Microsoft Licensing in a nutshell?

[park_bench]

Could some kind soul explain the MS licensing scenarios in a nutshell for me please? More specifically, what minimum licensing level we can get away with?

 

We have had a Select Agreement in the past but are seriously considering OpenOffice for the student workstations.

 

We have 2 DCs, an Exchange Server, and 450 pupil workstations in school. We need to cover the ACLs and possibly will have to buy MS Publisher licenses seperatly as the ICT dept. won't give that package up lightly.

 

If you can make any sense of all that then any feedback would be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Ben

[ThatBoringBloke]

In a Nutshell - MS Licensing is a mine field!

 

If in my mind there are realistically two choices:

 

1) buy the software outright or

2) lease the software.

 

If you opt for option 1 then you own the software, i.e. one copy = one licence. MS can also allow you to adding things such as Software Assurance, but that just complicates things further. For now assume buy outright means One copy - One licence. If you are considering Open Office then this could be a choice for you.

 

Option Two is what is referded to as a Schools Agreement, i.e. you pay MS each year to use their software, effectively leasing the software from them. with this option you are always licenced for the latest version, and the licences are backwards compatible.

 

Whilst Option Two is cheaper than option One, it can be expensive to get out of should you decide to go down an alternative licensing route.

[Dos_Box]

Good God!! People go on professional courses for weeks to even try and sell M$ licences, and even they don't really understand the entire thing. I don't think a short answer wll cover everything, but I'm sure someone will give it a go.

[mrforgetful]

We just buy ours outright.

 

Bad thing is we can't get Vista Enterprise like that.

[andyl]

MS licensing in a nutshell.

 

Decide on a nice simple model and then dump it in favour of something complex that will confuse people into paying sky high prices.

 

Work out a reasonable cost level for schools and then triple it before you even consider all the middle men profits.

 

Make sure you have deals with all the software houses (such as Capita) to ensure that all your suckers (sorry, clients) are forced into "upgrading" as often as possible to keep the excessive money rolling in............

 

Sorry, but as you can tell I think MS licensing sucks when it comes to Schools.....

[StewartKnight]

Even Microsoft don't understand their licences....

especially virtual machines and processor sockets!