The Services Provider Use Rights (SPUR) provides use rights for the Microsoft products available through the Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA). The MS Word document was updated once every one to three months, as needed. Following other use rights documents, Microsoft has turned the use rights document into a website.
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What is it?
Microsoft is the owner of the intellectual property for the software they develop, build and license. Thus they may decide what an user of this software is allowed to do. This is written down in a document, the Use Terms.
For Service Providers with a Services Provider License Agreement, these terms of use are the Services Provider Use Rights. These Word documents are updated from time to time when Microsoft changes the terms of use, or introduces new products under the Agreement. When you are looking for these SPUR documents (archive), please go here. Microsoft keeps making the Word documents available, but as an alternative now provides a website with the use rights as well.
Note: this is different to other commercial licensing terms, where Microsoft stopped with providing Product Terms and Online Services Terms MS Word documents and ónly provides the website.
How does it work?
Microsoft Services Providers can use – or better should use – the website to learn about terms of use. Since they are the legal counterpart of Microsoft, they are responsible for ‘living up to the rules’.
On the top right of the new website you can choose a specific date (since the terms of use can change) when looking for the terms. Example: when you want to look up the terms of use for the Office Professional Plus SAL for an Agreement started last year. And this can be compared to the terms of use for Agreements you start today. Microsoft started December 6th 2021 with the website, so what we wrote above is a feature for the future, but good to know. For now, look in the documents.
In the left menu there are two main sections.
First is a general section with a summery of changes button (very practical), Universal Terms (for all products and services under a SPLA Agreement) and a Glossary. Secondly there is the Product Index with all different products, like Office, Windows Server Core, SQL Server, Exchange Server, Virtualization Suites and so on. When you go to the specific product you will find also specific terms of use for that particular product under the SPLA license program.
Try and learn
We recommend every business development manager, sales, purchasing and IT management team member working at Microsoft Managed Services Providers to go and try the website. You will learn a lot by just ‘clicking around’. When you need to learn specifics or want a deep dive on Microsoft licensing for Services Providers, our sister company Didactive offers a Microsoft Managed Services Provider SPLA and CSP licensing training. Go here to find out more or contact one of our specialists to help you.