Category: Microsoft

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) […]

End of Support for Windows 7 & 8.1
adminMicrosoft, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Windows, Uncategorized

Well, it’s happened! On January 10, 2023, both Windows (desktop) 7 and Windows 8.1[1] have left their Extended Support periods, including the third year of the Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 7.[2] Why is this important? Well, virtually all desktops and laptops access the Internet. So this means that without the proper security fixes applied, these devices are left unsecure. And, the fact that they most probably reside on a network on which other devices, such as critical servers, […]

8 Microsoft Audit Triggers
Tim HegedusMicrosoft, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Licensing Compliance

Microsoft Audits – Learn what 8 things are likely to trigger a Microsoft Audit in 2023 Don’t be fooled by Microsoft’s announcements on reducing their audits.  They have continued to audit their customers throughout the pandemic and beyond. While the recent COVID pandemic may have altered things a little, audits continue as usual. Despite Microsoft’s return on investment falling off in their 2022 fiscal year, their revenue, gross margin, and operating income all increased in the 17%+ area. So why […]

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