Microsoft SKU list

[alexsmith2709]

Does anyone know of a Microsoft SKU list? I am aware you can use a powershell script to show all SKU's on a tenant but that is not what i am after.
An example would be 6GQ-01150 vs 6GQ-01556. Both are M365 Family, but what is the difference? There are so many examples of this for M365 alone and all the specs and marketing text appears to be the same. It would be handy if somewhere explain one is ENG DVD, one is MULTI USB, one is ENG UK ESD etc.
Some Windows SKU's dont make the differences very easy to spot either

 

[nlinecomputers]

Buy from an authorized Microsoft wholesaler then you can ask your sales rep. Just searching on those two sku numbers shows a lot of probably bogus resellers.

 

[alexsmith2709]

Buy from an authorized Microsoft wholesaler then you can ask your sales rep. Just searching on those two sku numbers shows a lot of probably bogus resellers.

I do, i buy from UK distributors. Account managers don't know anything they just read the marketing text that is compiled from what the manufacturers give them and third-party companies like CNET, Icecat etc. This is the same information that many online shops also use.

 

[nlinecomputers]

What problem exactly are you trying to solve. SKU differences can be as simple as production runs. One was printed in March the next in May. Any Microsoft product shipping on media, DVDs(lol who does that anymore) or USB sticks are going to be out of date on arrival. You only need the license key.

 

[alexsmith2709]

What problem exactly are you trying to solve. SKU differences can be as simple as production runs. One was printed in March the next in May. Any Microsoft product shipping on media, DVDs(lol who does that anymore) or USB sticks are going to be out of date on arrival. You only need the license key.

I wasnt aware SKU differences could be production runs (who knows which is the newer one without the information), but you mention the other problems i am trying to solve. Some of this marketing text dont even make it clear whether it is a DVD, USB or download, some are ESD and some are medialess (which i believe is the card with the license key on). I've even seen some products listed as medialess and ESD because the marketing text is wrong. I want to be sure of what im ordering/selling. Ideally i only want to be selling ESD, but medialess will do because of the reasons you stated.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Microsoft – AI, Cloud, Productivity, Computing, Gaming & Apps

Explore Microsoft products and services and support for your home or business. Shop Microsoft 365, Copilot, Teams, Xbox, Windows, Azure, Surface and more.

www.microsoft.com

Those are only legitimate CSP dealers in the UK.

Microsoft – AI, Cloud, Productivity, Computing, Gaming & Apps

Explore Microsoft products and services and support for your home or business. Shop Microsoft 365, Copilot, Teams, Xbox, Windows, Azure, Surface and more.

www.microsoft.com

Anyone else bought it from them or is dealing in counterfeit product.

 

[alexsmith2709]

Its not a case of where im buying from, its that the products are not clearly marked as what they are so i was hoping there was some sort of reference somewhere as on occasions i have enquired with my account managers at different distributors they havent been able to tell me.
I have accounts with Tech Data, Ingram and Westcoast and buy from all as if its not ESD delivery charges have to be taken into account.
Usually its easy to find if its ESD, but generally over here personal editions of M365 are not available by ESD, i assume most if not all are medialess but as there are a few SKUs for each product i wondered what the difference was. If it is, as you say, just a different production run that may be why there is no difference in marketing text.
Windows 10/11 has some where it doesnt state what media if nots not labelled as ESD. I know some SKUs are 32/64, just 32bit or just 64bit but its not always clear.

 

[fincoder]

The lack of information about Microsoft SKUs is a problem. It perpetuates the dodgy key market. Those dodgy sellers can say whatever they like when they describe the product, and nobody can even verify by SKU that it's a real product or what the limitations are.

On a similar topic, I've been unable to get information from my distributors about computers with EDU or MSNA licenses. Can these be sold to and used by an ordinary residential or SOHO user? Are there any restrictions?

 

[nlinecomputers]

On a similar topic, I've been unable to get information from my distributors about computers with EDU or MSNA licenses. Can these be sold to and used by an ordinary residential or SOHO user? Are there any restrictions?

Those can only be sold to qualified education institutions.

 

[britechguy]

Those can only be sold to qualified education institutions.

True. But they can be distributed very, very widely indeed by the educational institution(s). My first full-fledged version of MS-Office came my way as a student able to license it when I was at James Madison University in the late 1990s.

