Forum Discussion
Office 365 Fragmentation?
It is a bit steep, to have to pay that if all you're interested in is dynamic groups. There have been cases where Microsoft have https://blogs.office.com/en-us/2015/02/17/sign-page-branding-cloud-user-self-service-password-reset-office-365/, so who knows if that could happen again!
These are all good points.
Not every customer need these additional features and therefore separate pricing charges the customers who do need it and doesn't split the cost over all the other customers who don't need these features.
Also, I think many of the features (like dynamics groups) could be added as a change through an addin. We do that all the time for customers. Its more specific to the customer's needs and a lot less expensive than $6 a user. The $6 a user price is reflective of a much bigger organization that benefits from all the features of a premium azure not just dynamics groups.
The best thing about "Software as a service" is you pay for only what you need making the cost in the long run better than a "one size fit all" solution. We are very early in all these issues (cloud and pricing) and eventually the market will fill in to make prices more competitive.