Licensing help please

[sparkeh]

I am trying to sort out the licensing at one school and could do with a hand (I admit that I am not the best at getting my head round MS licences).

I am looking at upgrading them from Office 2000 to either 2003 or 2007. So I took a look at their licence statements on the MS licensing website and see that they have volume keys for both versions. However the listed 'effective quantity' is one. Does this mean that they have a volume key for just one installation? To that doesn't seem to make sense to me.

If this isn't, how do I find out how many we can install on

[jamesb]

It means you get one volume license key. Its a single license covering multiple installations, rather than multiple licenses with each covering a single installation.

I think anyway. Licensing gives me a headache.

[nephilim]

get a schools licence agreement, state how many machines you need it for, and away you go. Your licence will cover you for the latest Windows and Office software, as well as previous versions.

And you do only get 1 key on Volume Licence, but that key will do as many installs as you need, but make sure that you have the licences to cover for it!

[DMcCoy]

I am looking at upgrading them from Office 2000 to either 2003 or 2007. So I took a look at their licence statements on the MS licensing website and see that they have volume keys for both versions. However the listed 'effective quantity' is one. Does this mean that they have a volume key for just one installation? To that doesn't seem to make sense to me.

Yes, it's a single license. There may be several different keys for the same product with different quantities however.

If you did not have software assurance in place when Office 2007 was released then you may well have to upgrade/purchase Office again. It is worth looking at when you bought the previous licenses as anything since office 2007 was released would be for 2007 anyway.

The MS licensing site will also list keys and quantities for products that you have not licensed too, and is unfortunately not an accurate tool for tracking licensing.

[sparkeh]

Right got my head around it, I think.

So we have a volume key that allows to install one copy but we need to purchase the licences to cover the site and can use this key to install.

Gonna take a look at the schools agreement now.

[glennda]

Be careful with the licsensing agreement's as there are different types at different prices, we had a Desktop schools agreement by the previous Network manager, but when we have tried to renew it we went throught the whole process of getting the three quotes getting it approved, only for microsoft to turn around and say that what we where trying to apply for was the wrong licsense so we have had to go through the whole process of the three quotes again!

[tarquel]

sparkeh.... what agreement(s) were the currently licensing bought under?

If its a mis-mash, and theres no real record, it may be advisable to either consider a School's agreement type of setup [as mentioned above] or buy a set of licenses (with or without SA) and keep a good record of it I guess.

[WStore_Dan]

Hi Sparkeh

If you would like some advice then please get in touch and I'll put you on to our Microsoft Licencing Specialist who can offer you some advice

Regards

[sparkeh]

Currently we have various open agreements covering a range of products. I have been talking to our 'licensing partner' who seem to have less of an understanding than I do. This is partly responsible for my confusion as some of their info has proved to be incorrect.

I may take you up on your offer in the near future Dan.

[WStore_Dan]

I may take you up on your offer in the near future Dan.

I'll look forward to hearing from you