How to get Windows 7

Like many of our customers I am getting caught up in the excitement of the upcoming release of Windows 7. While I have yet to see an official release date for Windows 7, I will be surprised if it is not available before the end of the year. There are ways that you can make a purchase now and have rights to Windows 7 immediately upon release. Software Assurance grants you never version rights for any releases during your Software Assurance period. If you are within 180 days of an OEM Windows Vista Business you can add Software Assurance to your OEM license and have rights to 7 as soon as it is released. The Software Assurance on OEM also currently has a promotional price of up to 15% off. If you are outside the 180 days there are other ways that Software Assurance can be applied. Contact us for pricing or additional information.

Save 20% to 35% Exchange Server Discount

Buy Microsoft Exchange Server under Volume License agreements before June 30th 2009 and be eligible for the discount. The Discount applies to Exchange Server Standard under Open Business, Open Academic, Open Government and Open Value. Exchange Server CALs are also eligible if buying 10 or more on 1 order. Save up to 20% if you are purchasing the licenses without Software Assurance, up to 35% if purchasing the license with Software Assurance. Contact us for more information.

Comparing Licensing Options

To save money one thing that some of customers choose is OEM Software. OEM Software can defiantly save you money over Retail. In some cases OEM Software can be even lower then Open License Software. Each option has its benefits. OEM Software’s biggest benefit is price. The largest drawback to OEM Software is that once installed it is married to the hardware. Meaning if the computer fails the Software dies with it.

Retail software’s biggest benefit is that it is the only software option that includes Microsoft technical support. The biggest drawback to retail software is it is the highest priced of the software purchase options.

The last option is Open License Software. The benefits of Open License are a discounted price and volume media, which allows you to install all of your licenses with one CD and one Product Key. The only drawback is that you are required to purchase at least 5 licenses to start an Open License Agreement.

Give Vista a break

There are many people disputing the validity of Microsoft’s release that they have sold over 20 million licenses in their first month of general release. One of the big complaints about the number is it includes licenses sold to OEMs. And it should, when an OEM buys software from Microsoft it goes from Microsoft’s hands to the OEM’s hands. Microsoft counts that software as sold, the OEM is responsible for their own tracking of their business sales.

It seems that many people find it very easy to put Vista down for anything that they can find. I started thinking about it and I remember how many people thought Windows 95 looked nice, but was a bad idea. The next “bad idea” was Windows ME. Then looking back there were many people that said they would never go from Windows 2000 to Windows XP. I will admit Windows ME was not a very good OS. But 1 out of 3 tell me that odds are in Vista’s favor.

Vista 20 Million in 1 month, Linux 30 Million in 15 years

Windows Vista has sold over 20 million licenses in its first month since general release on January 30th. Windows XP sold only 17 million in its first 2 months. There has been a large amount of news about the slow upgrading to Windows Vista, but this shows that maybe the bar was just set to high. Microsoft was initially very optimistic about how fast customers would convert to Vista, but lost some optimism after the general release. This news should boost the optimism showing that Vista is in fact doing better then XP did.

I recently saw an advertisement for Linux that bragged an estimated 30 million users. It somewhat put into perspective that in 1 month Windows Vista has nearly as many users as Linux. Windows Vista continues in the line of trusted Windows operating systems and with it Microsoft will continue to dominate the OS market for years to come.

Academic Software is Great!

Microsoft has many options for academic software licensing. There is a subscription based agreement called the Campus or School Agreement. There is an open agreement call the Academic Open License Agreement. Also there is a retail option available to students and teachers.

The Campus/School Agreement is a subscription based purchasing plan. At the beginning of the year you pay for your software products for all of the systems in the school. The next year you do it again. This program is great for holding a tight budget because all of the systems are licensed at one time instead of adding licenses though the year.

The Academic Open License Agreement allows for more purchasing flexibility. It requires purchasing at least 5 licenses on your initial order, but once in the agreement additional licenses can be added at any time.

Student and Teacher software is a discounted retail box packages. The software is intended to be for school use by students or teachers. Schools can also purchase Student and Teacher software if they choose not to use a license agreement.

In order to qualify for Academic Licensing a k-12 school must be recognized by the State Department of Education. For a College or University there must be regional accreditation to qualify for the discounts. Students and Teachers are required to provide information to verify their status.

More information on Academic qualification.

An easy license option for schools

The Microsoft School Agreement provides K-12 schools with an alternative to Open Licensing. The School Agreement is a subscription based license agreement that allows schools to pay for their software one year at a time. This creates easy license compliance because all the school’s computers are covered through the term of the subscription. The School Agreement also eliminates the need to keep track of licenses because every product in the subscription is licensed to the entire school. Finally it simplifies budgeting by making 1 payment cover all of your products for 1 year.

How to license Windows Terminal Services

Licensing Windows Terminal Services can sometimes get confusing. Terminal Service is built into the Windows Server, but does require additional licenses to utilize. First you need the Server license and the appropriate number of client licenses. These client licenses can be set as per user or per device.

A per user license is a license for 1 user to access the server. A per device license is for one system to access the server. Which license would be more effective depends greatly on how people will be accessing your server.

Terminal Services also requires using a client license. The Terminal Services Client Access License allows users to connect to the Terminal Server in Windows Server. This license can also be used per user or per device.

