Microsoft Volume License vs O365 Subscription License

[GabeShack]

Hey all,
I just wanted to post my findings for those who didn't already know of the differences in the way you can license the Microsoft Apps for Mac and a big shout out to Paul Bowden for all his work and help understanding this.

We had recently switched to O365 for our email but had been using a volume license for years. I kept reading about new features in Office 2016 that should have come out with various point upgrades, but I never actually saw some of the changes (the newest one was they added Microsoft Groups to the Mac Outlook Client).

So after reaching out to @pbowden he illuminated us to the fact that if you have an O365 subscription, you are entitled to some extra features that don't come with the regular volume license. He also created a great Unlicence tool that has allowed me to make a policy for our staff to remove the Volume license and allow the user to login (to their 365 account) and have it enable the extra features (like groups in outlook). https://github.com/pbowden-msft/Unlicense

I didn't realized the licensing determined certain features...so I thought I'd pass that along.

Now I've placed his script in a folder on the target computer and then run the following script to call it and reset each programs 1st run settings:

#!/bin/sh
# Call pbowden's script and have it only remove the license if its a volume license and force close all the microsoft apps before running
/Library/Application Support/JAMF/Unlicense --Volume --ForceClose

# Define currently logged in user
user=`ls -la /dev/console | cut -d " " -f 4`

# Tell all the microsoft apps to show the first run messages again so users can log in and run this command as logged in user
su - "${user}" -c 'defaults write com.microsoft.Excel kSubUIAppCompletedFirstRunSetup1507 -bool FALSE'
su - "${user}" -c 'defaults write com.microsoft.onenote.mac kSubUIAppCompletedFirstRunSetup1507 -bool FALSE'
su - "${user}" -c 'defaults write com.microsoft.Outlook FirstRunExperienceCompletedO15 -bool FALSE'
su - "${user}" -c 'defaults write com.microsoft.Outlook kSubUIAppCompletedFirstRunSetup1507 -bool FALSE'
su - "${user}" -c 'defaults write com.microsoft.Powerpoint kSubUIAppCompletedFirstRunSetup1507 -bool FALSE'
su - "${user}" -c 'defaults write com.microsoft.Word kSubUIAppCompletedFirstRunSetup1507 -bool FALSE'

exit 0

Gabe Shackney
Princeton Public Schools

[pbowden]

Nice work Gabe!
Just one change needed in your script. Outlook uses a different keyname for the first run experience, so replace his *1507 pref with 'FirstRunExperienceCompletedO15'

[GabeShack]

Thanks Paul, again!
What's interesting is that it seems Outlook still saw this as an (almost) first run, and in one case prompted for the login, and in another case it didn't require the login and just worked. I ran this on a client computer a few minutes ago and it needed an extra close than open of Outlook to finally reflect the new groups feature.

I'll edit the above with your change and see how this changes the experience.

Gabe Shackney
Princeton Public Schools

[GabeShack]

After some testing it looks like I need both the key and the original entry for it to work properly (otherwise it seems to just unlicense outlook without prompted for anything further and I couldn't find a place to tell it to relicense. So I ran the original defaults write com.microsoft.Outlook kSubUIAppCompletedFirstRunSetup1507 -bool FALSE and then it forced it to search for a license and then activated normally.

Thanks again though Paul!

Gabe Shackney
Princeton Public Schools

[m_donovan]

Does anybody have a list of what features are available to O365 users vs. Volume license users or know where to get one?

[GabeShack]

Thats the problem, that I don't think this has been communicated in anyway to Microsoft's customers (but since they make endless versions of everything with varying feature sets, its sort of impossible to understand any of the differences), hence the post. Right now I can tell you that delayed email sending and showing microsoft groups are both features of outlook that only get unlocked with the O365 subscription license.

Gabe Shackney
Princeton Public Schools

[pbowden · Accepted solution]

I'll be posting a video next week explaining all the feature differences between the various license types in Office 2016 for Mac.

[m_donovan]

Awesome! Thanks Paul.

[DA001KL]

would also like to see this information. Currently we are looking at c2r in our windows environment

[GabeShack]

Thanks again Paul!

Gabe Shackney
Princeton Public Schools

[rlindenmuth]

This is exactly what I was looking for since I learned of the differences between the VL and O365. I don't like that the apps are forced closed, however. Off to figure out how to script a prompted close, or a warning to users that they need to save work followed by an OK button before they are forced closed.

[aharvey]

I might be overlooking it, but is there a way to determine which mode of licensing is running on the Mac using JAMF? I know Paul's script can -detectonly, but has anyone used that to build an Extension Attribute? We have some computers with O365 licensing, and some with Volume. I'd like to determine which ones have which type of licensing?

[pbowden]

Hi @aharvey

Sure - See the post from @talkingmoose at https://www.jamf.com/blog/steal-this-script/

Thanks, Paul.

[obing]

hey @pbowden did you ever post that video comparing feature differences between the various license types in Office 2016 for Mac?

[pbowden]

Hi @ober not a video as such, but I do keep an up-to-date table with screenshots and more info links at https://macadmins.software/matrix

Hope this helps!

Paul.

[obing]

@pbowden ok i see thx. So im about to go down the deep end on researching this, but before I do, can you confirm one thing so i know there's light at the end of the tunnel: Is there a reasonable way I can rollout o365 licensing for mac using JAMF for just word/excel/ppt WITHOUT having endusers log in to o365 or need admin priv anywhere?

This is SUPER easy with perpetual licensing but O365 seems to need some special work so end users dont have to deal with logging into o365 or admin for updates.

[pbowden]

@ober users don't need admin privs for O365. Updates work in the exact same way as perpetual (in the Mac world anyway).
However, it is true that users will need to logon/activate to O365 via the in-app dialog that pops up. There is currently no automated way of doing this.

Feel free to email me on pbowden at Microsoft dot com and we can set up some time to chat/con-call next week if you like and I can go over your options and mitigations.

Thanks, Paul.