New MS Licensing Plan Making Companies Think Twice
from the hello-openoffice! dept
I’ve been following the saga over Microsoft’s new licensing scam with some interest – trying to see how companies would respond. It seems that, at the very least, it’s made a lot of companies look to Microsoft alternatives for their software needs. In case you hadn’t been following it, Microsoft changed their volume licensing system, effective today. In the old plan, you bought your volume licenses for a certain number of machines, and then paid a (cheaper) upgrade fee each time you upgraded. Under the new plan, you’re supposed to sign up for their “Software Assurance” subscription plan, where you need to continue to pay an annual fee, and you’ll get your upgrades given to you. Of course, that annual fee adds up to a lot more than what most companies pay in upgrade fees (especially since many companies like to “skip a cycle” and upgrade every other release). If companies don’t join the program they’ll need to pay the full amount for each new license they buy. Basically, no matter what, companies will be paying more for Microsoft software – in some cases up to 40% more. It’s a sneaky, relatively large, price increase, at a time when most companies are trying to cut back on their technology spending. The end result is that a lot of companies are looking at things like Linux and StarOffice for cheaper solutions.