In order to access the server the client will need to have both the Server client license and the Terminal Services client license.

Another thing to keep in mind with Terminal Services licensing is it does not effect application licenses. Applications such as Office have their own license rules.  Most applications require one license per system.  In other words if you are using a Terminal Server with Office 2007 you will need an Office 2007 license for the server and for each system that uses the software. If you have questions please feel free to contact me.

SQL Processor or CAL?

>When looking into Microsoft SQL Server licensing the first thing you need to determine is how many clients you are going to have, and how they are going to access the Server. SQL Server 2005 gives you 2 licensing options.  The first option is to license with User or Device CALs. This option is similar to licensing Windows Server or Exchange Server. The second option for SQL is to license by processor. The processor license allows for unlimited clients to access the SQL Server. This is the best option if you are going to be using SQL Server in a website. SQL is a powerful database tool, contact us to make sure you get the proper licensing to fit your needs.

Microsoft Open License

The Microsoft Open License program is designed to provide discounts to volume customers. To enroll in the program it requires a minimum purchase of 5 licenses. It does not matter what the 5 licenses consist of, for instance if you need 1 Windows Server, 1 CAL, 1 Terminal Services CAL, Windows Vista, and Office 2007, you would qualify. Open License also allows you to install multiple licenses with one media kit. For instance if you have 10 machines that need Office 2007, you would be able to use 1 CD for all of your machines instead of trying to keep track of CDs and product keys for each machine.

Microsoft also offers the Open Value licensing program, and the Open Volume licensing program.  These programs offer similar benefits to Open License and provide some other features that may or may not fit your needs. If you have any questions about which program is right for you let me know and I will be happy to go over options with you.

Best VALUE in Licensing!

Microsoft Open Value allows customers to spread their payments over 3 years. Like Microsoft Open License the initial purchase requires at least 5 licenses. For an organization just starting out, or needing a large amount of software being able to spread the payments over 5 years can help offset the financial burden of purchasing additional software.

All Licenses purchased in the Open Value program include Software Assurance. Software Assurance will not only give you upgrades as they are released. Technical Support and Training Vouchers are also included with Software Assurance.

Open Value also offers tools that allow you to easily review your licenses and ensure that all of your systems are licensed properly.

Accounting, only easier!

Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2007 is a complete accounting solution that helps small businesses save time managing everyday financial tasks, get organized, and grow their businesses online. With its familiar Microsoft Office interface, this program is easy to learn, so you can be productive right away. Smooth integration with other Microsoft Office programs makes information sharing simple and helps boost productivity.

By organizing all of your business information in one place, Office Accounting Professional 2007 helps you find the right information at the right time, so you can make better-informed business decisions. Plus, new features will help you sell products online, get paid faster, work easily with your accountant, and more.

Top Benefits
1. Seamless integration with Microsoft Office.
2. Easily sell online.
3. Get paid faster using Paypal
4. Monitor credit using Equifax.

Software Discounts! Do you qualify?

Some customers do not realize that they are eligible for discounts when they purchase software in volume. For instance with the Microsoft Open License Program gives you a discount if you buy 5 or more licenses. Adobe has offered the TLP program which does not require a minimum purchase, but gives discounts based on a point system. There are further discounts for academic, charity and government customers.

Other benefits of using a volume licensing program include the ability to install with only one media kit. If you buy a retail box product you will have to have a different CD for each computer. Under volume licensing you are able to install all of your licenses with one CD making the installation process go faster.

I will be happy to answer any volume licensing questions you have.

Stay Current! Get Software Assurance.

Software Assurance is only available through the Microsoft Open License Program. The primary reason to invest in Software Assurance is upgrade protection. Through the Open License Program Software Assurance is the only option for upgrades to most products. With the release of Microsoft Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 many customers are finding themselves without upgrade options. Other customers who made the investment in Software Assurance are already capitalizing on the new software capabilities.

There are some other benefits to Software Assurance that can prove very useful. Software Assurance provides Training Vouchers to ensure that your IT staff has the tools to deploy, maintain and support the new technologies. Also included are 24x7 Problem Resolution Support Benefits which allow you to get help and support from Microsoft 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For more information go to Microsoft Software Assurance Page.

Terminal Services

Windows Server 2003 allows users to be more productive by using Terminal Service. The Terminal Server allows users to access current applications on any device. The Terminal Server even allows lower powered machines to run more efficiently.

Terminal Server Licensing is available on a per user or per device basis. This creates flexability to ensure that you have Terminal Services to meet your organizations needs.

For more information click here.

PDF Standard

Adobe has announced plans for PDF files to become a recognized standard. For many organizations PDF file are already the standard. Becoming the formal document standard is likely to increase the number of PDF files used. Wasatch Software has Adobe Licensing available with volume discounts. Request a quote to ensure that you have all of the Adobe Software you need.

For more information on Adobe's plans to be the recognized standard.

Windows Vista and Office 2007 Available!

Microsoft Windows Vista is now available to all Microsoft customers.
Microsoft Office 2007 is also now available. Some organizations may not be ready to make the change to the new releases. Microsoft does sometimes allow customers to use a previous version with the current license. See the
Microsoft Downgrade Chart for more information. If anyone has started using Windows Vista or Office 2007 I would love to hear how it is going so far.