Microsoft in 2024: What Mattered to Our Readers

Mary Jo Foley is the Editor in Chief at Directions on Microsoft. Before joining Directions, Mary Jo has worked as... more

Given Microsoft’s constant drumbeat around AI and Copilots in 2024, it’s not too surprising that the Directions on Microsoft members flocked to our coverage of those topics on our site. But the new Outlook, Microsoft Fabric, Extended Security Updates and non-subscription Exchange and Windows Server releases all were top of mind, too, as evidenced by page views on our web site. We believe what mattered in 2024 is a good indicator of what Microsoft customers will likely care about in the coming year.

Some of our Directions on Microsoft coverage is exclusively for our members and behind our paywall. When looking at traffic for those stories in 2024, our analyst reports on Copilots — everything from how to secure them, to how to evaluate them — dominated. We got a lot of reader questions about how to prepare their data for Copilots and how to calculate ROI to justify their use.

We created a regularly updated Copilot Comparison chart to help customers try to keep up with the naming, positioning, pricing and licensing changes of Microsoft’s main enterprise Copilots (and are making it available to non-members too, if they fill out this form). Given Microsoft’s emphasis in its own content on Copilot security and ROI last year, it seems like our members were not alone with these questions.

What Else Was on Enterprise Customers’ Radar?

But our most-trafficked Microsoft enterprise topics on our public blog (https://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/blog/) tell a more expansive story, in terms of what Microsoft customers cared about in 2024. Here are our 10 blog posts in 2024 which received the most page views, ranked from highest on down:

1. Microsoft to support Classic Outlook for Windows for Some Until at Least 2029: Fear and loathing of Microsoft’s new Outlook continued in 2024, with many customers desperately seeking ways to continue to use Classic Outlook for as long as they can while Microsoft tries to add many of the key classic Outlook features to its new Outlook client. (We’ve been keeping close tabs on Microsoft’s feature list and hints about end-of-support dates and will continue to provide the latest details on this in 2025 and beyond.)

2. Ten Things You Need to Know Before Buying Microsoft 365 Copilot: This Nov. 2023 blog post, which we posted on Nov. 1 — the day Microsoft deemed M365 Copilot as “generally available” — included a number of hard-to-discover tidbits that many Copilot-curious customers still may not know. Even though it was posted in late 2023, it continued on to get lots of visits in 2024.

3. Exchange Server Subscription Edition: It’s Happening in Q3 2025: In May, Microsoft broke its two-year silence about what was next for Exchange Server. Customers are going to have to act quickly this year to stay supported (and the same applies for customers still using Skype for Business Server!)

4. Microsoft Fabric Takes Control of Power BI Licensing: Microsoft announced plans to retire several Power BI licensing and purchasing options, requiring customers to purchase new Fabric licensing and migrate existing workspaces. That’s one (not-so-great) way to get users to migrate to a new service.

5. Microsoft Adds Another Way to Get Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 Extended Security Updates: ESUs are an expensive way to continue to get security updates for Microsoft products that the company is no longer supporting. But there are other alternatives, including Azure Arc server enrollment (with some caveats).

Power BI, Paid Add-Ons and More

6. Microsoft’s Office LTSC 2024 Begins Rolling Out: Microsoft is all about subscription-based products, but not all customers are. The latest (but not final) non-subscription-based, perpetual version of Office launched in 2024 for commercial and volume-licensed government customers.

7. Microsoft VLSC Features Moving: Back in 2023, Microsoft began moving some of its Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) features to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center (MAC). In 2024, customers continued to be curious about where their cheese was moved.

8. Power BI Customers Beware: The Fabric Takeover Continues: Microsoft continued its push to get more customers to adopt its Fabric data analytics platform with strong-arm tactics, including retiring high-end Power BI features with Fabric as the only replacement option.

9. Paid Add-Ons to Microsoft 365 Are Multiplying: What’s a Customer To Do: Extra-cost features, apps and licenses that go beyond what’s included in the base Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 subscriptions grew more than four times over the past four years. Expect this trend to continue in 2025 and beyond.

10. Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Services days are numbered: Here’s Why: We warned customers in 2023 that even though Microsoft has not announced an official end-of-support date for its Remote Desktop Services (RDS) role for Windows Server, its demise looks increasingly likely. Support for RDS is expected until at least 2026, but it’s high time for users to be considering other options.

Thanks for reading! If you have any topics or questions you’d like the Directions analysts to tackle in 2025, reach out and let us know.