Microsoft to drop price for Teams Rooms, add free Basic tier for SMBs

Microsoft has advised its partner community that it will soon drop the price it charges for Teams Rooms, and add a version of the product aimed at small business. Teams Rooms is Microsoft's offering for customers who own dedicated collaboration hardware – microphones, soundbars, desk phones that pack screens and cameras, and …

[Pascal Monett]

"our full-set of device management capabilities, and future differentiated value"

Is that a promise, or a threat ?

[Pirate Dave]

Re: "our full-set of device management capabilities, and future differentiated value"

More like a portent...

[Paul Crawford]

... $40/month Pro tier that "delivers enhanced in-room meeting experiences, like intelligent audio or video...

Wow, only $40 to make those stupid pointless meetings actually intelligent? Sounds like the bargain of the decade!

Oh wait...

[ecofeco]

Anarchy

I live in the entire MS ecosystem these days and it's an anarchistic disaster.

Office. Teams. Sharepoint. Azure. Power Apps. Dynamics. Each one trying to duplicate functions of the other along with inscrutable interfaces and cross program logic connections and required permissions at the least opportune time. And the pop-ups. Dear god the annoying pop-ups. I spend almost as much time fighting the pop-ups as I do actual work. And each new version moving controls or doing away with them altogether and some that can ONLY be found and used by using the search function. There is no other way to access them.

MS is doing nothing, NOTHING, but creating complexity for the sake of lock-in.

When maintaining the OS and programs becomes a full time job itself, your product has failed. By definition.

[Phil W]

"Microsoft customers can also acquire up to 25 Basic licenses"

Does that mean if you've got more than 25 rooms but you're happy with the Basic license, that you've got to buy Pro anyway?

[Robert Grant]

To be fair to MS, if you have a building with 25 rooms you should probably be able to afford the Pro licence.

[Auntie Dix]

Reggie, Burn Your Article, for the Double-Plus Good!

Updated 04:00 UTC August 19th: Microsoft has deleted the article on which this story was based but has not requested a correction or retraction. The Register knows what we saw and stands by the story.

For Oceania, Microsoftia, Applia et al., The War on Journalism will never end.

Please consult your handler for NewNews, after destroying your article.

[steviebuk]

Not for long

"add free Basic tier for SMBs"

Then once they are ingrained in enough SMBs, they "review" their model and all SMBs will have to pay. That's how these big companies are working these days. So massive they can afford to take a lose of their software, until such time its to expensive for people to find another, then hit them with new charges.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not for long

I thought that was the entire point of Office365 - to get Corpos used to all these web-apps and their spaghetti interconnections to the point where the Execs can't operate without them. Then start tightening the screws.

At least that's how I always interpreted their licensing scheme.