Microsoft "ESS Licensing" - who is using it and why?

RTFM... We are allowed to enter competitive tender for kit/software/whatever, but there is an individual charge for eg putting a pc onto the network. There may be a legacy item we want to keep and have network enabled that may want a ram upgrade, re imaging whatever and they will ask us for a charge to do that. We have to factor that in to all our costs. Interestingly enough, Just before Xmas we tried to by some heavy duty RM laptops, the quote duly arrived and I had to run this by Capita. So far I have no laptops, the special offer of a "Free" trolley from RM has gone and I suspect that if I do end up buying them from Capita it will cost me more, but worse, if I end up buying them from RM that too will now cost me more!!
This whole scenario is depressing/frustrating/costing us time and money. Capita(read ex Ramesys) should in truth be competitive. Does it bode well for the future? Only time will tell...

Moriarty...

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Originally Posted by Admiral208

We are a BSF school about to move accross in sept this year. We to are discussing what we want to do with regards for licensing. A few interesting points were brought up about this.

- yes you can buy 3 years worth of licensing at a time but as you have already mentioned, what happens in three years when there is not as much BSF money to spend.
- If you choose the EES route, if after the deal finishes you dont want it any more, you have to buy yourself out of the deal. I think its about a years payment.
- If like us, you are having a managed service, does the contract include upgrading machines? Its pointless to have the option to upgrade to the latest software if the company wont do it for the life of the managed service.

In the end, it was better for us to buy licenses for the machines individually.

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This is something we have looked at but the idea of the BSF contract is a rollover cycle of the contract AND hardware every five years! The problem is 3s and 5s don't fit until 15! So a 6 year rollover or 3 yr roll over would have been better I suspect?

Who is your new provider? If its Capita have you any job descriptions yet? I cant get one for love nor money. The school want them so they can see just what they need to cover that we will no longer do and they cant get them. The LA HR says they cant get them and Capita say they have given them out! Draw your own conclusions but the terms "smoke and mirrors" or "divide and conquer" come into my mind along with "Mushroom Syndrome"!!! (Keep them in the Dark and feed them sh*te!)

If anyone has Capita Job descriptions for NWM and Techies can they pm me with copies attached?

Moriarty...

with ESS, if i am buying 100 new laptops, can i specify them with no OS and put our ESS VL windows on it, or do they have to contain a winOS before you can VL them?

Any links to official docs would be great :)

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Originally Posted by RabbieBurns

with ESS, if i am buying 100 new laptops, can i specify them with no OS and put our ESS VL windows on it, or do they have to contain a winOS before you can VL them?

Any links to official docs would be great :)

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EES is an upgrade license only.

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Originally Posted by CyberNerd

EES is an upgrade license only.

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thanks thats what i thought, my boss is convinced otherwise though. Where is it written please so i can show him?

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Originally Posted by RabbieBurns

thanks thats what i thought, my boss is convinced otherwise though. Where is it written please so i can show him?

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on every quotation I have seen. Your provider will be able to produce one.
You can buy OEM licenses through EES or Select though

I've seen somewhere that EES will allow you to upgrade home editions (a saving of around £20 per unit). Can this be confirmed by anyone?

Yes it's true.

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Originally Posted by Mr.Ben

I've seen somewhere that EES will allow you to upgrade home editions (a saving of around £20 per unit). Can this be confirmed by anyone?

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Windows 7 Upgrade Paths

This might be worth a look, it shows your available upgrade paths :)

Hi Moriaty

We have gone down this line, pretty much for the reasons you outlined. Unfortunately one can't crystal ball gaze too much when it comes to Microsoft, Google et al but I think that even if they change the scheme they would have something comparable as they seem keen to embed their software in schools and the cheaper they make it the more likely this is going to happen.

IMHO I would go with it but you could always ensure that it is understood from the outset that this is based on the current scheme that could be subject to change.

Regards
Kury