Heads up: The end of M365 Apps Semi Annual Enterprise Channel

Posted by ssiws@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 17 comments

See this publication in the Message Center:

https://admin.microsoft.com/#/MessageCenter/:/messages/MC1274325

(Or here: https://mc.merill.net/message/MC1274325)

Microsoft will unify the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel and Monthly Enterprise Channel for Microsoft 365 Apps into a single enterprise update channel.

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elpoco@reddit

I suspect that this is to push Copilot.

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dowlingm@reddit

the other way round - they have been pushing MEC by keeping Copilot out of SAEC. Fewer channels = fewer codebases so Satya can reduce headcount further to pay for his AI dreams

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Kardinal@reddit

We were SAC for a long time and recently went Monthly and there's been nothing....

.... In terms of bad reaction. No rise in tickets.

I have a feeling that many of us are just used to companies making minor changes to UI and features at this point because mobile apps have been doing it for a couple decades.

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tempest3991@reddit

It’s possible to get used to M365 moving shit all over the place?

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Kardinal@reddit

I have no difficulty with it.

I don't say it much but if you get flustered by a button moving I... Nah I won't say it.

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cowboygas@reddit

You haven't worked in healthcare then?

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Kardinal@reddit

I actually do work in healthcare (payer side, not-for-profit).

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To be clear my comment is not directed at you/us on the sysadmin side - of course we can handle UI changes - I meant end-users and healthcare specifically is SO rigid and will claim a new button can cost millions by interrupting procedures that are ingrained. We think, “Why doesn't the brain just engage?” but they say, “It's broken” when the icon is now cornflower blue instead of yellow ochre.

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Kardinal@reddit

I assume you're talking on the provider side? Actual clinicians?

I can see that. And I can see their point. Probably not as strongly as they think it is, but I can understand it. Stakes are much higher there.

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bdam55@reddit

Yea, part of me says "show some f'n adaptability" but then there's two decades of experience of people complaining about every damn little UI change ever.

I want to believe the workforce has moved on and those people who needed step-by-step instructions on how to copy and paste some text have simply aged out. But then I see my teenage sons be kind of completely useless the moment anything remotely doesn't function perfectly ... and can't help wonder if it's any better.

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Kardinal@reddit

I've been doing this for 30 years and one thing I've noticed is that for every person who is complaining, there's 10 people who have the same problem who aren't complaining.

And there's probably a hundred people who aren't having the problem at all. And we don't hear from them. Because they can adapt and be productive.

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bdam55@reddit

Oh yea, absolutely. Though I've often attributed that to the set of people that pre-dated the PC era. Maybe that's really the change there; the people now in management all grew up with this stuff.

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FgtBruceCockstar2008@reddit

Get high often enough that it always looks confusing and you won't notice the changes.

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yepperoniP@reddit

Some team at my org apparently doesn’t know how to read and we’ve had everyone on “Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview)” until recently.

Was getting bit by weird but widespread bugs every few months, like Outlook crashing whenever you try to forward an email with an attachment, and weird error messages when copy/pasting text to Word.

They initially refused to move off Preview, saying it was more stable for some reason, when it was named Preview for a reason. We were basically beta testing for Microsoft.

Once the second big Outlook attachment bug hit and nobody could send attachments they finally started moving over to Monthly Enterprise Channel and haven’t had an issue since.

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Fabulous_Cow_4714@reddit

What will happen:

Devices currently configured for SAEC will receive the same feature and security updates as published to MEC.
Existing update policies and configurations will continue to be respected.
There is no change to Microsoft’s commitment to predictable servicing, quality, and enterprise manageability.
Users are not expected to experience workflow changes as a result of this update.

What you can do to prepare:

No action is required. If your organization currently uses SAEC, updates will continue to be published on a monthly basis.

This does not make sense.

If you were using SAEC and only getting Office feature updates every 6 months, and now you get “the same feature and security updates as published to MEC” which have more frequent updates, how is that not a change?

Will there be any difference if you configure update policies for the MEC channel vs SAEC or will Microsoft just treat SAEC as if you configured MEC?

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meatwad75892@reddit

or will Microsoft just treat SAEC as if you configured MEC?

Correct, they will treat SAEC as if it was configured for MEC. If they didn't, there'd surely be clients out there that wouldn't reconfigure policies defining service channels and they'd be pointing to an invalid servicing channel.