@trevm999 Then you're saying you're an Enterprise level customer, that want's a steeper than usual discount. This is precisely the use case that Microsoft is trying to nail down with these changes. They've never been OK with that, not in the almost 30 years I've been working with them. They're tolerant of tiny shops playing loose with MAPS a bit to get them going, because in the end that makes them more money. But somewhere along the line, you start buying the stuff you need for your own production separately and use the "free" seats for lab work.
But given the way 365 works, there really can't be a lab. So if they want me to pay for it, I'll do that. The MAPS subscription for my 5 seats of E3 is about the same as the annual cost of E3, and I'll just use different subs to fill the gaps to get the price down. I know several other MSPs that never went in for the free seats and just bought what they needed. Microsoft is now saying that is the correct path forward.
Again, I've seen them do this in the past. And I expected them to do it again. MAPS was never "OK" for internal use. There's a bit of a grey area for tiny operations, but that's it. If you've got 100+ E3 seats, you're simply an enterprise customer. Your margin you get for selling Microsoft's platform is your reward for selling it. Which is the same thing for me... I have to pay for all my software too. So again, for my part these MAPS changes don't mean jack to me, it won't change the way I use MAPS at all. I'll call my rep next week, and he'll probably confirm all of this with me because again MS has been here before.
But the big rub, are the companies that use MAPS for their on direct gain... that's never been OK. Internal use is exactly that... INTERNAL. If it's publicly accessible, it's not internal.
It's also possible a backlash will make them change their minds... again... Time will tell.
