AB_IT Posted March 11, 2020 Posted March 11, 2020 Hi All So in my new role I'm working with the current IT Manager but he's retiring soon. I've asked to have a look over all the Microsoft Licensing Details and he's told me he buys all licensing from this website at £20 for a Windows License and around £30 for an Office license. Surely this is bad practice, I've heard horror stories of companies doing this and then the company they've bought all the licenses from going 'Bust' and now all the licenses you've purchased are worthless and deactivated. Can anyone shed some light on this, because if I'm wrong and it is all legit I don't want to make myself look silly! I'm just a bit concerned. https://theunitysoft.com/ is the site he uses.
mavhc Posted March 11, 2020 Posted March 11, 2020 "All our licenses have a 1 YEAR WARRANTY. What does this mean? If you need to reinstall the software and re-activate it, we cover you for 1 year . " Firstly never trust anyone who uses emoji. Secondly that seems unhelpful when you're reimaging machines all the time. It's legal in the EU to resell your OEM licences https://www.itassetmanagement.net/2016/10/31/secondary-software-2016/ however. But don't most PCs come with a Windows licence anyway?
Guest Guest Posted March 11, 2020 Posted March 11, 2020 What do you have in terms of documentation / COAs for the licenses? I suspect you'd just get a key via email? If so and you get audited your stuffed
Sydders01 Posted March 11, 2020 Posted March 11, 2020 Is there any reason why you guys are not enrolled in the Microsoft educational program with a Microsoft certified reseller so that you can easily rebuild and keep your pc's and laptops up to date at all time
AB_IT Posted March 12, 2020 Author Posted March 12, 2020 "All our licenses have a 1 YEAR WARRANTY. What does this mean? If you need to reinstall the software and re-activate it, we cover you for 1 year ��. Firstly never trust anyone who uses emoji. Secondly that seems unhelpful when you're reimaging machines all the time. It's legal in the EU to resell your OEM licences https://www.itassetmanagement.net/2016/10/31/secondary-software-2016/ however. But don't most PCs come with a Windows licence anyway? I agree, it doesn't seem a very 'professional' company. Well that was my thought, no PC's here wouldn't have a Windows license.. Maybe Windows 7 & 8 and that's why he buys them. The laptop he ordered me had Windows 10 Home edition on though so I wasn't able to join to the domain, I'm not sure if this is why he buys the Pro version from this website but it worries me! What do you have in terms of documentation / COAs for the licenses? I suspect you'd just get a key via email? If so and you get audited your stuffed Literally yes we get a key sent to his email address over email. He apparently also does have access to the VLSC but has gone over the amount of licenses purchased. I did try explaining that if you contact the reseller or Microsoft, as long as you don't have any more devices and have the same amount they'll reset the licenses so you can continue using it again but he didn't really acknowledge this. He dosen't use MDT or any imaging software and does each PC manually. It's starting to worry me because there's a year before he leaves and there's all sorts of problems like this, we have 14 sites to manage and we don't even have access to TeamViewer as he dosen't believe in it!
paulkerton Posted March 12, 2020 Posted March 12, 2020 Sounds like you've got a person there who is stuck in their ways and refuses to change to the market conditions around them. One of those who probably screams "industry standards" and thinks a box in a cupboard running Exchange 2007 is more secure than Office 365... You clearly need to work on getting things modernised, especially looking after that many sites!
mavhc Posted March 12, 2020 Posted March 12, 2020 Once he leaves you can start again from scratch, start subtly warning the people in charge
Domino Posted March 12, 2020 Posted March 12, 2020 Their Terms and conditions page is a wild ride... Customer responsibilities You must co-operate with us in all matters relating to the Services, provide us and our authorized employees and representatives with access to any premises under your control as required, provide us with all information required to perform the Services and obtain any necessary licenses and consents (unless otherwise agreed). Failure to comply with the above is a Customer default which entitles us to suspend performance of the Services until you remedy it or if you fail to remedy it following our request, we can terminate the Contract with immediate effect on written notice to you.
AB_IT Posted March 16, 2020 Author Posted March 16, 2020 Jesus. Sorry about the delay in getting back, I'm sure Corona is causing you guys to be busy also, just has to setup 24 tablets for Skype! Thanks for looking into this, it dosen't sound great. I knew it'd be too good to be true! Yes I'm already starting to plan for things that need sorting, all switches are different random brands, no vlan's, licensing is a mess, user profiles are stored as virtual hard disk files which I can't for the life of me figure out how it's done, the IT Manager currently here has banned me speaking to the Tech Company that apparently does majority of the networking work... Not sure why but he has been backed by the bursar! So I'm a sitting duck here basically waiting for him to leave. I have voiced some concerns and I think they're taking it on board. Going to send me down to the Tech Company soon to be with them for a couple of days on my own so I can ask any questions, unsure as to why I couldn't have just watched them work via TeamViewer as that's how I've learnt in the past but up-a-day! Yes still running Exchange, they do want to move away from this to O365 but he dosen't believe in it. He has no records of Windows server licenses or a topology or a disaster recovery policy! It's pretty bad! He's 67 and needs to retire, worked as a Property Manager before and has 'Taught' himself things as he's gone. He hasn't done a terrible job but I think that's more down to the Tech Support company he's using that have done majority of the work than himself. Though one person to run 14 sites is a lot to ask also so I can't blame him entirely. When he leave apparently I'm getting a team! From all of that I'm enjoying it though! lol
paulkerton Posted March 16, 2020 Posted March 16, 2020 Yes still running Exchange, they do want to move away from this to O365 but he dosen't believe in it. Oh, they need to get rid already. He's holding the school back and not doing his job properly. I'm not a fan of O365 personally, but one way or another the cloud is inevitable. It has nothing to do with believing in anything.
Boredguy Posted March 16, 2020 Posted March 16, 2020 If you do not have an OVS-EES licence in place (assuming it's a small school), and there are no records of any CAL's for your windows devices to connect to the windows servers, your establishment could be in for very large fines for running unlicensed software
mavhc Posted March 16, 2020 Posted March 16, 2020 Which schools have been fined, rather than just asked to buy the correct licences?
paulkerton Posted March 16, 2020 Posted March 16, 2020 Which schools have been fined, rather than just asked to buy the correct licences? That isn't the point, though is it? They're open to fines if they don't license properly. If you want SLT to do the right thing in a school you never tell them the expected best case scenario outcome, you tell them the absolute worst case scenario, then they will act. If you say to them "If we do this, we should get away with it" 9 times out of 10 they will go with that option. If there is a corner to be cut, they'll cut it.
Boredguy Posted March 16, 2020 Posted March 16, 2020 Which schools have been fined, rather than just asked to buy the correct licences? Oh the naivety of that question. If you get audited and are found to be running illegal software (which includes running it on more devices that your licence allows) then a fine plus the cost of the additional licences often can occur. Schools are not exempt from adhering to licencing even though some staff sometimes think so. While I would not recommend whistle blowing to Microsoft, a frank discussion with the Head regarding the legality of the current situation would be best, especially if the current licences were only upgrade ones with no trace-ability.
KK20 Posted March 30, 2020 Posted March 30, 2020 do you have OEM licenses on the base units? It cost us much less than £50 for core desktop EES - those are only windows upgrade licenses though, you need something on the unit to begin with. This will sort all your CALs, windows, office for your base units, then all you need are your server licenses, exchange, SQL, and external connectors etc and you are ready to rock and roll. I would also make sure you get all your queries and responses is writing. It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen (from an audit point of view).
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