[m365weekly] #3: A Slow Demise of On-Premise Computing

Microsoft is planning to completely back off from the perpetual licensing model. Of course, I don’t have any proof for that statement but I see all the signs that that is exactly what’s happening.

At the first glance, it may seem that perpetual licenses are going to stay … especially because a few days ago Microsoft announced that the next Office apps (perpetual license) will come to market in 2021. But on the other hand in the case of the Exchange server, they announced that the next version of the server, which will launch next year, is going to be the last.

There’s a certain push towards CSP licensing and distributors can feel this pressure already in the last months.

From my standpoint, move to a subscription licensing model is a change for the better. At least there will be one less way to buy MS products. And that is good.

Microsoft is going for the same thing Adobe did with his cloud licenses years ago.

What is more concerning is the fact that Microsoft is quietly slowing down the development of on-premise products. In the last few years, we’ve seen fewer and fewer changes in Active Directory. Feels like they have put the AD development on hold.

A push towards Azure and M365 may seem natural and far more profitable for MS. But on the other hand, their main customers are businesses. And not all of them want to migrate and go fully-cloud.

What do you think? What will the future of on-premise computing be?

Have a great weekend,
Matt

P.S.: You can always send me links and resources that you find useful and I will try to include them in the next issues.

☁️Productivity & Modern Workplace

Building apps with little or no coding experience. Is this the future of building apps that are laser-focused on solving small and big problems for teams and organizations? I bet in a few years’ time not only advanced users but all users will be able to build their own apps for very specific tasks and be extremely productive. I believe Project Oakdale has a bright future.

Ignite 2020 focused on Teams. Buch of Ignite sessions … MS Teams Calling made simple – how to deploy and use Enterprise Calling, Teams mobile app: what’s new and what’s next. Ohh, and Ignite 2021 will be in March 2021.

Great news for all webinar organizers. Presumably in December 2020 Teams is getting some much-needed webinar tools including attendee registration capabilities, attendee email confirmation, and calendar invite. How cool is that! More on the topic.

Lists app in Teams generally available. Have you tried Lists yet? You may find it the best feature addition to Teams in last year.

Streams 2.0. Streams is being completely rebuilt. Again. First, it was Office 365 Video which was then replaced by Streams. And now they are migrating to new storage – Streams 2.0 will use SharePoint and OneDrive for data storage. Teams will be the first app that will use it.

☁️Sysadmin Stuff

Microsoft Launched a new video hub for the MS Tech Community. A new place for geeks to search for new things that are going to hit the proverbial shelves in the future, or just to find info on MS technologies.

Change OneDrive Storage for a single user. There is always that one user who wants something special. No problem. You have this covered.

Some more Powershell Scripts you can use for M365 management. Change M365 username, change email address, hide group address from GAL, and more …

Sensitivity Labels for effective data classification and better information security. Sensitivity labels are a powerful tool in Microsoft 365. Imagine you have now a tool to effectively monitor data leaks. When done properly data classification can spare you nightmares in case of intentional or accidental leaks. The file which is is properly classified can’t be read by people which are not cleared to read it.

Quite comprehensive dive into productivity. Slightly off-topic as it is not M365 oriented but still revolves around the modern workplace in the new reality.

💻 Completely Off-Topic

New virtual machines converter. Yes, off-topic but still a great tool for sysadmins. Physical 2 virtual, virtual 2 virtual, virtual 2 cloud, physical 2 cloud. This tool covers it all.

☁️On a Less Serious Note

Zoom? Of course not. Teams is a way to go.

☁️ Last but not least …

Here are a few things you can do if you enjoyed reading this newsletter: