Questions about Office 2013 via Office 365

Here are some common questions that I see out there about Office 2013 via Office 365.
Q. Can I run Office 2013 from Office 365 in a Remote Desktop Environment (i.e. on Terminal Services)?
I covered this extensively in a previous blog post. The answer is basically NO unless you purchase Office 365 via Volume Licensing.
Q. Can I downgrade to Office 2010 Professional Plus if I purchase Office 2013 Professional Plus from Office 365?
No. Only Volume Licensing has downgrade rights.
Q. Am I required to upgrade from Office 2010 Professional Plus to Office 2013 Professional Plus if I previously purchased an E3 or E4 SKU of Office 365?
Yes. If you have already installed Office 2010 Professional Plus that came with older versions of Office 365 (E3 or E4) then you are required to upgrade to the new version of Office 2013 Professional Plus by the 8th of April 2014. After that date Office Professional Plus 2010 originally from Office 365 will only operate in deprecated (i.e. read only mode), like other unlicensed versions of Office 2010.
Q. Can I obtain Office 2013 from Office 365 from DVD media or downloading an ISO?
No. Office 2013 from Office 365 uses streaming ‘click-to-run’ technology that delivers the software directly from the Internet.
Q. If my existing Office 365 tenant that includes Office for the desktop has not yet been upgraded to Wave 15 can I install Office 2013 Professional Plus that will come with the upgraded tenant now?
Yes. See the following:
http://community.office365.com/en-us/blogs/office_365_technical_blog/archive/2013/03/24/office-365-proplus-upgrading-customer-preview-4128-clients-to-release-4454-or-4481-clients-plus-deploying-release-clients-and-office-for-mac-2011-clients-from-pre-upgrade-tenants.aspx
under the heading:
Installing Office 365 ProPlus Release Build… and the answer to “If my Office 365 tenant hasn’t been upgraded, how do I get the new Office clients for PCs and Macs?”
Q. If my existing Office 365 tenant that includes Office for the desktop has not yet been upgraded to Wave 15 can I install Office for MAC that will come with the upgraded tenant now?
Yes. Again, see the following:
http://community.office365.com/en-us/blogs/office_365_technical_blog/archive/2013/03/24/office-365-proplus-upgrading-customer-preview-4128-clients-to-release-4454-or-4481-clients-plus-deploying-release-clients-and-office-for-mac-2011-clients-from-pre-upgrade-tenants.aspx

under the heading:
How Do I Get Office for Mac 2011 with a Pre-Upgrade Tenant?
If you have more questions about Office desktop software via Office 365 either leave a comment on this post or email me directly (director@ciaops.com). If I don’t know I’ll find out for you. Otherwise visit the following link for more information on Office Professional Plus via Office 365.
http://community.office365.com/en-us/wikis/upgrade/faq-regarding-office-proplus.aspx

Office 365 has new login page

Office 365 has a new login page when you visit:

http://login.microsoftonline.com

Very Bing like eh? Looks great. Only problem is I now have to go and update all my documentation. I wonder what else we’ll see on this page in the future?

Nice Office 365 customer video

Here’s a nice Office 365 customer experience video, that illustrates how Office 365 is helping a card dealership.

A great example of how all the features of Office 365 come together to make a business more productive.

CIAOPS Podcast–Episode 49

This podcast is a recording from a Google Hangout conducted by Richard Tubb on the matter of Google Apps vs Office 365. Panellist included: James Kimberly, Owen Kane and myself. During the session we focus more on the similarities of the products rather than their differences and the reasons why both present compelling options for customers and resellers.
http://ciaops.podbean.com/2013/04/02/episode-49-cloud-panel/
You can support this podcast via http://donation.ciaops.com
Don’t forget all the other podcasts at http://ciaops.podbean.com and appreciate a like over at http://www.facebook.com/n2kpodcast.
Remember if you want to be a guest please contact me (director@ciaops.com).

A gift for hackers

Here’s a great documentary on how technology is “protecting” us but compromising our “privacy”. It is another example of the tyranny of the default. Basically, having so many devices freely connected to the Internet with effectively no security is a gift for those willing to look and exploit.

