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Category: Microsoft 365

Microsoft License Audits: Top 5 FAQs and Answers

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?

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 […]

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) […]

10 Microsoft Licensing Mistakes That Might Cost You Your Job

Virtualization Policy Errors Mistake – Virtualization polices can affect licensing for Microsoft products such as SQL Server, when moving instances in a cluster (“License Mobility”), or if hardware features such as hyperthreading are turned on. Example – A large multi-market media company was using hyperthreading without realizing it doubled their licensing needs. Miro showed them how to fix the problem and the solution saved them $10 million over three years. Lacking a Software Compliance Policy Mistake – Not having a […]

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 […]

Microsoft Changes Cloud Licensing

We all know how big cloud computing is. And you might be aware that a lawsuit was brought against Microsoft alleging its practices in the cloud were unfair. Technically, this case was brought in the European Union, but now Microsoft has responded to it by changing these practices worldwide. It is not clear that this will suffice in settling the lawsuit. These changes do not apply to what Microsoft refers to as “Listed Providers” – that is, Microsoft, Alibaba, AWS, […]

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