Do you know? Now you can host M365 Apps on Amazon WorkSpaces

Interestingly, beginning August 1, 2023, customer who have specific licenses may run Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise/business, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Power Automate on Amazon WorkSpaces. Understanding is that the licenses that will make it eligible under this revised policy includes Microsoft 365 E3/E5/A3/A5 and Microsoft 365 Business Premium.

Let’s say if a customer currently has any of these licenses, starting from August 1, they will be able to utilize these Microsoft applications on Amazon WorkSpaces virtual desktop infrastructure.

To further understand on this changes, I encourage my tech partners/community to read the summary of changes here: https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/product/changes/all

There’s a Caveat which we should be aware of it, This new policy might not allow the rights to run Windows 11 on WorkSpaces. In order to run Windows 11 on Listed Providers (including Amazon WorkSpaces), customers/users should consider having Windows Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) E3/E5 licenses. It’s always advised to customers/users to stay updated with policy change happening in August 2023 Product Terms.

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

Advice to Sales folks in partner ecosystem: In your sales approach you can make a slight change where, Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop remain the best options for Microsoft 365 and Windows 11 cloud-based desktop experiences. Do leverage the Business Value Calculator on Transform at https://aka.ms/ValueCalculator to show the ROI that your customer can achieve with Microsoft virtualization solutions. That resource has been updated to reflect this licensing changes.

Key Takeaways

• Please review the Summary of Changes for Product Terms and associated FAQ for detailed information on this licensing change.
• Use the Business Value Calculator on Transform at https://aka.ms/ValueCalculator
• For more information, please contact your countries PDM (Partner Development Manager) or PTS (Partner Technology Strategist) from Microsoft Ecosystem to get more guidance.