Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing
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It is not so much that RDS licensing is complicated. I see more folks struggle with licensing Microsoft Office on RDS than anything else.
From an old Microsoft post and I'm paraphrasing here:
Joe Business User: Hey, I have 300 users that need to use MS Office on RDS, but really only 10 will be connecting. So how many licenses do I need to purchase?
Microsoft: 300.
Joe Business User: [Comment deleted by Moderator]
Next add some of the Enterprise benefits of O365 and it gets even more confusing.
.................My two pennies.
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@DenisKelley You mean each time you talk to a Microsoft Rep they each give you different information, right?
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@wirestyle22 said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@DenisKelley You mean each time you talk to a Microsoft Rep they each give you different information, right?
Prepare for some licensing talk from @scottalanmiller
I am also getting an education today.
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@DenisKelley said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
It is not so much that RDS licensing is complicated. I see more folks struggle with licensing Microsoft Office on RDS than anything else.
From an old Microsoft post and I'm paraphrasing here:
Joe Business User: Hey, I have 300 users that need to use MS Office on RDS, but really only 10 will be connecting. So how many licenses do I need to purchase?
Microsoft: 300.
Joe Business User: [Comment deleted by Moderator]
Next add some of the Enterprise benefits of O365 and it gets even more confusing.
.................My two pennies.
MS Office licensing is the reason why I am on Office 365.
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I called Microsoft about Sharepoint and O365 for NPO's. They told me no matter what it costs $5 a month per user. Right before I left my last job I found out that wasn't true. smh
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@wirestyle22 said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@DenisKelley You mean each time you talk to a Microsoft Rep they each give you different information, right?
No, they never give an answer, that's their policy. You need an attorney to get proper clarification. MS will never act as your advisor or attorney on legal matters.
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@DenisKelley said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
From an old Microsoft post and I'm paraphrasing here:
Joe Business User: Hey, I have 300 users that need to use MS Office on RDS, but really only 10 will be connecting. So how many licenses do I need to purchase?
Microsoft: 300.
I don't know why someone would even need clarification there. What part of "300 users using Office on RDS" would prompt a question? How could that possibly be clearer or more obvious.
I need five cars, how many do I have to buy. Um.. five.
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@scottalanmiller I think he means concurrent licensing?
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@scottalanmiller said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@wirestyle22 said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@DenisKelley You mean each time you talk to a Microsoft Rep they each give you different information, right?
No, they never give an answer, that's their policy. You need an attorney to get proper clarification. MS will never act as your advisor or attorney on legal matters.
mf reading this
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@wirestyle22 said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@scottalanmiller I think he means concurrent licensing?
Sure... but still a red herring. Why would concurrent matter? If you need five cars and only plan to drive two at a time... you still need five cars. Introducing concurrent in a discussion where currency isn't relevant isn't, well, relevant. RDS has no concept of currency.
Let's take this out of the RDS context and see how silly it sounds...
Question: I have 300 PCs and I need to install Office 2013 on all 300 of them for my 300 users. But only about ten users tend to have Office open at any given time. How many Office 2013 licenses do I need?
Answer: 300. What does "tends to use at one time" have to do with the question?
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@scottalanmiller said
I need five cars, how many do I have to buy. Um.. five.
The better question is.
I have 5 people who need a car to drive to the store, but they all don't have to drive at the same time.
Reality says buy 1 car. MS licensing says otherwise.
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@BRRABill it's sad how right you are
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@BRRABill said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@scottalanmiller said
I need five cars, how many do I have to buy. Um.. five.
The better question is.
I have 5 people who need a car to drive to the store, but they all don't have to drive at the same time.
Reality says buy 1 car. MS licensing says otherwise.
But that's not the question. That's a question about concurrency, but concurrency isn't related to these licenses. So introducing it is purely purposeless. You have a need for five cars, the currency is irrelevant.
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@BRRABill said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@scottalanmiller said
I need five cars, how many do I have to buy. Um.. five.
The better question is.
I have 5 people who need a car to drive to the store, but they all don't have to drive at the same time.
Reality says buy 1 car. MS licensing says otherwise.
Okay then, five people need to drive to the store. How many driver's licenses do you need? Government says five, @BRRABill says one.
See why it sounds weird?
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@scottalanmiller said
But that's not the question. That's a question about concurrency, but concurrency isn't related to these licenses. So introducing it is purely purposeless. You have a need for five cars, the currency is irrelevant.
But I do NOT have a need for five cars.
Licensing says I do. Reality says I do not.
It's like a book. I can buy 1 book and have 5 people read it, as long as they aren;t all reading at the same time. I don't need 5 books.
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@scottalanmiller said
Okay then, five people need to drive to the store. How many driver's licenses do you need? Government says five, @BRRABill says one.
See why it sounds weird?
The car is the comparison to the software licensing, not a driver's license.
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@scottalanmiller said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@BRRABill said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@scottalanmiller said
I need five cars, how many do I have to buy. Um.. five.
The better question is.
I have 5 people who need a car to drive to the store, but they all don't have to drive at the same time.
Reality says buy 1 car. MS licensing says otherwise.
But that's not the question. That's a question about concurrency, but concurrency isn't related to these licenses. So introducing it is purely purposeless. You have a need for five cars, the currency is irrelevant.
If 5 people need 5 cars at the same time then 5 cars are needed. If only 1 user will ever drive at a time you only need one car.
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@BRRABill said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@scottalanmiller said
But that's not the question. That's a question about concurrency, but concurrency isn't related to these licenses. So introducing it is purely purposeless. You have a need for five cars, the currency is irrelevant.
But I do NOT have a need for five cars.
Licensing says I do. Reality says I do not.
It's like a book. I can buy 1 book and have 5 people read it, as long as they aren;t all reading at the same time. I don't need 5 books.
No, you changed the discussion. You need five cars was the base question. You can't just change the base requirement.
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@BRRABill said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@scottalanmiller said
Okay then, five people need to drive to the store. How many driver's licenses do you need? Government says five, @BRRABill says one.
See why it sounds weird?
The car is the comparison to the software licensing, not a driver's license.
But we are talking about licensing.
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@wirestyle22 said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@scottalanmiller said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@BRRABill said in Quick Guide to Windows 2012 R2 RDS Licensing:
@scottalanmiller said
I need five cars, how many do I have to buy. Um.. five.
The better question is.
I have 5 people who need a car to drive to the store, but they all don't have to drive at the same time.
Reality says buy 1 car. MS licensing says otherwise.
But that's not the question. That's a question about concurrency, but concurrency isn't related to these licenses. So introducing it is purely purposeless. You have a need for five cars, the currency is irrelevant.
If 5 people need 5 cars at the same time then 5 cars are needed. If only 1 user will ever drive at a time you only need one car.
Not if you go to a car rental place, for example. One per driver. Each rental is normally licensed to just one driver.
You are forgetting two things:
- The base need was five cars, we didn't state why. But five are needed, period. Paying for less is paying for less than received.
- This is about licensing, not physical products in hand. So compare to driver's license or leasing.
