Category: licensing

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OCS Licensing changes coming with next version


It appears that there will be an extra CAL (Client Access Licence) for users to choose from when Microsoft OCS Server 14  is released in 2010.

On top of the current Standard and Enterprise CALs, there will also be a Voice CAL which will offer telephony & VOIP services. These features will be removed from the Enterprise CAL and thus the Enterprise CAL will drop in price by around 23%. Also, MS are allowing current OCS customers with SA (Software Assurance) to “grandfather” in the new Voice CAL-if they agree to buy it before July 2009.

Hat Tip to Mary Jo Foley

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Compare SQL Editions


SQL has perhaps more separate flavours than any other Microsoft product (save Office) and this certainly has the potential to confuse people, both end users and sales people. To help with this, I thought I’d do a quick post highlighting the different editions and the differences between them. To be honest, this isn’t much more than reposting what’s on the Microsoft site but often it’s finding the info on their site that’s the hard part 🙂

The main differences between the different version are the number of CPU’s they can work with and how much RAM they can address, this ranges from 1 to 256 and 1GB to 2TB. There are of course other differences and more in-depth info can be found via the links below.

sql-comparison 

The different editions are:

SQL Standard: SQL Server 2008 Standard is a data management and business intelligence platform that provides best-in-class ease of use and manageability for running departmental applications. More info.

SQL Enterprise: SQL Server 2008 Enterprise is a comprehensive data platform that meets the high demands of enterprise online transaction processing and data warehousing applications. More info.

SQL Workgroup: Run branch locations on this reliable data management and reporting platform that provides secure remote synchronization and management capabilities. More info.

SQL Web: Offer low-cost, large scale highly available web applications or data hosting solutions with a highly available Internet facing web serving environments. More Info.

SQL Developer: A low cost edition of SQL Server 2008 Enterprise licensed per developer for development, testing, and demonstration purposes only. Not for production use. More info.

Most people in corporate situations find themselves having to choose between SQL Std and SQL Enterprise so here is a detailed comparison pdf.SQL2008_Std_vs_Ent

Trials and more for the above editions can be found here.

There are also two free versions of SQL available:

SQL Express: Available as a free download, SQL Server 2008 Express is ideal for learning and building desktop and small server applications and for re-distribution by ISVs. Download here. More info.

SQL Compact Edition 3.5: Available as a free download, SQL Server Compact enables developers to embed SQL Server directly into their applications, enabling occasionally connected and stand-alone applications for mobile devices, desktops, and Web clients across all Microsoft Windows platforms. Download here. More info.

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Windows 7 Enterprise SKU


As we all know, there are going to be a number of different version of Windows 7 and, as with Vista, I’m particularly interested to see what extra features/benefits customers will receive if they get the Enterprise SKU. Luckily, Gavriella Schuster over at Windows Team Blog has a post about just that 🙂

As with Vista, the Enterprise SKU is only available to customers who have current Software Assurance (SA) on their desktop OS licences and/or buy new licence with SA. The list of Enterprise Specific features includes:

DirectAccess:This is one feature that I’m really excited by. Being able to get rid of or at least reduce the dependency on, VPN’s would be a huge boost for the vast majority of corporate customers I speak to; and I think this could well be the big driving force that pushed people towards this top end licence.

BranchCache: Helps reduce branch office connectivity problems and network speeds by caching information on local servers.

Enterprise Search Scopes: allows IT administrators to populate links to the commonly used internal sites — for example, SharePoint sites – to the Windows Explorer UI or to the Start menu or in Windows 7, using Group Policy.

BitLocker & BitLocker to Go: protect data on PCs and removable drives, with manageability to enforce encryption and backup of recovery keys. BitLocker to Go extends this to removal USB drives.

AppLocker: is a flexible, easy-to-use mechanism that enables IT professionals to specify exactly what is allowed to run on user desktops. It restricts unauthorized software while allowing applications, installation programs, and scripts that users need. This is also an excellent new feature, controlling what users do on their desktops can be the hardest part of Corporate IT and this goes a long way to making Admin’s lives much easier 🙂

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Optimizations: Windows 7 provides for better user experience in VDI scenarios, with better graphics, audio and local device support.

Multi Lingual User Support: the Language Packs in Windows 7 Enterprise enable you to support up to 36 different languages using a single Windows master image, rather than creating a separate image for each language used in the organization. This will makes things much easier for customers that have centralised IT across Europe and/or companies that have various nationalities in one office (like our HQ).

Also, the allowance to run 4 virtual instances of the desktop OS is still included along with the Sub-System for Unix Apps and it includes the rights to network boot Windows.

I don’t think the uptake of Vista Enterprise has taken the world by storm and I imagine it is lower that MS hoped but I think that will all change with Windows 7. The main reason our clients consider Vista Enterprise is for the virtual licences and that’s it but Windows 7 Enterprise offers a number of good reasons to pay the extra cost.

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Windows 7 versions


As with Vista, there are going to be various versions of Windows 7, according to CNET:

“Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Unlike with Vista, however, the Home Basic version will be sold only in emerging markets.”

