What's going to be big at Microsoft's Ignite conference this week? Here are Directions' Top 10 picks -- the announcements that could impact enterprise customers and partners moving forward into 2026: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/microsoft-ig... #MSTech #MSLicensing

Microsoft is expected to take the next step toward its promise of agents becoming digital workers with its 'Agent 365' platform: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/microsofts-a... #MSTech #MSLicensing

Starting in Sept. 2026, Configuration Manager is moving from a semi-annual to an annual release schedule: techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/configu... #MSTech

New Directions podcast is now available. Everything you wanted to know (or SHOULD want to know) about Microsoft ESUs with Directions' @jimgaynor.bsky.social , Rob Helm and @maryjofoley.bsky.social: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/podcasts/mic... #MSTech #MSLicensing

Here's Microsoft's preliminary post-incident review for the Oct. 29 multi-hour Azure outage. It was not a good day for Azure Front Door and all the Azure services it touched: azure.status.microsoft/en-us/status... #MSTech

Microsoft is dropping support for Office Online Server as of Dec. 31, 2026. Microsoft's recommended replacement (no surprise): Microsoft 365, which includes web-based versions of Word, Excel, PPT, OneNote: www.theregister.com/2025/10/22/m... #MSLicensing

That plan for rolling out Auto-archiving for Exchange Online starting Oct. 15 -- which Microsoft postponed due to negative customer feedback -- is back on again, but not until Jan. 2026. Public preview to start Nov. 15, 2025: techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/exchang... #MSTech

The product formerly known as "Copilot for Finance" (and also later as "Finance Agents") is now generally available. The newest name might be Finance solution for M365 Copilot (?): www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynami... #MSTech

What's happening with Microsoft Exchange? Get caught up with our new podcast now out with special guest Tony Redmond @office365itpros.com Directions analyst Rob Helm and @maryjofoley.bsky.social directionsonmicrosoft.com/podcasts/wha... #MSTech

New post from Directions analyst @barryb.bsky.social: Enterprise Semantic Layer: The Missing Link for AI (and Microsoft)? www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/cto-talk-the...

With Windows 10 hitting end of support this week, Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 more appealing by adding more AI features. If you loved "Hey Cortana," you might love "Hey Copilot." And if not, probably not... blogs.windows.com/windowsexper... #MSTech

New M365 Copilot offering for academic customers (educators, staff, students) coming in Dec. 2025 at $18 per user per month (instead of the usual $30 for M365 Copilot): www.microsoft.com/en-us/educat... #MSLicensing

CIO Talk: Compliance in the world of AI -- Are you ready? www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/cto-talk-com... #MSTech #MSLicensing

For those needing a refresher (or introduction), here's a bit on Microsoft's newest CEO, Judson Althoff, who now heads up the giant Microsoft commercial business: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/know-your-mi... #MSTech

Beginning on October 1, 2025, Microsoft will be renaming its Microsoft 365 E5 mini-suites: - Microsoft 365 E5 Security → the Microsoft Defender Suite. - Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance → the Microsoft Purview Suite. //As Microsoft rebrands go, this is surprisingly well done and logical.

For clarity's sake: M365 Premium is NOT M365 E7. M365 "Premium," the just announced $20 per user per month subscription aimed at ChatGPT Plus, is a new consumer bundle: www.microsoft.com/en-us/micros... #MSTech #MSLicensing

ICYMI: Microsoft is making Anthropic’s Claude a new option in Microsoft 365 Copilot. It also is starting to make good on more of its agent promises: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/microsoft-be... #MSTech #MSLicensing

Microsoft is rolling out the net phase of its app-marketplace strategy by unifying AppSource, its Agent Store and Azure Marketplace into a new unified storefront called Microsoft Marketplace: blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2025/09... #MSTech

Happening today at 1 pm ET

No final deprecation date yet, but Microsoft is encouraging users to get off of Teams Live Events and move to Teams Town Hall. Admins should set policies to make sure Town Hall is enabled. More info in M365 Message Center MC1154302 and learn.microsoft.com/en-us/micros... #MSTech

Microsoft is adding Anthropic's Claude models as another option (beyond OpenAI's models) to M365 Copilot. Starting today, Claude will show up as an option in Researcher Agent and in Copilot Studio (with more options to come): www.microsoft.com/en-us/micros... #MSTech

Coming in Oct., new licensing changes instigated by Broadcom will force customers to bring their own licenses to VMware hosting from Microsoft and other providers: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/broadcom-ins... #MSLicensing #MSTech

New podcast now available. Directions on Microsoft Senior Consultant Steve Kelley shares his Microsoft contract escalation dos, don'ts, (and a few war stories) with @maryjofoley.bsky.social: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/podcasts/mic... #MSLicensing

Coming up Sept. 25, 1 PM ET: @maryjofoley.bsky.social will be hosting Directions on Microsoft's Dean Bedwell for an Ask Us Anything on Microsoft contract negotiations. Get your questions answered in real time during this LinkedIn Live event. More info: www.linkedin.com/events/micro... #MSLicensing