Here’s the brief:

For downloads and more information visit:http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=64861
IT companies are failing to secure devices connected to the internet, leaving them open to hackers. This shocking report reveals how anything from your pins to your passport could now be accessed online.
“Is this your pin? Is this a letter you received from your bank? Do you have a HP e-Print scanner?” The young man answers yes to every question, stunned that all of his information was accessible on the internet for anyone who wanted to see it. And he’s not alone: the wealth of information available is staggering. From shop owners whose security cameras can be watched and controlled remotely, to medical records and confidential documents for international companies like Unilever, Orange and KLM, it’s a bonanza for any would-be hackers. While it would be simple for the IT firms who provide printers, scanners and software to make the system more secure, they don’t see it as their problem and argue that attending to basic safety protocols is a bit of a marketing nightmare. “There are people who know all about how this works, security-wise, but it’s too much trouble to explain all that.” One company went so far as to call consumers who didn’t know they had to change their passwords “idiots”. As the rate of technological change continues at a frightening pace, do technology companies have a duty to prevent our privacy being eroded?

If you have an Internet connected device ensure the password is CHANGED. Do it now because insecure systems affect every Internet user. Watch the video and change those passwords.

Remote Desktop Services in Office 365

*** Update 9 September 2014 *****

*** Please see this update – https://blog.ciaops.com/2014/09/installing-office-365-pro-plus-on-rds.html ***

It has been brought to my attention that this post has figured in a recent APAC Google Enterprise newsletter. Having seen the newsletter and being disappointed in the negative approach it has taken to Office 365 I have decided to provide the following points to balance the attempt to insinuate in any way that Office 365 is inferior by what I detailed originally.

1. In no way does the issue below prevent Office 365 services (such as email and collaboration) from operating or reduce their functionality in any way.

2. The subset of customers who this applies to is extremely small when compared to the overall market.

3. Alternate solutions from Microsoft are available.

4. The inclusion of full desktop productivity applications is something that no other vendor provides, to my knowledge, with their cloud offerings.

5. Each qualifying user can install Office desktop software, for MAC or PC, from Office 365 on up to 5 devices.

6. This is the way the product has always been (since Office 365 was launched), so nothing has effectively changed.

7. I still firmly believe desktop software via Office 365 provides the most cost effective solution for customers looking to keep up to date with the latest products they are familiar with, want to use and will work with and without an Internet connection.

Let’s see all products compete on what benefits they provide to end users and not waste energy elsewhere.

I leave the original post unchanged below and also point out that at any time in the future this licensing can be changed.

*********

Please note that this post supersedes any of the information I have posted previously on this topic. I also hope I have all this right (fingers crossed).

After further research and contact with Microsoft to get the ‘correct’ information on Remote Desktop Services with Office 2013 Professional Plus via Office 365, in summary I can tell you that:

Any Office 2013 Professional Plus product purchased via the Office 365 console is NOT licensed for Remote Desktop Services no matter what the SKU or plan.

The details are:

At this Office 365 link:

Enterprise value – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj900171.aspx

under the heading Desktop virtualization (user-dedicated VDI and RDS) it says:

“Only Office 365 ProPlus customers with a volume license version of Office Professional Plus 2013 can use Remote Desktop Services (RDS).”

Thus, from the Service Descriptions table in my previous post:

You see 2 subscript. That reads (my emphasis):

“Office 365 ProPlus is supported on user-dedicated virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). To use Remote Desktop Services (RDS), you must use a volume license version of Office Professional Plus 2013, which is available on the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center. For more information, see Microsoft Volume Licensing” Product Use Rights.

This therefore means that WITHOUT Office 2013 Professional Plus Volume Licensing you cannot run use an Office 365 version of Office 2013 for Remote Desktop Services via ANY license.

My previous post highlighted that the Product Use Rights (PUR) listed the M (Mid size business) plan is being available for Remote Desktop Services. Revisiting that more carefully you find:

Again, if you have Volume Licensing then the M SKU allows Remote Desktop Services.

