Ahead of Inspire 2019, Microsoft reverses decision to remove partner internal use rights

On the eve of Inspire 2019, Microsoft has announced a change of course on its decision to end the partner benefit of internal use rights (IURs), which afforded many Microsoft partners with use of a range of software, including Office 365, some Dynamics 365 products, and other on-premises and cloud products.

In an update to partners this afternoon, Microsoft CVP of One Commercial Partner Gavriella Schuster announced the change. She wrote that Microsoft has heard the feedback over the last week. And she continued:

Your partnership and trust matters to us. Given your feedback, we have made the decision to roll back all planned changes related to internal use rights and competency timelines that were announced earlier this month. This means you will experience no material changes this coming fiscal year, and you will not be subject to reduced IUR licenses or increased costs related to those licenses next July as previously announced.

The company will also roll back planned changes to on-premises support and new competency requirements, including a requirement to add ten net new cloud customers annually.

After the initial quiet announcement and loud response from unhappy partners, the matter seemed to be settled when Schuster spoke in a pre-recorded media briefing to explain that the matter came down to a tradeoff on cost.