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    Home Latest News

      Microsoft Beefs Up Enterprise Licensing Programs

      By
      Peter Galli
      -
      September 22, 2004
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        Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday ventured further into the complex world of software licensing, making some changes and adding new features to its programs.

        Wednesdays fifth quarterly Volume Licensing Webcast to customers and partners was led by Brent Callinicos, who assumed the role of corporate vice president of Microsofts Worldwide Licensing and Pricing group earlier this year.

        Callinicos said the limited Enterprise Edition Step-Up License promotion would be made a permanent offering in Microsofts Worldwide Volume Licensing programs.

        The Enterprise Edition Step-up License was originally offered as a one-year promotion on September 1, 2003. Customers with Software Assurance, an Enterprise Agreement, Select License or Open License Value could migrate from Standard Edition software to Professional or Enterprise Edition software while maintaining their Software Assurance coverage on a given product.

        “The Step-up License remains available in order to make it easier for customers to upgrade from a Standard to Enterprise Edition without incurring the full cost of licensing two separate editions of the software. Customers can upgrade their license as their company and needs grow,” Callinicos said.

        /zimages/3/28571.gifMore information on the Step-up License can be found here (in Word format).

        Microsoft on Wednesday also officially launched its Product Licensing Website, a new resource that includes the companys product list and product use rights documents.

        This site gives customers information around licensing terms, conditions and supplemental information relevant to the use of products that are licensed through Microsoft Volume Licensing Programs in one place, he said.

        Callinicos also provided more detail on Microsofts RMS (Rights Management Services), designed to control the digital distribution of documents, after his team received numerous and ongoing customer questions about information protection and policy enforcement.

        “Software Assurance customers can currently take advantage of a promotion that is underway through the life of RMS 1.0 and purchase the RMS CAL (Client Access Licenses) and Software Assurance (SA) for SA only pricing,” he said.

        “Customers with current Core CAL licenses or Back Office licenses are also allowed to order this offering and customers may acquire a number of RMS CALs up to the number of Core CALs they have,” Callinicos continued.

        Microsoft introduced last year its Rights Management Services solution. Earlier this year it was reported that while software vendors seemingly had been slow to back Microsofts RMS platform, that technology was coming to a host of third-party desktop and line-of-business applications—with or without the blessing of the app vendors themselves.

        Some analysts now say that Microsofts licensing plans have turned the corner from the negativity and dissent that accompanied the release of its Licensing 6.0 and Software assurance plans in May 2001.

        Microsoft executives, including CEO Steve Ballmer, have admitted that the changes contained in Licensing 6.0 and Software Assurance were poorly conveyed to customers by the companys own sales and support teams.

        /zimages/3/28571.gifThinking of negotiating with Microsoft for a license? Read an interview with the author of the forthcoming Microsoft License Secrets book here.

        A June research report (in PDF) from Laura DiDio, a senior analyst at The Yankee Group, found in a survey of 100 reseller partners that a compelling portion (40 to 60 percent) had bought SA, or planned to renew or upgrade their current Microsoft Licensing Agreements to include Software Assurance.

        “This is a marked turnaround from the skepticism and resentment that greeted the program when it was introduced as a component of the Microsoft Licensing 6.0 Program in May 2001,” DiDio said. “At the time, many feared that Software Assurance would prove pricier than its predecessor, Upgrade Advantage. Customers feared their licensing and upgrade costs would double or triple. Those fears were largely unfounded.”

        However earlier this year, eWEEK found that Microsoft was still facing pushback from volume licensees, especially those whose three-year Licensing 6.0 and Software Assurance plans were about to expire.

        /zimages/3/28571.gifClick here to read more about customers search for value in Microsofts Software Assurance program.

        That ill will was voiced despite the fact that Microsoft Worldwide Licensing Program executives had spent the past 18 months retooling Licensing 6.0, and Software Assurance, to provide more business value and benefits to corporate customers.

        These benefits included the ability to spread payments over the 3-year term, free Home Usage Rights and free training vouchers.

        /zimages/3/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms Windows Center at http://windows.eweek.com for Microsoft and Windows news, views and analysis.

        /zimages/3/77042.gif

        Be sure to add our eWEEK.com Windows news feed to your RSS newsreader or My Yahoo page

        Peter Galli
        Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second largest banking group in South Africa before moving on to become Executive News Editor of Business Report, the largest daily financial newspaper in South Africa, owned by the global Independent Newspapers group.He was responsible for a national reporting team of 20 based in four bureaus. He also edited and contributed to its weekly technology page, and launched a financial and technology radio service supplying daily news bulletins to the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which were then distributed to some 50 radio stations across the country.He was then transferred to San Francisco as Business Report's U.S. Correspondent to cover Silicon Valley, trade and finance between the US, Europe and emerging markets like South Africa. After serving that role for more than two years, he joined eWeek as a Senior Editor, covering software platforms in August 2000.He has comprehensively covered Microsoft and its Windows and .Net platforms, as well as the many legal challenges it has faced. He has also focused on Sun Microsystems and its Solaris operating environment, Java and Unix offerings. He covers developments in the open source community, particularly around the Linux kernel and the effects it will have on the enterprise.He has written extensively about new products for the Linux and Unix platforms, the development of open standards and critically looked at the potential Linux has to offer an alternative operating system and platform to Windows, .Net and Unix-based solutions like Solaris.His interviews with senior industry executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux operating system, Sun CEO Scot McNealy, and Bill Zeitler, a senior vice president at IBM.For numerous examples of his writing you can search under his name at the eWEEK Website at www.eweek.com.

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