Awesome $300 Companion Device

There is no doubt that iPad is king of the tablet world and I enjoy using mine, but for my business companion device I have found a refurbished Microsoft Surface 2 with the Surface Type Cover 2 keyboard to be my favorite.  Since I am running a 32 GB unit, I leverage a 32 GB microSDHC card for additional space (cannot do this with an iPad).  Security is critical to my business and my main drive is encrypted since I leverage a Microsoft account to login.  The microSDHC card is protected with BitLocker To Go (requires access to a Windows 8.1 Pro system for initial setup).

The display is full 1080P HD, and looks amazing.  The unit gets a bad rap since it is running Windows RT, but since RT cannot install traditional Windows apps, the attack surface is much smaller.  I feel very secure running this as my companion device, especially since Microsoft will provide security support for Windows RT 8.1 up to January 2023.

The unit comes with Office 2013 RT, but is limited to non-commercial use.  Because I have an active Office 365 E3 subscription, I am able to use Office for commercial use.  My favorite modern UI app is the calendar, which allows me to quickly see all of my personal and business appointments in a easy to read single view.  I elect to only run my business email through Outlook, and my personal accounts through the built in mail app.

Performance is very good for an ARM processor with 2 GB of memory.  A refurbished Surface 2 can be purchased for $200, and add another $80 for the Type Cover 2 keyboard.  You can always add a larger microSDXC card to carry all your favorite movies and music along too...

No Charge Microsoft Licensing Training

There are many choices when it comes to learning Microsoft licensing.  Most of them come at a cost and are delivered either in person or online classroom.

What many people do not know is there are two online training options from Microsoft to learn Microsoft licensing, and they are both free of charge.  These options are are valuable and well worth taking advantage of.  What you will not learn in either are strategies for negotiating with Microsoft and tips to reduce your Microsoft spend.

Training Option 1 – Get Licensing Ready

Training Option 2 – Microsoft Virtual Academy

Where is the new SoftwareAdvocates website hosted?

Several people asked me where the new SoftwareAdvocates website is hosted.  Since 2012 the website was running on SharePoint via Microsoft Office 365.  With the public website feature being removed by Microsoft, I decided to move the site to a dedicated website hosting service. After exhaustive research, I selected Squarespace as the sites new home.  I performed all of the porting myself, with a little help from Squarespace support.  I am pleased to report the process of porting the site went better than expected, and I am very pleased with the new site.  My favorite feature is true mobile device support. 

Microsoft Cloud Adoption can Absolve Sin

Unfortunately your organization has just been through a Microsoft audit which found it has been using more software than it has licenses.  If we went back five years in time the only choice would be to purchase licenses for the shortage.  Fast forward to today and let’s say the shortage happens to be the Microsoft Office suite.  Do not be surprised if Microsoft offers you the opportunity to resolve the shortage by transitioning from your current on premise license model to the new cloud based user subscription license (USL).  Since the USL provides for five installs of Microsoft Office on a PC or Mac, your shortage has most likely been solved.  And for Microsoft they have also achieved the goal of moving another customer to their cloud based subscription services.  This same scenario could play out with SQL Server or Windows Server, with moving those unlicensed workloads to Azure.

Don’t get me wrong, I think highly of Microsoft’s cloud services.  If I ran Microsoft I would want to find a way to completely move every customer to cloud based subscription services.  Once customers are dependent on cloud based subscription services, the renewal process becomes much simpler.  I suspect over time Microsoft can reduce their cost of sale, and thus reduce the number of direct sellers.

It is clear that customers who wish to continue with a perpetual license model will see less innovation and higher costs over time versus those who move to cloud based subscription services.  The question remains “What will be the future of Microsoft perpetual licenses?”, we will have to wait to see how it plays out.