Microsoft recently announced to solution providers that it would be implementing 10 new pricing and licensing changes for Windows Vista and Office 2007.  The company states that solution providers and end users should carefully look through these requirements before purchasing the products.

In December 2006, PCMS IT Advisor announced a new program, the License Acquisition Strategy Services Offer (LASSO) that finds and confirms the software features being used on customer sites and identifies the customer’s licensing and version status.  There are 10 pricing and licensing moves that will affect all Vista and Office 2007 customers:

1.    Price increases for upgrading Office Professional and Office Enterprise, five percent and 22 percent respectively.

2.     Office Enterprise 2007 is treated as anew product and offers Office Professional Plus 2007, OneNote and Groove that will go along with Office Standard 2007 and Office Professional Plus 2007 suites.

3.    There will be new CALs for Exchange Enterprise CAL and SharePoint Enterprise CAL.

4.    The new Enterprise CAL Suite will have all the elements of the Core CAL Suite and CALs for Office Communications Server Standard and many other programs.  

5.    Vista Enterprise will have BitLocker encryption, a multilingual capability, a new system for Unix-based applications and Virtual PC Express that can be used by only customers with Software Assurance.

6.    Only Software Assurance customers will be able to use the new Microsoft Optimization Pack and all its features in the new 2007 product.

7.    The new Professional Desktop product will be about $298 per user per year under the Enterprise Agreement that works for up to 250 users.  It has three parts:  the Core CAL; Windows Professional Desktop Upgrade; Office Professional Plus.

8.    The Enterprise desktop is $406 per user per year under the Enterprise Agreement that covers 250 users and has the following three parts:  the Core CAL; Enterprise CAL; Windows Professional Desktop Upgrade and Office Enterprise.  

9.    The Standard CAL gives users access to core server features.  Customers have to buy a Core CAL to run Enterprise CAL.

10.    The Open Value level of upgrade from Office Pro to Office Enterprise is $70 and does not include Outlook.

The new pricing and licensing issues are complicated, but PCMS IT Advisor states that many customers will get discounts between 52 percent and 69 percent if they buy an Enterprise CAL instead of just stand-alone CALs.  Solution providers and users can get more information in the linked article.  

Created By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit