Microsoft Licensing changes for November

Quite impactful November changes

The kids had their autumn break and we’re heading into winter now. Winter also means the end of the year, which is Microsoft’s half-year end. Globally, they are doing very well, but what does that mean for each subsidiary and is there something to benefit from commercially?

I will leave you with that question mark. Let’s dive into the licensing changes for November.

New Chat and Channel experience in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft has announced a new Chat and Channel experience in Microsoft Teams. Microsoft says that it’s more difficult to keep up with all your messages in different locations. Therefore, they will bring chat, teams, and channels into one place under Chat.

Microsoft is currently testing these features and will most likely roll them out in Q1 2025.

GitHub Copilot for Azure

This is now in preview! GitHub Copilot for Azure is an AI-powered coding assistant designed to enhance your development experience on the Azure platform. It integrates seamlessly with Visual Studio Code and provides real-time assistance for Azure-related tasks. Here are some key features:

In-Chat Azure Expertise: Simply type “@Azure” in Copilot chat to get insights and answers.
Personal Resource Management
Deployment Guidance: Get step-by-step help on deploying applications on Azure
Troubleshooting

Microsoft Dynamics 365 2024 release wave 2 launches

Microsoft has launched the 2024 release wave 2 for Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and role-based Copilot offerings. This rollout, will launch from October 2024 to March 2025, introduces new features and enhanced capabilities. Key updates include advanced Copilot capabilities for Sales, Service, and Finance, aimed at empowering your workforce, optimizing business processes, and enhancing customer engagement.

Azure Reserved Instances autofit ratios changes for Azure M-series VMs

There’s an upcoming change in autofit ratios for Reserved Instances (RIs) for M-series virtual machines (VMs), scheduled to go live on December 1, 2024.

If you have reservations for M-series VMs, optimized for instance size flexibility, you may notice changes in your reservation coverage. Although there are no price changes, your reservation utilization could change due to the changes in ratios.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-compute-blog/upcoming-changes-to-instance-size-flexibility-ratios-for/ba-p/4283769

15% Discount on Microsoft Copilot for nonprofit customers

Microsoft has announced new discounted pricing for nonprofit customers on Microsoft Copilot, available now. The discount is available on New Commerce Experience (NCE) only.

Product Terms

Windows Server 2025 and System Center 2025 Updated all terms from 2022 version to 2025

Windows 10 Extended Security Updates

Windows 10 ESU (Extended Security Updates)

Customer may acquire Windows 10 ESU licenses on a per device basis. Devices running a localOSE covered by ESU or accessingvirtual OSEs covered by ESU must be licensed with Windows 10 ESU for the respective year of coverage. Devices do not need an ESU license to access Windows 10OSEs covered by ESU running on Azure Virtual Desktop. If Customer has one or more ESU licenses, devices do not need an ESU license to run or access Windows 10 OSEs covered by ESU when the OSE is licensed through a Visual Studio Subscription for development or test purposes. Windows 10 ESU 2025/2026/2027 licenses may be assigned to any device. Windows 10 ESU 2026 & 2027 may only be assigned to devices also licensed with ESU(s) for the prior year(s).

Microsoft Azure: Updates to terms for Microsoft Fabric and Azure Maps. New terms for Azure IoT Operations and Windows Server pay-as-you-go enabled by Azure Arc.

Healthcare Data Solutions in Fabric

Access to Healthcare Data Solutions in Fabric requires a subscription to Microsoft Fabric. Healthcare Data Solutions in Fabric are subject to the Online Services terms governing Azure Services.

API Results

Microsoft may, in its sole discretion, limit~~: (i)~~ the rate at which Azure Maps, or any portion thereof, may be called; ~~(ii) the amount of storage made available to each Services account; or (iii) the length of individual content segments that may be uploaded to, or served from, Azure Maps~~.

Customer may not cache or store ~~information~~results delivered by the Azure Maps API ~~including but not limited to geocodes and reverse geocodes, map data tiles and route information (the “Results”)~~ for the purpose of scaling such Results (as defined below) to serve multiple users, or to circumvent any functionality in Azure Maps, including but not limited to (i) map data tiles, or (ii) information on the calculation of a path between two (2) or more points (“Route”) information (collectively the “Results”).

Caching and storing Results is and locations (latitude and longitude pair) or addresses that have been returned from a call to Azure Maps (“Geocode”/ ”Reverse Geocode”) are permitted where the purpose of caching is to reduce latency times of the Customer Solution. Results may not be stored for longer than: (i) the validity period indicated in returned headers; or (ii) 6 months, whichever is ~~the~~ shorter. ~~Notwithstanding the foregoing~~ However, Customer may ~~retain~~ store ~~continual access to geocodes~~ Geocodes as long as Customer maintains an active Azure account.

Customer may not display any Results, ~~except geocodes~~ and/or Azure Maps Weather service results, solely as described in these Terms, on any third-party content or geographical map database.

Imagery Content

Customer may not modify or create a derivative work based on any content using machine learning or artificial intelligence, unless expressly permitted to do so under these terms.

New article about Broadcast Media & Entertainment

New article / Terms about Windows Server pay-as-you-go enabled by Azure Arc

These are the highlights of the terms:

Need to be registered with Customer’s Azure Subscription
And connected to Customer’s Azure Subscription over the internet at least once every 30 days
Customer must have a valid Windows Server Standard or Windows Server Datacenter License to use the pay-as-you-go option.

Azure IoT Operations

For each instance of Azure IoT Operations in the below use cases, Customer may (1) allow a maximum of 5 users to access the operations experience portal; (2) configure its data flow endpoints to include a maximum of 50 concurrent endpoints; and (3) use the connector for OPC UA to enable connections to a maximum of 2 OPC UA servers. Use cases are as follows:

Production Use. Customer may install and use Azure IoT Operations. Customer may not use Azure IoT Operations on Listed Provider clouds.
Non-Production Use. Customer may install and use Azure IoT Operations on Listed Provider and non-Listed Provider clouds.
Trial Use. Customer may install and use Azure IoT Operations on Listed Provider and non-Listed Provider clouds as described at https://aka.ms/AzureIoTOperations/pricing.

Use Limitations

For each use case of Azure IoT Operations above, Customer may not (1) separate the Azure IoT Operations components for use as a stand-alone product or with other products or services or (2) replace or substitute Azure IoT Operations components with third party components.

Included Microsoft Components

Azure IoT Operations may include other Microsoft components listed at https://aka.ms/AzureIoTOperations/Includedcomponents. Use of these components, as described in the associated documentation at https://aka.ms/AzureIoTOperationsDocs is governed by these license terms.

Stay ahead of the curve by leveraging these new tools and terms to maximize your Microsoft investment. For a tailored approach to navigating these updates, or for any questions on how they might impact your organization, reach out to us at info@2-data.com. Let’s work together to ensure your Microsoft strategy is optimized for success.