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Volume Licensing Tweaked

Microsoft last week added a new element to its already sprawling array of licensing options. Select Plus Volume Licensing is a new wrinkle for the Select program.

The key features? There's one ID for the entire company and, by unifying buying, it should make it easier to earn discounts.

This sounds like a good thing, but as with anything involving licensing, the devil is in the details, and the details are the devil. The problem is there are too many details.

I spent months studying Microsoft licensing and learned enough to write two cover stories, one on Software Assurance and another on negotiating with Microsoft. But I felt I never completely got it -- and that may be part of the plan. The complexity makes it harder for customers, who need it all explained -- and by whom? Microsoft?

There is help. First, Scott Braden is the man when it comes to licensing. The only man who can almost make it sound simple, he taught me 90 percent of what I know on the subject. Scott's company, Microsoft Secrets, was acquired and is now part of (NET)net; here's its Web site.

Posted by Doug Barney on July 09, 2008


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