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