Category: Microsoft: News You Can Use

Microsoft License Audits: Top 5 FAQs and Answers
Stefan SinghCompliance, IT Asset Management, licensing, Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft: News You Can Use, Miro News, software asset management, Software audit, software license

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, […]

Is Licensing Copilot for Microsoft 365 Worth the Cost?
Stefan SinghAI, Compliance, Enterprise Agreement, IT Asset Management, licensing, Licensing Change Alert, Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft: News You Can Use, Miro News, software asset management, Software audit, software license

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
Tim HegedusContainers, Cost Containment/Negotiation, IT Asset Management, licensing, Licensing Change Alert, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Software Assurance, Microsoft: News You Can Use, Miro News, software asset management, software license, Subscription based license, Uncategorized

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
Tim Hegeduslicensing, Licensing Change Alert, Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Bundling, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Software Assurance, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft: News You Can Use, Miro News, software asset management, software license, Support, Uncategorized

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
Tim Hegeduslicensing, Licensing Change Alert, Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Bundling, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Software Assurance, Microsoft Unified Support, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft: News You Can Use, Miro News, software asset management, software license, Support

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
Tim Hegeduslicensing, Licensing Change Alert, Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Bundling, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Self Service, Microsoft Software Assurance, Microsoft Unified Support, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft: News You Can Use, Miro News, software asset management, software license, Support

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
Tim Hegeduslicensing, Licensing Change Alert, Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Bundling, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Self Service, Microsoft Software Assurance, Microsoft Unified Support, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft: News You Can Use, software asset management, Software audit, software license, Software Renewal, Subscription based license, Support, Uncategorized, Windows

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
Tim HegedusCompliance, Core Licensing, licensing, Licensing Change Alert, Microsoft, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Software Assurance, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft: News You Can Use, Miro News, software asset management, Software audit, software license, Software Renewal, SQL, Subscription based license, Virtualization, Windows

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 […]

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