who have Windows Server Datacenter core licenses covered with active Software Assurance who no longer have on-premises workloads to assign the licenses to but would like to utilize the Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server on multitenant Azure. Under this scenario customers are overpaying 500% for their Azure VMs.
How can this be? The answer is simple, Windows Server Datacenter and Windows Server Standard have the exact same Azure Hybrid Benefit when running on multitenant Azure when dual use rights are not required. Yet, Windows Server Datacenter costs over 500% more to maintain active Software Assurance compared to Windows Server Standard.
Please see the below image explaining the Windows Server Azure Hybrid Benefit by Windows Server edition, the scenario in question is highlighted in yellow.
It is important to note that System Center Server Datacenter provides ten (10) managed Azure VMs where System Center Server Standard only provides two (2) managed Azure VMs under License Mobility through Software Assurance. Thus, Microsoft has established the value for System Center Server Datacenter at five (5) times the value of System Center Server Standard.
The current Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server which allows Windows Server Datacenter to license Azure Dedicated Hosts and receive unlimited Azure VMs when Windows Server Datacenter core licenses are running only on Azure. Thus, Microsoft has established special Azure Hybrid Benefit rights for Windows Server Datacenter when dual use rights are not needed.
Based on the above two paragraphs, Microsoft should add a special Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server Datacenter when running on multitenant Azure when the indefinite dual use right is not needed. The new right should allow customers to run five (5) Azure vCPU for each Windows Server Datacenter core license covered with active Software Assurance.
Microsoft could benefit from our proposal by driving increased Azure revenue. Thus, a win for the customer and Microsoft!
On February 1, 2021 Microsoft published the last monthly Product Terms (PT) and Online Services Terms (OST) documents. Going forward all information covered within these two documents will only be available on the new Microsoft Product Terms Site, which launched on July 1, 2020.
Below is the history of how Microsoft had disseminated primary licensing information to customers.
I have always liked that the Product Terms (PT) and Online Services Terms (OST) were published and thus were static content at a defined point in time, where the new site is dynamic. The new site does provide a way to export data to a Microsoft Word (.docx format) and I strongly recommend customers export to Microsoft Word the license programs applicable to them at the beginning of each new month.
In order to access any licensing information on the new site, you must first select one of the 9 available licensing programs. The below availability view is a very cool feature of the new site, with no license program selected you can select a product or subscription service from the main site and see all applicable licensing programs it may be licensed under. Then to access the licensing details you need to select a single license program to review. Use the “Clear Filter” button to remove a selected license program to be able to go back to the below view.
On a bright note, the new Product Terms Site offers a very nice compare feature by date, which will show you the changes between a previous date and the current date. Please refer to the Product Terms Site FAQ for how to use this feature. Please note the you may only go back as far as July 1, 2020 on the new site, for anything before that date please refer to the archived Product Terms (PT) . The site appears to allow users to go back as far as April 20, 2020, but the FAQ says it is only good back to July 1, 2020.
In addition to the Product Terms Site, Microsoft also publishes various licensing briefs, which can be downloaded from the below resource links.
Resource Links:
Click here to access the Product Terms Site
Click here to download the Product Terms Site FAQ
Click here to access archived copies of monthly Product Terms (PT)
Click here to access archived copies of monthly Online Services Terms (OST)
Most Microsoft customers focus solely on price without ever considering product use rights changes that could prohibit their use of the software they are so concerned to get at the lowest price.
Over the past few years Microsoft has been making very significant product use rights changes, which result in many customers no longer being able to continue using the software as they have been.
Some customers will renew their agreements without knowing the product use rights changes have placed them in a non-compliant state. Other customers will find out from Microsoft in the eleventh hour of renewing their agreement, being forced to buy a more expensive product. And there will be audits where customers are surprised to learn they are out of compliance.
Updated 8/1/2023
Effective 8/1/2023, Microsoft has granted new use rights known as “Amazon Workspaces Deployments” to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise/business. Please refer to the Microsoft Product Terms website for more information. Please make sure to select the correct Licensing Program on the Microsoft Product Terms website. To learn more about Amazon Workspaces, please click here.
Updated 10/21/2019
Effective October 1, 2019, Microsoft has made a major licensing change that negatively impacts customers’ ability to utilize their on-premise Microsoft software licenses at specific outsourcing providers. This change directly impacts customers running workloads on dedicated hardware at Alibaba, Amazon, Google and Microsoft. This also impacts outsourcing providers using one of these four named providers to deliver part of their outsourcing service, such as VMware Cloud on AWS.
