Vista Licensing

[jsnetman]

I have been told by my regular software providor that i will need some sort of software agreement with Microsoft in in order to roll out a single image to 385 PC's. They recommended an MS Select Plus which appeared last year. The question I am asking really is do I have to have this or another agreement in order to cover my licencing, does anyone here have this agreement and how much roughly does it cost?.

[PeterW]

What agreement do you currently have you may find you are covered already. Are you sure you want to deploy Vista to all those computers with W7 just around the corner?

[synaesthesia]

If you have 100 PC's which all have a single user licence (i.e. the COA attached to the machine) you can roll out an image to them all covered by that licence, per machine. Difference being with the licensing options available, if you've circa 400 machines and there is no per-machine licence on any of them, an agreement will often be a fair amount cheaper.

[jsnetman]

What agreement do you currently have you may find you are covered already.

The way we licence now is by buying machines with an XP Pro licence and use a volume licence key supplied by Ramesys. Ramesys have informed me this model will not work with Vista and I will have to enter some sort of MS Agreement.

Are you sure you want to deploy Vista to all those computers with W7 just around the corner?

We upgrade every 3 years here and due upgrading this summer. I'm not sure when W7 comes out but I would never go to a new OS this early, although I have heard its just an upgrade from Vista.

If it is the case Vista or W7 that I need an agreement what is the best for value? I have heard the select plus which appeeared last year seems best for schools.

[zag]

But vista is really bad

[jsnetman]

But vista is really bad

yes I agree. But I'm between the devil and the deep blue sea. Don't upgrade and I will be stuck with XP for the next 3 years, or enter a licence agreement which should cover the upgrade to W7.