Successfully Licensing and Deploying Shared Devices

Introduction

A truly shared device is one that does not belong to a specific user every day but is used by multiple users throughout the day, or by different users each day. A key problem in licensing shared devices is the lack of what Microsoft refers to as “user affinity,” which determines how a user is associated with one or more devices. Licensing issues and activation issues may cause problems when shared devices are not licensed independently of per-user licensing.

Implementing shared devices rather than dedicating a device to each user is often considered a way to save cost and can often do so. However, due to Microsoft’s services licensing rules—and its management, security, and identity services in particular—challenges and financial surprises are likely to occur, particularly over time. Microsoft’s licensing rules, and the technology used to activate or authorize access to hosted services and the current range of subscription-based software, are typically not designed to work