“Listed Provider” is a new term added to the October 2019 Microsoft Product Terms, which is being used to isolate specific outsourcing providers, which Microsoft is now classifying as dedicated hosted cloud services. Microsoft has included Azure Dedicated Host in the group of Listed Providers, but they are using Azure Hybrid Benefit to grant Azure Dedicated Host special use rights not afforded to the other Listed Providers.
In addition to Azure Hybrid Benefit, Microsoft has granted Azure other special use rights related to running Windows virtual desktops and Visual Studio with MSDN software for development and testing.
This change impacts five (5) major areas:
1. Server Operating Systems
2. Application Servers
3. Windows Enterprise Virtual Desktops
4. Office Applications
5. Visual Studio with MSDN non-production software (development & testing)
Prior to 10/1/2019, customers could run Microsoft software on dedicated hardware from Alibaba, Amazon and Google, with the same licensing rules that applied when running the software on-premise. It is important to note that Software Assurance (SA) is not required to run software on-premise, except for Windows virtual desktops. Please note active Software Assurance (SA) coverage provides additional product use rights for most Microsoft products.
From 10/1/2019 forward, all has changed. Microsoft is allowing all software licenses acquired prior to 10/1/2019 to have the same rights as before (except for Windows virtual desktops), but if you need additional licenses or want a new version released after 10/1/2019 the new rules apply.
Under the new product use rights, customers will no longer be able to run new Windows Server licenses or versions released after 10/1/2019 on dedicated hardware at Listed Providers, except Microsoft has special use rights for Azure Dedicated Host via Azure Hybrid Benefit, which gives Microsoft a very nice advantage. Azure Hybrid Benefit requires active Software Assurance (SA) on the software to be eligible. Customers must pay Listed Providers directly for the Windows Server software they run on dedicated hardware. Microsoft needs to be prepared for affected customers to drop Software Assurance (SA) on Windows Server and pay for the software directly from the Listed Provider.
New SQL Server licenses and versions released after 10/1/2019 can still be run on Listed Providers dedicated hardware via License Mobility through Software Assurance (SA), but customers can only license at the VM level, not the physical hardware level. This means higher cost and less flexibility for many customers.
If you are running virtual Windows Desktops on dedicated hardware from a Listed Provider other than Microsoft, you will have to acquire a Windows VDA E3/E5 user subscription for each user or find a new outsourcing provider that is not a Listed Provider and is not using a Listed Provider as part of their outsourcing service.
It is important to point out M365 E3/E5/F1/Business and Windows 10 Enterprise E3/E5 customers can run virtual desktops on Azure via the new Windows Virtual Desktop offering and they are not required to buy VDA, thus no double billing on Azure like the other Listed Providers.
As for Office Professional Plus, you can continue to use existing licenses the same way, but if you need additional licenses or want a new version released after 10/1/2019, you are out of luck because Office is not eligible for License Mobility through Software Assurance (SA).
Windows Client and Office have arguably been the most important software products since the company was founded, these changes could negatively affect the usage of the most important Microsoft products at the world’s largest cloud providers because of a licensing rule change.
Many customers have taken advantage of Visual Studio with MSDN to license their development/test environments (non-production use only). They have used these rights to license software like SQL Server and Windows Server on dedicated hardware at Amazon and Google. Visual Studio with MSDN licenses purchased before 10/1/2019 will not be impacted if you are testing with versions of SQL Server and Windows Server released before 10/1/2019. Once you need additional Visual Studio with MSDN licenses or wish to test with versions of software released after 10/1/2019, you will be governed by the new rules.
As for running Visual Studio with MSDN non-production software on Azure, it has been permitted via Azure Dev/Test with active Software Assurance (SA) for many years. Microsoft has made sure there are no obstacles in the customer’s way if they want to run on Azure.
If you are an active Enterprise Agreement (EA) customer, we recommend speaking directly with Microsoft to fully understand how this change impacts the software on your current EA and your next EA. You must consider both True-Ups and new product versions.
Customers have made large strategic investments they cannot simply walk away from and how they respond to this change may not turn out the way Microsoft expects. In fact, this change may result in loss of revenue to Microsoft and have negative consequences on Microsoft field account teams.
It is critical all affected customers understand these changes and their options, which may include moving affected workloads off Microsoft software. Please see the October 2019 Microsoft Product Terms regarding this significant change.