Here is a response from Microsoft (Partner Technical Consultant) in regards to the issues around the Office 365 M SKU and Remote Desktop Services mentioned in a previous post (my emphasis):

I just got confirmation from the license team.

Both service description and PUR are correct.

If customer purchases Midsize business plan from Office 365 portal, this M plan does not have rights for RDS.

However, if customer purchase Office 365 Midsize business through an Open Business agreement(Volume license), this M plan has rights for RDS.

That is why Office 365 service description lists M plan does not have RDS access permission (as it is for customers who purchase from O365 portal) and PUR lists Office 365 M plan has RDS access permission (as it is for customers who purchase via Volume licensing).

I hope this information address your question.

Now the issue here in Australia is slightly different as for purchases of <250 generally they are completed through the exclusive syndication partner, Telstra. This includes the M SKU. That being the case, the M SKU is therefore not available to be purchased in Australia via Volume Licensing. So, in Australia, the M plan is also excluded from Remote Desktop Services.

This is the response I received from Microsoft Australia Office 365 Product Manager to my previous posts:

I believe you have been blogging on the licensing construct for RDS in Office 365. I wanted to make sure that you have the official response from Microsoft as it relates to Office 365 and specifically in Syndication in Australia.

With this update of Office 365, Microsoft has addressed the need for customers to run Office 365 ProPlus in virtualized environments using a combination of technical improvements and licensing terms. Functionally, Office 365 ProPlus supports dedicated Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments, but does not work in other configurations including Remote Desktop Service (RDS) and Windows To Go scenarios.

For virtualization situations where Office 365 ProPlus does not work, Microsoft has created a licensing-based workaround that allows customers with an Enterprise Agreement to install Office Professional Plus under the terms and conditions of the Office 365 ProPlus license Product Use Rights (PUR). This work-around, unfortunately, does not apply to Office 365 procured via syndication, as described within the Reseller User Rights (RUR).

The current user rights allow for the following:

*Program*	*SKUs*	*VDI*	*RDS*
EA	ProPlus, E3, E4	Yes	Supported using Professional Plus download
*Syndication*	Midsize Business, ProPlus, E3, E4	Yes	No

We have heard the feedback around the need for an Office 365 RDS solution for all our customers and even though we are not able to resolve this within our current systems and licensing constraints, we will advise if there is a change to the RUR sometime in the future.

Please see the appropriate solutions as recommended by Microsoft in the case of a Remote Desktop requirement:

A. Customer requires Remote Desktop and has 250+ seats. Microsoft recommend that the customer consider signing an Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft, which will support the Volume Licensing work-around that is currently in place. Please note that the M-SKU is not available on an Enterprise Agreement and will only allow for the E-SKU.

B. Customer requires Remote Desktop and has less than 250 seats. Microsoft recommends that the customer purchase Office 365 E1/E2 SKU from Telstra and then purchase the required number of Office Pro licenses through your Volume License provider, as long as it is over 5 seats.

Summary

1. When you purchase any Office 365 plan from the portal or via a syndication partner Office 2013 Professional Plus DOES NOT include Remote Desktop rights.

2. To receive Remote Desktop right for Office 2013 Professional Plus via Office 365 you need to have an Office 2013 Professional Plus Volume License.

This means that Office 2013 Professional Plus via Office 365 basically has the same rights as the previous version of Office (2010 Professional Plus) had, that being no Remote Desktop or Terminal Server.

I’m sure that is going to disappoint many and I hope Microsoft does change this soon.

CIAOPS Podcast–Episode 48

In this episode I speak with Jeet Banerjee about mobile app development. Jeet shares his experience and provides some tips about ensuring you get the most exposure for your app. You can listen to episode at:
http://ciaops.podbean.com/2013/03/19/episode-48-jeet-banerjee/
You can support this podcast via http://donation.ciaops.com
Don’t forget all the other podcasts at http://ciaops.podbean.com and appreciate a like over at http://www.facebook.com/n2kpodcast.
Remember if you want to be a guest please contact me (director@ciaops.com).