Microsoft 365 vs OEM for windows licenses

#1

I know microsoft has been moving more towards Microsoft 365 rather than office 365 but as one of the people with input on decisions regarding our EA I’m wondering about the real benefit of microsoft 365 since all the devices we purchase are going to have OEM licenses anyway. I am new to this job, is there something I’m missing?

#2

I’m not sure I understand your question, as I don’t have much experience with business licensing issues, but here’s something Google found:

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#3

that does a pretty good job of explaining the different licenses in general.

I’m wondering about why go with Microsoft 365 licensing as opposed to buying a computer with an OEM and then getting just an office 365 license?

#4

Well I think it’s a rights issue. You can install previous and future versions of Windows (and probably also Office if necessary) in a volume licensing situation, whereas you will not get the same list of rights from OEM. The difference, of course, is OEM is a one time payment, and the rights granted from that expire after some number of years. The volume license is initially cheaper, I believe, but after about 3 years it becomes more expensive, but your rights remain as long as you keep subscribed. (All this is my understanding in an area I have almost no experience in, so hopefully others will have better educated opinions.)

#5

Microsoft is not just about Windows and Office as far as I know, it is about online services too so that you don’t have to maintain on prem servers. So your email is taken care of in the cloud, you get online storage, calendaring etc, all without your own infrastructure. Everything is kept up to date and you have services such as SharePoint and Teams. It’s all packaged into a monthly subscription.

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#6

It’s more about online services than a anything else…

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#7

Microsoft 365 also gives you Windows 10 Enterprise version of the license whereas OEM is just Home or Professional licenses. Certain versions of M365 bundle off desktop versions of Office, cloud voice(Skype/Teams)(Cloud PBX), Defender Advanced Threat Protection (enterprise AV) and etc.

#8

I think that’s Microsoft 365 Enterprise. Microsoft 365 Business includes Windows 10 Business.

#9

Thanks for the responses.

so it sounds like the biggest addition Microsoft 365 makes over just office 365 with OEM windows is Windows Pro/Enterprise (over home) and SA if they ever do a new version of windows.