Like most others in the software development business, Microsoft does not sell its products. Rather, it licenses them. Ensuring that customers maintain compliance with licensing agreements is the motivation behind conducting regular audits. Rest assured that a Microsoft license audit is not something to take lightly. Microsoft audits are par for the course at Miro Consulting. Given that Microsoft is the most common software brand utilized by organizations worldwide, we make it our business to stay abreast with auditing policies, […]
Category: Microsoft: News You Can Use
Is Licensing Copilot for Microsoft 365 Worth the Cost?
Microsoft has done an abrupt about face by making Copilot, its generative AI tool, available to just about everyone who uses Microsoft 365. However, Copilot is not free. Anyone wishing to access it in Microsoft 365 – whether for professional or personal use – must pay for a license. Here is the question: is licensing Copilot worth the cost? As with all Microsoft products, Copilot is subject to compliance verification. A typical Microsoft license audit will account for every use […]
Windows Server 2025
Windows Server 2025 will be generally available “in late 2024”. This release has the same ten (10) year support cycle as previous Windows Server releases. Among the features: Core features like Active Directory, Storage, and Hyper-V Features that were first introduced in Azure Stack HCI and Azure Edition Active Directory improvements A little more in depth: Some core features such as hot-patching (or not having to reboot the host server often resulting in downtime ) do not include zero-day patches […]
Microsoft Products Reaching End-of-Life in or by September 2024
As an ongoing effort, Miro will deliver the Microsoft products reaching end-of-life (EOL) in or by September 2024 in a clear, concise way. There are two (2) things that are very important – and potentially critical – to your organization: We wanted to call your attention to the classic Azure Cloud Services and to Year 2 of the Extended Security Updates for SQL Server 2012. Azure Cloud Services Microsoft gives its customers two (2) choices for its classic Azure […]
Microsoft Products Reaching End-of-Life in or by March 2024
As an ongoing effort, Miro will deliver the Microsoft products reaching end-of-life (EOL) in or by March 2024 in a clear, concise way. Three (3) things are very important – and potentially critical – to your organization: Many of the listed products pertain to Windows Server. But we wanted to call your attention to Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2. Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 These versions of Windows Server begin their Extended Security Updates (ESU) for servers under […]
Microsoft Products Reaching End-of-Life in or by October 2023
As an ongoing effort, Miro will deliver the Microsoft products reaching end-of-life (EOL) in or by October 2023 in a clear, concise way. Two (2) things are very important – and potentially critical – to your organization: Microsoft Office 2019 Including Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac and all the applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, the EOL is October 2023. That is this October! And this is for Mainstream Support. The Extended Support end is currently two (2) […]
Microsoft Office Rebranding
For the first time in over 30 years, Microsoft Office will be no more. At least, the name. While the functionality of each component – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, for example – will remain the same, the product will be referred to as Microsoft 365. Throughout the coming timeframe, these products as well as some others will absorb the new branding. However, the price will change. While Microsoft Office is a one-time, perpetual right-to-use, the new Microsoft 365 is a […]
Licensing by Virtual Core
Beginning in October 2022, Microsoft allows for licensing of certain products by virtual core. In this blog, we look at three (3) specific titles: Windows Server, System Center, and SQL Server. Windows Server The announcement reads: “When licensing either edition of Windows Server by virtual machine…” But there’s other parts of this statement – caveats, if you will: “The licensed server must be assigned a minimum of 8 core licenses per virtual machine.” – So four (4) 2-pack […]
In Archive
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- December 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- May 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- February 2019
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- August 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- March 2015
- January 2015
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- December 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007