Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?
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The reason that Windows has VDI licensing is from a weird bit of complexity that no other vendor has. Has nothing to do with their pricing models, it has to do unnecessary complexity and a cultural complacency towards broken or unreliable software ecosystems.
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@Dashrender said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller You have an example link or SKU?
It's just the Software Assurance add on.
That's one option, and an option that required VL, must buy 5 licenses to start a VL. You can also buy VDI license direct.
You mean the VDA license? One is for users, one for hardware.
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@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller So I virtualized server 2016 server (on Vultr) can run a VDI/RDS setup?
If you use the RDP connection to the 2016, you are acting as VDI. You can do that all you want.
The same goes for Windows 10. If you can build a Win 10 VM in Vultr, it's VDI. Vultr might not have an ISO/base image to use in their cloud, so that would be on them to resolve. But if you can upload your own ISO to build from, you could have VDI there as well. Now licensing is it's own thing. You can use those Windows 10 Pro machines in VMs either through your Software assurance license or through the VDI license.
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@scottalanmiller said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@Dashrender said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller You have an example link or SKU?
It's just the Software Assurance add on.
That's one option, and an option that required VL, must buy 5 licenses to start a VL. You can also buy VDI license direct.
You mean the VDA license? One is for users, one for hardware.
Right, but you can't buy Software Assurance on it's own. That requires a Volume License (unless there are changes I'm unaware of). But I think anyone can buy a VDA license if they wanted.
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Is TS licensing (or RDS, whatever) now also annual?
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@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
Is TS licensing (or RDS, whatever) now also annual?
not that I know of. VDA is annual. Software assurance is 2 or 3 years.
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@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
Is TS licensing (or RDS, whatever) now also annual?
No. RDS has really never changed, at all. Yes, they changed the name from TS to RDS long ago. That's it. Literally nothing else has changed about it.
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@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
Is TS licensing (or RDS, whatever) now also annual?
VDI isn't either.
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@scottalanmiller what @Dashrender was saying above about $130/desktop/yr is just software assurance then?
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@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller what @Dashrender was saying above about $130/desktop/yr is just software assurance then?
No, it's VDA
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@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller what @Dashrender was saying above about $130/desktop/yr is just software assurance then?
No, that's VDA, which is an option but basically one that no one would consider. It's an old system that predated the modern, logical VDI licensing options and exists for very special "hardware licensing" situations. It would be very surprising if it was applicable to you.
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@Dashrender said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller what @Dashrender was saying above about $130/desktop/yr is just software assurance then?
No, it's VDA
and more specifically, as Scott said, it's not computer dependent, it's user dependent. So if you only have 5 users, you only need 5 VDA. if you have 20 users, and only 10 computers used, you still need 20 VDA licenses.
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Microsoft's "spin" or "take" on their VDI licensing is that they've always encourage everyone to license Windows 10 Enterprise and get Software Assurance on it so that you are always getting updates and all of the available features. When you do this, VDI is a free add on that they just include for you.
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@scottalanmiller said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller what @Dashrender was saying above about $130/desktop/yr is just software assurance then?
No, that's VDA, which is an option but basically one that no one would consider. It's an old system that predated the modern, logical VDI licensing options and exists for very special "hardware licensing" situations. It would be very surprising if it was applicable to you.
There is a problem with this, you can't license an Ipad with software assurance, so you have to have a VDA license to access a VDI from something other than a WIndows Pro/Enterprise device that has Software Assurance.
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@Dashrender said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@bigbear said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
@scottalanmiller what @Dashrender was saying above about $130/desktop/yr is just software assurance then?
No, that's VDA, which is an option but basically one that no one would consider. It's an old system that predated the modern, logical VDI licensing options and exists for very special "hardware licensing" situations. It would be very surprising if it was applicable to you.
There is a problem with this, you can't license an Ipad with software assurance, so you have to have a VDA license to access a VDI from something other than a WIndows Pro/Enterprise device that has Software Assurance.
That's partially correct. You are correct that an iPad cannot be covered by Software Assurance. but it does not have to be. Because the USER is covered by software assurance. So you can use an iPad with VDI for cheap. but with VDA you have to license the equipment, making it very expensive.
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huh, learned a few things in this thread. Enterprise SA per USER licenses.
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@Dashrender said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
huh, learned a few things in this thread. Enterprise SA per USER licenses.
It's relatively new in the grand scheme of things.
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So admittedly I didn't read through the whole thread just the first couple pages. I'm pretty sure we use XenDesktop for this. We have some guys who use a laptop and they get a VDI session with a dedicated graphics card. Then they run SolidEdge,SpaceClaim, or ANSYS Workbench to do their work.
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@stacksofplates said in Has Windows 10 VDI Licensing changed yet?:
So admittedly I didn't read through the whole thread just the first couple pages. I'm pretty sure we use XenDesktop for this. We have some guys who use a laptop and they get a VDI session with a dedicated graphics card. Then they run SolidEdge,SpaceClaim, or ANSYS Workbench to do their work.
You have a bit more scale. His issue is that he has so few users.
