Monthly Update #111 for Office 365 for IT Pros eBook

The Office 365 for IT Pros eBook team is delighted to announce that files are available for download for the September 2024 update of:

Office 365 for IT Pros (2025 edition) in PDF and EPUB formats.

Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell in PDF and EPUB formats.

Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell is available as part of the Office 365 for IT Pros bundle and as a separate product.

Subscribers can download the updates files using the link in the receipt emailed to them after their original purchase or from the library in their Gumroad.com account. We no longer make a Kindle version of the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook available through Amazon. It proved too difficult to release updates to readers through the convoluted Amazon process. The Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell book is available through Amazon in Kindle and paperback versions. The paperback is our first attempt at delivering a printed book and the response has been interesting. I guess some folk still like to have text on paper as a reference.

See our change log for information about the changes in the September 2024 update and our FAQ for details about how to download updates.

Changes in the Ecosystem

To ensure that the book content is updated and remains current, we spend a lot of time tracking change within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Three issues that are causing people some concerns are:

Microsoft plans to require accounts that connect to Azure administrative portals, like the Azure portal, Entra admin center, and Intune admin center or use the Azure PowerShell module and Cl, to use multifactor authentication. The requirement swings into force on October 15. In many respects, this is an excellent idea because the only accounts that access these sites are by definition administrators and all administrator accounts should be protected. But people assume that Microsoft will force all accounts to use MFA and that’s just not correct. More information is available here.

This month Microsoft plans to update Exchange Online with a revised SMTP AUTH Clients submission report to help organizations understand if apps and devices are using SMTP AUTH with basic authentication to submit messages to Exchange. The plan is to remove basic authentication for SMTP AUTH in September 2025, and the signs are that some organizations will struggle with this deadline as they do not know how to upgrade hardware (devices like multifunction printers) or apps to support OAuth. Follow the discussion online and if you have concerns, voice them there. Ian McDonald from the Exchange development group is responding to queries as they arise.

The new Outlook for Windows is generally available, and Microsoft is renaming the older Win32 version to be Outlook (classic). The rename process for the application is starting around now. Microsoft still plans to support Outlook classic until 2029 at the earliest so there’s no cause for immediate concern. The new Outlook is not ready to take over from Outlook classic yet and won’t be for several years. But it is the case that new functionality will increasingly be only available in the new Outlook (and likely OWA), and that’s something to take into consideration as Microsoft 365 tenants plan their client strategy for the coming years.

Other stuff is happening too – and all the time- but these are three of the big issues I hear discussed on an ongoing basis.

Discounted Subscriptions

We have traditionally allowed subscribers of prior editions to continue their subscriptions to cover new edition at discounted rates. The cheapest way to upgrade is always within three weeks of the release of a new edition. After that, we start to gradually reduce the discount. Our discount period finished today and there are no longer general discounts available for previous subscribers. Instead, we’re reaching out to people who have supported us over several editions to offer targeted discounts. We think this is a fairer approach to reward people who have helped us and to control the misuse of discount codes.

We know of about 70 cases where people who have never subscribed before having taken out subscriptions to the 2025 edition using codes that we made available to previous subscribers. Sometimes this happens because people pass their subscription to co-workers and sometimes it’s because people just like to share. In any case, our ability to offer discounted subscriptions is compromised when codes are misused, so we’re going to be a little more restrictive about how we issue discounts. I don’t think anyone’s doing anything particularly horrible here, but we’d like to take care of the folks who support us before anyone else gets the chance to use a discount.

On to Update #112

There’s no rest for the wicked and the Office 365 for IT Pros team is already working (or so they tell me) on update #112, which we anticipate releasing on October 1. No doubt lots will happen between this and then to add to the rich tapestry of life and the joys (!!!) of coping with constant change inside the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.