[Windows Software] Deploying Windows 7 COmpanywide (50 PC)

[albertwt]

Hi All,

May I know what is the best way to get Windows 7 Professional deployment license which is economical for SME (less than 60 PC).

Does MS Software Assurance covers the license for a small comapny under 50 user ?

Thanks,

Albert

[m25man]

I don't think you can license the OS alone, it has to be part of a bigger deal.
Contact an MS Licensing specialist.

For the SME's, MS will convert your whole Corporate site into a desktop open licence with SA
You will be eligable for a 1st yr discount of upto 50% to compensate you for your OEM licenses.
You have only two choices.

3yr outright purchase at the end of the 3yrs you own the software and stay at the level you are, you can continue to pay for SA and keep the deal rolling.

3yr rolling rental, this cheaper but you never own it.
Should you leave the scheme all software must be purchased outright or removed

But this is why you need to speak to MS, it used to be "entire site only".
I thought I read that this had changed and you could split between OEM and SA but I can't be sure!

I don't think you can have just the client OS though, it's a desktop agreement.
They will let you keep your OEM OS and rent Office seperately but Im certain the OS has to be part of the whole desktop.

That's why we standardise all desktops in clients as Dell, HP or Lenovo with OEM
Every machine is the same or identical as possible and we just sysprep and ghost the OEM disks.

These are BIOS locked versions of the OS and work fine on all of the respective OEM hardware.
So all we have to do if asked is use the license on the pc to activate it.

[Richfrombechtle]

Hi Albert,

There are a few different licensing schemes availalbe to corporates:

Open (OLP): Perpetual licences with upfront payment woth SA available as an option. Minimum order of 5 licences to start an agreement.

Open Value Subscription (OVS): Non perpetual subscription licences where SA is included as standard. Requires all machines to be covered with the licences.

Open Value Perpetual (OVP): Perpetual licences with spread payments (over 3 years) with SA included as standard. Can be done "Company Wide" and "Non Company Wide"...minimum order of 5 licences to start an agreement.

Any questions, let me know.

Cheers
Rich

[m25man]

Any questions, let me know.

Cheers
Rich

Just for a laugh I ran this scenario through the MS Volume Licensing Website.

I couldn't get it to accept just the OS under OVP as License only deal.

I would accept it as an upgrade with SA on a plan, but according to that 50 users would cost £11,739 over 3 years?

If your new machines are purchased with Windows 7 OEM anyway what advantage does converting them to a Volume Licensing Plan provide other than blow a big hole in your bank account?

Is it worth it ? I need convincing that the benifits for an SME is worth paying £12k just for an OS upgrade that will still require me to manage MAK's or a KMS....

If you add Office to this deal you could be looking at £300 per machine per year. (£45k over 3 Yrs) mmmm... that sounds like a bargain.

Makes you appreciate how cheap the Educational License deal really is!

If anyone has a definative answer on how to get say 50 OEM XP/Vista/Win7 machines onto an agreement that won't bankrupt the company I think I will stick with Corporate PC's and OEM software.

[Richfrombechtle]

Hi,

You can't buy any licences on OVP without SA, only L+SA and SA are availalbe...not just L. That's why the site wouldn't accept it :-)

Having SA gives many benefits depending which products you buy and in what quantities. These include:

New Version Upgrades: Always be up to date with the latest technology

E-Learning: For each Office Application/Windows Client/Server Licence, you get one licence for the applicable E-learning courses

Training Vouchers: For every 50 licences you buy, you get 1 or 2 (depending on product) vouchers to put towards official MS training courses. *This isn't available to Edu customers though-it's corporate only*

Windows 7 Enterprise: This gives many extra features including Bitlocker/Bitlocker to Go/Branch Cache/Direct Access/Federated Search/Applocker and more

Access to MDOP: THe Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack is a great set of tools...see more here:

Microsoft MDOP Software Ruminations

You can also get Extended hotfix support, cold backup licences and more.

These extra benefits can help make management and admin of the infrastructure (and users) much easier.