Copilot Chat is coming to almost all Microsoft 365 commercial subscribers -- even those without a full M365 Copilot license. What will this mean to you? www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/a-copilot-ch... #MSTech

ICYMI: Starting in Oct., the Microsoft 365 Copilot app will be automatically installed on Windows devices that have Microsoft 365 desktop apps, unless administrators opt out: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/copilo... #MSTech

Microsoft is rebranding and repricing some of the products it had been selling as individual Copilots beginning in Oct. 2025: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/microsoft-is... #MSLicensing #MSTech

New podcast now available. PwC Principal James Farhat joins Directions analyst @barryb.bsky.social and @maryjofoley.bsky.social to discuss lessons from the field around Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/podcasts/ent... #MSTech

Starting Nov. 1, Microsoft is dropping the programmatic discounts that were baked into its volume-licensing agreements. But price hikes are just one result. Directions' lead negotiator Dean Bedwell explains all to @maryjofoley.bsky.social: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/podcasts/get... #MSLicensing

What are open-source language models and what do they mean for enterprise usage and applications? Directions on Microsoft analyst @barryb.bsky.social takes a look: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/cio-talk-wha... #MSTech

Preview now available of a new (not so simple) Exchange Online feature -- cloud managed remote mailboxes -- that Microsoft says will get customers 'a step closer' to being able to remove their last Exchange on-prem server: techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/exchang... #MSTech

Heads up, Microsoft volume licensing customers Microsoft Is Dropping its Built-In EA Volume Discounts on Online Services Starting in November 2025: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/microsoft-is... #MSLicensing

Is there still a place for no/low-code tools like those in Microsoft's Power Platform with the rise of generative AI and GitHub Copilot? The New Stack's Darryl Taft joins Directions Rob Sanfilippo and @maryjofoley.bsky.social to debate the topic: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/podcasts/is-...

Microsoft is dropping its Lens document-scanning app for iOS and Android devices starting Sept. 15, 2025. It recommends users switch to the M365 Copilot app, which includes built-in scanning (but does not include all existing Lens features): support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/... #MSTech

Starting Sept. 5, Microsoft plans to turn on Copilot in Power BI (also known as "chat with your data") by default for all tenants where Copilot already has been turned on. Admins can opt out of they aren't ready. Details: powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/t... #MSTech

Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence (MDTI) retires as of Aug. 1, 2026. Microsoft is folding MDTI functionality into Defender XDR and Microsoft Sentinel. Existing MDTI users will be able to license for no additional cost, Microsoft says: techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/defende... #MSLicensing

Starting today, Microsoft is making OpenAI's GPT-5 available in M365 Copilot, consumer Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Azure AI Foundry: news.microsoft.com/source/featu... #MSTech

What Microsoft’s Blowout Q4 Could Mean to Enterprise Customers: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/what-microso... #MSTech #MSLicensing

AI in Five Years – Which Way Will It Go? Directions on Microsoft analyst @barryb.bsky.social looks at two potential scenarios. Scary, fun, or just plain crazy? directionsonmicrosoft.com/cio-talk-ai-... #MSTech

Microsoft is deprecating support for public folder migrations from Exchange Server 2010 and older versions to Exchange Online starting October 1, 2025. Public folder migration jobs will fail after this date: techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/exchang... #MSTech

Sentinel data lake -- a cloud-native data lake built specifically for security -- is in public preview: techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microso... #MSTech

The preview of the integration between Fabric data agents and Copilot Studio is now available. Microsoft says this is a stepping stone toward multi-agent orchestration: blog.fabric.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/f... #MSTech

Microsoft Connected Cache now generally available for enterprise and education customers. Designed to save bandwidth and speed up access to monthly updates, Windows upgrades, Intune provisioning and more: techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/windows... #MSTech

Microsoft recently announced SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) was rolled into M365 Copilot licenses for no additional cost. Is this a big advantage for organizations wanting to roll out M365 Copilot -- or a possible licensing hazard? www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/its-sharepoi... #MSLicensing

Do AI assistants really accelerate development? Can they replace your developers? Directions' analyst @barryb.bsky.social has thoughts: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/cio-talk-vib... #MSTech

ICYMI: Microsoft releases emergency patches for on-premises SharePoint RCE flaws exploited in attacks: www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microso... #MSTech

New episode now available. Directions on Microsoft analyst @barryb.bsky.social talks about what needs to happen among execs, IT and employees on for data governance in an AI-centric world to really work: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/podcasts/the... #MSTech

Exchange, Skype Servers Get Barely Extended Security Updates: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/exchange-sky... #MSTech #MSLicensing

Microsoft 365 Copilot Search will begin rolling out to licensed M365 Copilot users starting in Aug. 2025. Here are a few features to note: www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/searching-fo... #MSTech #MSLicensing

Memory feature will be generally available in M365 Copilot later this month (July 2025). It will be on by default, but both users and tenant admins will have controls to manage it: techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microso... #MSTech