Did you miss it? Probably not.
Some of you might have known about this last year. I never reported on it since the story kept changing throughout 2017. However, if you missed the controversy, ESRI was going to phase out the ability to use Concurrent Use licensing starting with ArcGIS Desktop 10.5. Only those with current software maintenance would be allowed to continue the use of concurrent use licensing. Those not current could get up to three single use licenses for every one concurrent use license. New customers could only have the choice of single use or named user licenses. I think this was ESRI’s way of getting you to buy into their ArcGIS Online/Portal way of licensing desktop software. Here is the blog post from the beginning of last year about it (which has been updated with good news at the top) and many comments on GeoNet too.
Then in late December, ESRI released an email (which I don’t remember receiving) stating they will be extending the availability of concurrent use licensing for ArcGIS Desktop to all customers, new and existing. My guess they got an earful from the ArcGIS community! Note that each ArcGIS Desktop license includes a named user license you can use to access ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise (aka Portal). Also note that starting this year, all ArcGIS Enterprise Standard and Advanced customers can add Viewers (level 1 named users) at no additional cost.
So crisis averted for now … or has it only been delayed? Time will tell.
SoCalGIS.org 
I don’t recall getting the email either. Or perhaps the subject line didn’t catch my attention. Could have come in during our winter closure period as well. Our email servers sometimes do a lot of extra spam catching then and I miss things. I guess it is a good thing ESRI still listens to customers!! Thanks for sharing this, Mike.
With best regards,
DIANA McCARTHY
GIS Specialist | Community Development Department
City of Fullerton | 303 W. Commonwealth Ave. | Fullerton CA 92832
714.738.6561 voice | DianaM@ci.fullerton.ca.us | http://www.ci.fullerton.ca.us
GIS apps: GoZone | Development Activity
Concurrent use license phased out for small government EAs. Just renewed our Enterprise Agreement, now I find out the concurrent use license for ArcGIS Desktop is no longer an option.
Hi Charles. I would contact your ESRI rep on this. ESRI stated in late December “We are extending the availability of Concurrent Use licensing for ArcGIS Desktop (ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap) to all of our customers, new and existing.” Also login to your account and see if you can still provision concurrent use licenses. I just did and can still provision concurrent use licenses.
I am in the process of renewing our EA right now and I now see “(Single Use)” next to the “Desktop Software and Extentions” category. Though it says “Uncapped Quantities”, I will be having them remove the “Single Use” or change it to “Concurrent/Single Use”.
From my ESRI rep: “As of December 15, 2017 the Concurrent Use license option is available to any customer, not just existing customers. The previous restrictions on who could purchase Concurrent Use licenses has been removed. Also note: If Concurrent Use licenses were removed from a program (e.g. EAs), Concurrent Use licenses will not be automatically added back into those programs, but can be added on request.”