[albertwt]

Just for a laugh I ran this scenario through the MS Volume Licensing Website.

I couldn't get it to accept just the OS under OVP as License only deal.

I would accept it as an upgrade with SA on a plan, but according to that 50 users would cost £11,739 over 3 years?

If your new machines are purchased with Windows 7 OEM anyway what advantage does converting them to a Volume Licensing Plan provide other than blow a big hole in your bank account?

Is it worth it ? I need convincing that the benifits for an SME is worth paying £12k just for an OS upgrade that will still require me to manage MAK's or a KMS....

If you add Office to this deal you could be looking at £300 per machine per year. (£45k over 3 Yrs) mmmm... that sounds like a bargain.

Makes you appreciate how cheap the Educational License deal really is!

If anyone has a definative answer on how to get say 50 OEM XP/Vista/Win7 machines onto an agreement that won't bankrupt the company I think I will stick with Corporate PC's and OEM software.

Haha.. Yes Man,

I also think same like you do, we are just a small/medium company here, if we have to pay such a big amount of $ It just doesn't make sense.

Since we've got various hardware around that is still using Windows XP:
Software Engineer got PC/Desktop (HP)
Business Analyst got laptop (Dell)
Director got both PC and Laptop (Mixed of Dell and HP)

it would be a headache to lock the BIOS for OEM :-|
therefore once off payment is acceptable since in the next 3 years i doubt that there is any newer WIndows 8 :-)

The reason I initiate this is that we are a Microsoft Partner and we've entitled for 10 licenses of Win 7, I've installed them all in my company and all of those 10 users were so lucky, now the rest also want to have Windows 7 too, now this is where the headache comes :-|

[m25man]

Hi,
These extra benefits can help make management and admin of the infrastructure (and users) much easier.

I can't disagree with all of the points as raised, but I still find it hard to justify those prices to my clients... and boy have I tried.

I guess the bigger the organisation the better the discounts you can negotiate.

If I'm not mistaken the UK price for a schools desktop agreement (OS + Office) is about £40 per year is that right?

But I thought the NZ Government had managed to get this for NZD$93 for 3Yrs £14GBP per year, maybe SYNACK can confirm this.

It seems that whilst M$ make every effort to simplify the Licensing model they continue to price it at whatever they think the local market will bear!
We have seen some serious price hikes in OEM licensing costs in the last 2 years which seems to have been engineered to reduce the cost differentials between OEM and Licensing (Office Pro went from around £160 to over 200 in about 6 months last year).

So @Albertwt looks like 40 Windows 7 Ultimate Version Upgrades are one option this would cost £5600 from Distribution.

It seems that it is possible to to add SA to OEM but only in the first 90days, this lady seems to be a useful source of information, Emma Healey

Looks like it's going to stay OEM for most of my SME's for the foreseeable future.

[Richfrombechtle]

Currently, 40 x OLP Windows 7 Upgrades would cost around £4500 to a corporate end user. Once the promo ends this month, it will be around £5250.

The Desktop Pack on a schools agreement is sub £30, but as Albertwt is from a corporate, that isn't available to him.

Adding SA to OEM licences is a great way to keep costs down while giving yourself easier manageability, better asset tracking and access to many of the benefits I mentioned earlier.

The grace period to add OEM depends on the licensing scheme you purchase it on; while most offer 90 days, Open business gives just 30.

Discussions around the cost effectiveness and ROI of licensing can take many paths. Often, once you include the easier asset tracking, better asset tracking, end user training and more...licensing, overall, often offers better value. However, I realise that budgets are still tight and sometimes it does just come down to the figure on the page :-)

[albertwt]

ok, here's what I've found:

all XP and Vista OS qualify to Windows 7 upgrade:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/buy/default.aspx?applyTTTracking=true

Licensing for small organizations:  http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/#tab=2

Open License
Entry-level program that allows you to start using software immediately and pay as you go. Recommended for small organizations.

Therefore I shall negotiate with the MS Regional office for getting OL as all of my current HP/Dell workstations got OEM Win XP and Vista licenses.