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The Microsoft Licensing Mad Dash

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by nettek

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For the past month or so, I have been trying to get an accurate grasp on Microsoft software in general, and just how I need to deal with the July 31st deadline for Upgrade Advantage. I now consider myself an expert.

The process, however, was a hair-pulling endeavor. Upgrade Advantage vs. Software Assurance. BackOffice CALs vs. Core CALs. Open License vs. Select License. Backward compatible licensing. What to upgrade now, what to put off until necessary.

Microsoft was no help at all. I managed to get personal contact for my region, sent her 3 emails and left 3 voicemail messages, and no response. I finally got a handle on things through resellers, but not before a whole lot of Q&A sessions with the reseller, and plenty of web research.

My net admins love the deadline, as it means they will be able to get there hands on the latest software. I have convinced our CFO that it would be penny wise and dollar foolish not to use Upgrade Advantage to upgrade all our BackOffice 4 products. It was either "pay a lot now", or "pay a real lot later."

How are IT Managers addressing the July 31st deadline for Upgrade Assurance? Was it a welcome opportunity to get the latest, or are you sticking with your current platforms. If you did not go with Upgrade Advantage, was it money, manpower, or just plain frustration with M$ that influenced your decisions? Are you worried about your techs leaving if you still have NT 4 servers, Exchange 5.0, and Win9x workstation in 2003?

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by ttate

Each company is responsible for making its own wise (forced or otherwise) decision about MS licensing. In this case I feel that there is a lot more to look at than just what it's going to cost today vs tomorrow.

1. UA or SA - why buy something today that you may not use tomorrow. It's like buying a turbo-charger for the next car you plan on buying and then when it comes time to buy the new car, the car already has the turbo-charger or better. Or, if the new car doesn't have the turbo-charger, the one that you bought doesn't fit the model.

2. What about user & admin training? This is part of the cost of an application as well. Do you have the money for both the software purchase & education?

3. Why replace something that's working?What does the new version offer that gives your organization an edge or brings in more profits? Are the advantages real or are the systems/users working as effectively now as they would under the new version?

4. If my techs want to leave to work on new stuff that's fine. The job of IS is to help the company make profits. If a tech feels that they cannot contribute using the current infrastructure, then I don't need them as part of my team. I want someone who can see the value in providing stable services to our customers (not always possible using newer software).

Bottom line, I have a lot more issues to address before v6 of MS licensing makes me change what I am doing. I don't feel obligated to keep MS revenue stream constant or growing when it is a challenge for my organization.

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