Very few individuals who do this immediately (or ever, for that matter) remove it when they graduate, so for all practical intents and purposes you will find educational licenses for both Windows and many Microsoft applications in active use in homes all over the place. I'm certainly not going to be the one who ever removes one of these instances, either.

 

[Sky-Knight]

All of this is why I really like Microsoft's new NCE (New Commerce Experience)

All of their software will be sold through it long term, though right now it's just Azure, M365 stuff, and the support OSs that can go with it... like Windows Server.

No more retail, OEM, or volume... just a subscription for what you need either assessed annually or monthly. Perpetual stuff is right next to it.

Once all that is done, any one of us here will be able to simply open a browser, aim it at our favorite software distributor, and buy whatever we need to be digitally delivered to whatever email address we choose.

Something we should have had ten years ago... but better late than never.


So be aware the above links are to the CSP licenses, and that entire program is ending along with the open license program this year, I forget exactly when but CSP is effectively dead now, it will be completely dead this Summer.

So your ability to get volume / education / whatever on the grey market? Yeah... get them now because soon they will be gone. There might even be an upgrade process for the old keys, but that process will likely enforce the buying rules again... which is a great way to leave all this grey market crap in the scrap bin where it belongs.

 

[nlinecomputers]

True. But they can be distributed very, very widely indeed by the educational institution(s). My first full-fledged version of MS-Office came my way as a student able to license it when I was at James Madison University in the late 1990s.

Very few individuals who do this immediately (or ever, for that matter) remove it when they graduate, so for all practical intents and purposes you will find educational licenses for both Windows and many Microsoft applications in active use in homes all over the place. I'm certainly not going to be the one who ever removes one of these instances, either.

Which has nothing to do with a regular reseller being allowed to purchase it. We can’t legally purchase and resell them. And Microsoft has been auditing educational institutions of late and more of them are converting to Microsoft 365 which every easily allows them to recend a license when the student leaves.

 

[fincoder]

But they can be distributed very, very widely indeed by the educational institution(s). My first full-fledged version of MS-Office came my way as a student

I was referring to systems such as laptops that have a Windows education license.

I'm curious because plenty of budget online resellers list these systems for purchase, with no requirements mentioned. I found this Microsoft page:
What if I am a parent and want to buy a Windows device for my student – can I get Shape the Future Program pricing?
Shape the Future Program pricing for devices with Windows 11 Pro Education is available to everyone buying a Windows device – you do not need to be a school. Ask your reseller for Windows 11 Pro Education devices at Shape the Future Program prices!

Page not found

 

[britechguy]

Which has nothing to do with a regular reseller being allowed to purchase it.

Part of the query I was indirectly replying to, and you had directly replied to, included, "used by an ordinary residential or SOHO user?"

They can be and very often are "used by an ordinary residential user." That's my point, not that we can sell these licenses.

 

[nlinecomputers]

What if I am a parent and want to buy a Windows device for my student – can I get Shape the Future Program pricing?
Shape the Future Program pricing for devices with Windows 11 Pro Education is available to everyone buying a Windows device – you do not need to be a school. Ask your reseller for Windows 11 Pro Education devices at Shape the Future Program prices!

You have to sign up to become an educational reseller, which has certain financial obligations OR you are a school and sell directly to students. Tech Data ain't gonna sell to you just from the SKU. And many of those places that are selling them are doing so in violation of the educational reseller agreement.

 

[fincoder]

You have to sign up to become an educational reseller

Thanks for explaining.

 

[alexsmith2709]

All of this is why I really like Microsoft's new NCE (New Commerce Experience)

All of their software will be sold through it long term, though right now it's just Azure, M365 stuff, and the support OSs that can go with it... like Windows Server.

No more retail, OEM, or volume... just a subscription for what you need either assessed annually or monthly. Perpetual stuff is right next to it.

Once all that is done, any one of us here will be able to simply open a browser, aim it at our favorite software distributor, and buy whatever we need to be digitally delivered to whatever email address we choose.

Something we should have had ten years ago... but better late than never.


So be aware the above links are to the CSP licenses, and that entire program is ending along with the open license program this year, I forget exactly when but CSP is effectively dead now, it will be completely dead this Summer.

