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Microsoft Axing Some SharePoint Online, Office Online Plans

Four SharePoint Online and Office Online plans are set to expire at the end of June, Microsoft announced on Monday.

SharePoint Online Plans 1 and 2 with Yammer, as well as Office Online with SharePoint Plans 1 and 2, will no longer be sold after June 30, 2014.

Organizations currently licensed under those expiring plans can still use the software for a year or two, depending on how the software was purchased. If purchased under Open licensing, the software can be used until June 30, 2015. If purchased under "direct" or "syndication" channel programs, then the software can be used until June 30, 2016. Lastly, organizations with Enterprise Agreement licensing can continue to use the software until June 30, 2017, according to a Microsoft help page.

While the four plans are going away, comparable offerings are available from Microsoft. The recommended substitutions are shown in this table:

Expiring Plan Substitute Plans

SharePoint Online Plan 1 with Yammer

• Office 365 Enterprise E1
• SharePoint Plan 1, Yammer Enterprise

SharePoint Online Plan 2 with Yammer

• Office 365 Enterprise E3
• SharePoint Plan 2, Yammer Enterprise

Office Online with SharePoint Plan 1

• SharePoint Online Plan 1
• Office 365 Enterprise E1

Office Online with SharePoint Plan 2

• SharePoint Online Plan 2
• Office 365 Enterprise E3
• Office 365 Enterprise E1, Office 365 Enterprise E1 to SharePoint Plan 2 Step-up (EA only)
• O365 Enterprise E1, SharePoint Plan 2

Expiring SharePoint Online and Office Online plans, with alternatives. Source: Microsoft help page.

One twist pertains to organizations using Open licensing. Microsoft currently doesn't offer separate SharePoint and separate Yammer Open licensing plans. However, it plans to introduce such separate plans starting on Aug. 1, 2014, according the help page.

Enterprise Agreement customers will face higher costs in moving off the expiring plans to the new ones. Microsoft's help page suggested that organizations with Enterprise Agreements will get "one-time price discounts" as an incentive to make the move, although no details were provided.

The licensing program changes are being done "to streamline our subscription plans and to provide a clearer plan differentiation," according to Microsoft's help page description. That's little consolation for IT pros, though. They will be faced with reassigning the licenses to end users under the new plans if they want to continue to use the software after the expiration dates.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

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