The information in this blog post has recently been updated. Please refer to our latest post from 6/28/19 >> Keeping Up with Microsoft 365’s Product Terms and Impending Deadlines
With so many changes impacting Microsoft’s flagship on-premise products and the online advanced Microsoft 365 equivalents, we’re seeing regular announcements from Microsoft regarding use right changes. One example is the update to Microsoft 365 dual use rights.
If you qualified as a From SA customer when you transitioned from On-Premise desktop products to Microsoft 365 From SA, you were given the right to install Office Professional Plus for these users. Microsoft’s intention was that if you committed to this higher functionality of Microsoft 365 E3/E5 you would be given more time to transition to the Office 365 ProPlus subscription.
Microsoft 365 Dual Use Rights Changes
As recently as the November 2018 Product Terms, the use rights for Office Professional Plus were to last until January 1, 2019. With the release of the December 2018 Product Terms, Microsoft changed the effective date of this from January 1, 2019 to August 1, 2019. Customers with active Enterprise Agreements will not be impacted by these changes to Microsoft 365 dual use rights until their active agreement expires.
So what does this actually mean? Well, if you sign a new Microsoft agreement after August 1, 2019, which includes Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 From SA SKUs, you will no longer have rights to deploy the perpetual Office client. Remember that the products are different (perpetual vs. subscription). For current EA customers that expire beyond August 1, 2019, the same will be true for you once you renew.
If you are utilizing on-premise licenses, in a hybrid state, or have already purchased advanced Microsoft 365 solutions but have not deployed them, you need to analyze the impact of Microsoft’s changes to Microsoft 365 dual use rights on your current licensing/subscription and spend. This is especially true for EA customers with a Q3/Q4 renewal date. You’ll need to be fully up to speed on Microsoft’s changing use rights and licensing/subscription options to help you navigate through the many decisions you will face.
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