So your ability to get volume / education / whatever on the grey market? Yeah... get them now because soon they will be gone. There might even be an upgrade process for the old keys, but that process will likely enforce the buying rules again... which is a great way to leave all this grey market crap in the scrap bin where it belongs.

I got an email back in January about NCE but all their links to guides they created didnt work and i havent had time to chase them up about it. Do you know if the home user licensing is moving to this as well?
I dont sell too many M365 Business licneses at the moment but i am going to have to migrate the ones i do have and start buying through NCE so i need to learn this stuff

 

[Sky-Knight]

I got an email back in January about NCE but all their links to guides they created didnt work and i havent had time to chase them up about it. Do you know if the home user licensing is moving to this as well?
I dont sell too many M365 Business licneses at the moment but i am going to have to migrate the ones i do have and start buying through NCE so i need to learn this stuff

M365 Home User subs are not available for resale as far as I know, and the desktop OS licenses in the NCE are annual or monthly subscriptions, I plan to use those to either make Windows 10 in Azure legal, or to enable Windows Server OS in Azure to operate with a hybrid discount. None of this is for home users.

I don't expect Microsoft to mess with the OEM distribution channel for the base OS too much, because it would fart with the tier 1s. But who knows, right now NCE is as I said for Azure / M365 but with as complete of a system that's being built I wouldn't be shocked if everything runs through it at some point. It would be nice if it did, because again so far we've all got access to a consistent SKU list for any deployment. PAX8's interpretation of it all isn't the best, but it's workable.

P.S. I haven't seen any Office perpetual licenses in there... so those may not ever appear. So I won't be shocked if these go retail only, just like the voucher cards for M365 Family / Personal.

 

[alexsmith2709]

M365 Home User subs are not available for resale as far as I know, and the desktop OS licenses in the NCE are annual or monthly subscriptions, I plan to use those to either make Windows 10 in Azure legal, or to enable Windows Server OS in Azure to operate with a hybrid discount. None of this is for home users.

I don't expect Microsoft to mess with the OEM distribution channel for the base OS too much, because it would fart with the tier 1s. But who knows, right now NCE is as I said for Azure / M365 but with as complete of a system that's being built I wouldn't be shocked if everything runs through it at some point. It would be nice if it did, because again so far we've all got access to a consistent SKU list for any deployment. PAX8's interpretation of it all isn't the best, but it's workable.

P.S. I haven't seen any Office perpetual licenses in there... so those may not ever appear. So I won't be shocked if these go retail only, just like the voucher cards for M365 Family / Personal.

Over here in the UK we can resell home licenses, but in the form of the key card or ESD, there currently is not option for the monthly subscription like there is for business. These home licenses are actually what i started this thread about as there seems to be lots of SKU's that seem to be the same thing and i was wondering if i was missing anything. This is the same with Windows licenses for both Home and Pro. Windows is available on as an ESD, USB and DVD. There is also The "N" versions of windows, OEM, Retail and some distributors have such poor product descriptions its hard to know what im buying sometimes.
Lets take my original SKU's of 6GQ-01150 and 6GQ-01556, both being M365 Family, both available from UK distributors. If these are both the same product just different versions, then great, but it would be nice to know for sure.

 

[britechguy]

Over here in the UK we can resell home licenses

It will be interesting if MS were to try to stop this in the UK now that you're no longer EU.

I have posted what follows on many occasions before, but not too times on Technibble. The legal precedents in the EU are clear.

With regard to reselling software licenses and legal changes in the EU:

EU court rules resale of used software licenses is legal -- even online Computer World – July 3, 2012

EU Court Says, Yes, You Can Resell Your Software, Even If The Software Company Says You Can't Techdirt.com – July 3, 2012

Top EU court upholds right to resell downloaded software Ars Technica – July 3, 2012

European Court Confirms the Right to Resell Used Software Licenses – Brodies.com – January 1, 2012

Can you resell software licenses? The latest legal position in 2016 The ITAM Review – October 31, 2016

A direct result of the above legal decisions has been the creation of both a cottage industry for small business computer recyclers and a major industry for large ones of selling recycled licenses. The former, while almost impossible to verify their honesty except through seller ratings from past customers, do exist as legitimate resellers. The latter, one example of which is Relicense in the EU, are big businesses used by other businesses. It’s almost impossible to question the legitimacy of companies such as these, as they’d have been put out of business by licensing entities if what they were doing was illegal.