Currently Microsoft has classified four (4) outsourcing providers as Listed Providers, but Microsoft can always expand this list in the future to additional providers.
The below matrix contains the options for using key Microsoft Software from 10/1/2019 onward. The yellow section highlights the major impact to customers running Microsoft software on dedicated hardware at Listed Providers (excluding Azure Dedicated Host).
Update
On April 1, 2020 Microsoft released the M365 E3 Unattended SKU and the Power Automate unattended RPA Add-on SKU. Please see review the two below references for more information.
Please click her to read the April 1, 2020 New Release
Please click here to download the Microsoft 365 Unattended License Overview (Nov 2020)
Please note even with the release of these new SKUs, Microsoft Office is not designed or supported to run unattended on a Windows Server as a server-side service.
For Excel server-side services, we recommend EPPlus - Please click here to learn about EPPlus
Original Post
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is growing rapidly along with a large number of RPA tool vendors. Many of these tools automate reading and creating Microsoft Office files such as Excel workbooks and Word documents. We have heard some of these vendors require customers to install Microsoft Office on Windows Servers for the RPA agents to execute as a server-side service.
It is critical RPA tool customers understand Microsoft Office was not designed and is not supported to run unattended on a Windows Server as a server-side service. In addition to the technical and support issue of running as a server-side service on a Windows Server, there is the problem of licensing the software.
Please click here to read a Microsoft article covering this topic.
Most organizations never think about the future when deciding how to mark the “Future Affiliates” box on their EA and SCE enrollments. Let’s take a company with an EA and an SCE and they select to include all future affiliates on both their EA and SCE. This company has both SQL Server and Windows Server enrolled on their SCE.
Fast forward a year into the future and this company purchases a smaller company who does not have an EA nor any Microsoft software with active Software Assurance (SA). The new company they purchase has a large SQL Server footprint which is all physical. All the new company’s SQL Servers and Windows Servers are properly licensed before the acquisition, but once the deal is inked they are no longer compliant.
All the SQL Servers and Windows Servers now must be added to the acquiring company’s SCE. Chances are no one on the mergers and acquisition team even considered this during the acquisition due diligence process.
In addition to the SQL Servers and Windows Servers having to be re-purchased, the new company will also have to be added to the EA, which is an additional cost.
I once had a Microsoft auditor with one of the Big 4 tell me he loved getting assigned to audits where SQL Server was on an SCE!
SoftwareAdvocates is not a big fan of the SCE, but if you have one you need to fully understand it. For some customers they are fine, but only you can decide if an SCE is right for your company.
On October 2, 2018 SoftwareAdvocates blogged about a major negative change impacting FROM SA Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 customers right to use perpetual copies of Office. Well it appears this did not go over well with affected customers because on May 23, 2019 Microsoft reversed course and restored the prior Office “Dual Use Right” to these customers. Nice to see customers votes still count.
Click here to read the Microsoft May 23, 2019 announcement…
Click here to read SoftwareAdvocates October 2, 2018 post…
We have confirmed the June 2019 Product Terms have been updated to reflect this change. The exact language below is from page 6 of the June 2019 Microsoft Product Terms:
“Microsoft 365: The decision to end the right to use Office Professional Plus for Microsoft 365 From SA Customers (sometimes referred to as Extended or Dual Use Rights) has been reversed. As a result, the language ending this use right effective August 1, 2019 has been removed.”
Back in April of 2017, Microsoft published an article stating, “Effective October 13th, 2020, Office 365 will only allow Office client connectivity from subscription clients (Office 365 ProPlus) or Office perpetual clients within mainstream support to connect to Office 365 services.”. What this meant was no more connecting to O365 services from Office 2016 after 10/12/2020.
Please click here to read the April 2017 article
Then in September of 2018, Microsoft announced the following:
“Office 2016 connectivity support for Office 365 services
In addition, we are modifying the Office 365 services system requirements related to service connectivity. In February, we announced that starting October 13, 2020, customers will need Office 365 ProPlus or Office 2019 clients in mainstream support to connect to Office 365 services. To give you more time to transition fully to the cloud, we are now modifying that policy and will continue to support Office 2016 connections with the Office 365 services through October 2023.”
Please click here to read the September 2018 article
I am pleased to see Microsoft listening to customers and accommodating them. However, just because we have more breathing room does not allow us to stop planning and moving forward.
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