#Microsoft365 On the 10th of July Microsoft announced the new Microsoft 365 subscription model. How is this any different from Office 365 and what does it include?

Purpose of this blog challenge:
I will write 365 blogs over the next 365 days around Microsoft 365. I did a similar challenge with Office 365, blogs can be found here. I won’t just be talking about the new Microsoft 365 subscription model. I will be sharing any news, tips and tricks around Office / Office 365 / Windows / Mobility and Security. And let’s not forget all the great new Apps & services available.  A lot of what I’ll share on Office and SharePoint will also be applicable to none “Office 365” versions.
Feel free to #AskBraam if you have questions or would like me to write about a specific topic. I’ve created a Flow to monitor Twitter for the #AskBraam hashtag and will try my best to incorporate any questions into the blogs, or answer them directly on Twitter. More on #AskBraam in my next post.

Announcement of Microsoft 365:

On the 10th of July at Inspire Microsoft announced Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365:  A complete, intelligent solution, including Office 365, Windows 10, and Enterprise Mobility + Security, that empowers everyone to be creative and work together, securely.

So what’s different?

In a nutshell – it’s Office 365 + Windows 10 Enterprise and Enterprise Mobility + Security

What is Office 365?

Let’s take a step back, many of you might not be using Office 365 yet or fully understand how Office and Windows works together.

Windows:  The Operating system loaded on your PC. It’s the interface that allows for us to load other products on top of it for use. Similar to the foundation your house is built on if that makes sense? You need to build the foundation first before you can add walls and build rooms (apps / products). Examples would be XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 & 10.

Office:  Suite of products developed by Microsoft Corporation that includes Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Office 365:  Refers to subscription plans that include access to Office applications plus other productivity services that are enabled over the Internet.

In my non-technical way, this is how I make sense of the changes and subscriptions over the last couple of years.

We had Windows on our machines, with Office installed and then used SharePoint on premises. These were managed ‘separately’ from each other. Which means you could end up with Windows Vista + Office 2007 and then work on SharePoint 2013. This resulted in having functionality that were not quite compatible with each other. Not just that, your co-workers could be on different versions of Office as well. Sharing of files between different Office versions also had their own list of issues.

Microsoft then introduced Office 365 which gave us the latest SharePoint version and the latest Office version. Regardless of whether your subscription included desktop versions, you still had access to the latest version of Office in the web. Suddenly functionality became available that was not possible in a ‘different versions of Office and SharePoint environment’.

Now with Microsoft 365 the Windows environment is included (as well as mobility and security). On these subscriptions you’ll now have access to the latest Windows, Office & SharePoint – as well as access to MANY other applications and services. Sounds great right?

What is Microsoft 365?

Enterprise
Microsoft 365 Enterprise is designed for large organizations and integrates Office 365 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise and Enterprise Mobility + Security to empower employees to be creative and work together, securely.

Microsoft 365 Enterprise is offered in two plans—Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5. Both are available for purchase on August 1, 2017.

What’s Included:
  • Office applications
    • Word, Excel, PowerPoint
  • Email & calendar
    • Outlook, Exchange
  • Chat-based workspace
    • Teams
  • Voice, video & meetings
    • Skype for Business
    • PSTN Conferencing, Cloud PBX
  • Social & internet
    • SharePoint, Yammer
  • Threat protection
    • Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics, Windows Defender Antivirus, Device Guard
    • Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, Office 365 Threat Intelligence
  • Identity & access management
    • Azure Active Directory P1, Windows Hello and Credential Guard
    • Azure Active Directory P2
  • Device & app management
    • Microsoft Intune
  • Information protection
    • Office 365 Data Loss Prevention, Windows Information Protection and BitLocker, Azure Information Protection P1
    • Azure Information Protection P2, Microsoft Cloud App Security, Office 365 Advanced Security Management
  • Advanced compliance
    • Advanced eDiscovery, Customer Lockbox, Advanced Data Governance
  • Analytics
    • Delve
    • Power BI Pro, My Analytics

Business
Microsoft 365 Business is designed for small- to medium-sized businesses with up to 300 users and integrates Office 365 Business Premium with tailored security and management features from Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security. It offers services to empower employees, safeguard the business and simplify IT management.

Microsoft 365 Business will be available in public preview on August 2, 2017. It will become generally available on a worldwide basis in the fall of 2017.
Small-to-medium sized customers will also have access to these tailored applications:

  • Microsoft Connections—A simple-to-use email marketing service.
  • Microsoft Listings—An easy way to publish your business information on top sites.
  • Microsoft Invoicing—A new way to create professional invoices and get paid fast.
What’s Included:
  • Office applications
    • Office on tablets and phones
    • Fully installed and web versions of Office apps
  • File & document viewing & editing
    • 1 TB file storage and sharing
  • Collaboration services
    • Business class email (50GB), calendar, and contacts
    • Online meetings (instant messaging, audio, and HD video chat/conferencing)
    • Microsoft Teams chat-based workspace
  • Business applications
    • Outlook Customer Manager, Bookings, MileIQ
  • Device management
    • Single console to manage user and device settings
    • Self-service PC deployment with Windows AutoPilot
    • Automatically deploy Office apps to Windows 10 PCs
  • Security
    • Protect company data across devices
    • Secure access to documents on mobile devices
    • Protect Windows 10 devices against malware, viruses, and spyware with Windows Defender
  • Maximum number of users
    • Up to 300

Read More

Well that’s a good starting point. I’m sure there’ll be much more in the news and I’m looking forward to August when these subscriptions will be available.