I’m a huge fan of Windows 7 and also a big fan of Vista AND my job mainly revolves around Microsoft licensing-but even I think all these version is overkill. It confuses people and makes them apprehensive about buying a new licence-and people often hate what they don’t understand; I really think all these extra versions were a big part of Vista’s problem. It also makes it much more likely that people will buy a version of the OS that doesn’t include all the features they want and while MS have gone some way to combat this feature disparity (I.e. Pro will include Media Center), it isn’t perfect.

It seems a lot of people have been worrying that they wouldn’t be able eligible for an upgrade licence unless they were running Vista, but that of course isn’t the case. All those XP users are perfectly able to purchase the Upgrade SKU to their chosen Windows 7 version.

That said, the beta of Windows 7 is fantastic and you should definitely look at upgrading as soon as it’s available 🙂

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Performance Point Server killed off?


Performance Point Server (PPS) has been part of the Microsoft product portfolio for a while now but, as far as I can tell, it hasn’t really made much of an impact. It’s been the top-end, full featured Business Intelligence (BI) product but the uptake hasn’t been amazing and MS announce there won’t be another standalone version of PPS, making Performance Point Server 2007 the last.

A lot of clients I work with who you would expect to jump on PPS have stayed away and they aren’t the only ones. The impression I get is that most people are unsure about Microsoft’s credentials in this part of the BI arena; they’re not sure that PPS will stack up against competitors such as SAP (Business Objects), Oracle (Hyperion) and IBM (Cognos) when it gets to the nitty gritty high end enterprise features. PPS isn’t cheap-coming in at around 17K-and when companies invest at that kind of level, they need to be completely confident they will get the best possible return on their investment.

However, this isn’t the end for Performance Point Server, or at least it’s component parts. As expected the scorecarding, dashboard and analytics features will all be folded into Sharepoint 14 (due this year/early 2010) and the new “Performance Point Services for Sharepoint” will be available via the Enterprise CAL.

I think this is a really good idea and will certainly increase peoples usage of MS BI and thus help increase their market share. The proliferation of MOSS 2007 (Sharepoint) throughout all market sectors means an amazing amount of people will have much easier access to these tools. It will make it yet another compelling reason for people to make the move to Sharepoint and for those that already have (but didn’t take Software Assurance)-a good reason to upgrade. By removing a product from the portfolio it looks like MS will increase the use of that product as well as grow it’s (Sharepoint) revenue at the same time…good skills 🙂

From the official statement:

“Additionally, in the summer of 2009, we will release ‘Service Pack 3′ for PerformancePoint Server 2007, which will include updates to the Planning module. From there we will focus our development on the new monitoring and analytic capabilities in ‘PerformancePoint Services for SharePoint’ and will not offer standalone versions of PerformancePoint Server.”

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Office for Sales: New Office 14 Product


It seems there will be a new component of Office 14, Office for Sales.

Mary Jo Foley has some info from Alpha Testers that shows: 

  • It’s an end-to-end CRM product that will incorporate both software and services components
  • The product is based on and hooked inextricably into SharePoint Server
  • Developers will be able to customize the system to integrate with third-party products, like Siebel CRM
  • Features include the ability to store customer information in Outlook; maintenance of a centralized Sales Center SharePoint site; the creation of sales communities; and support for “sales interaction management” (SIM)

It seems that Sharepoint Server 14 will offer offline support and this will be available with Office for Sales too.

To me, as a Microsoft reseller, this is pretty exciting. It’s going to give a lot of companies a real reason to upgrade to Office 14, which to be honest I feel was missing somewhat from Office 2007. It should also allow resellers that don’t work in the Dynamics/CRM arena to offer CRM services and support to their customers. The fact that it is tightly hooked in to Sharepoint should also help drive further adoption of that technology.

I think this should turn out to be another great move from MS, which will help their partners and customers become more successful, as well as showing that Redmond is still innovating and pushing forwards. I’m looking forward to Office 14 more all the time and this certainly helps 😉

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Free Vista to Windows 7 Upgrades


Tech ARP are reporting that Microsoft plan to offer free upgrades to Windows 7 to customers purchasing new Vista machines as 1st of July 2009, a great indicator of the timescale until release.

They appear to have obtained a copy of the draft proposal that was sent to OEM’s in December, outlining Microsoft’s proposal for this scheme. It includes info such as:

The only Windows Vista® versions eligible for the program are :

  1. Windows Vista® Home Premium
  2. Windows Vista® Business
  3. Windows Vista® Ultimate

* Microsoft Windows Vista® Home Basic, Windows Vista® Starter Edition, and Windows® XP (all editions) are not qualifying products under the program.
 

and

“The Program does not support multiple upgrades for medium, large, or enterprise customers. Customers that want to upgrade multiple PCs should use the appropriate Microsoft Volume Licensing program.”

so this is clearly aimed at consumers and small businesses.

Thanks to Mary Jo Foley for posting this first…

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Comparison


Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 still has the usual 2 versions of the server product, but it now also comes with two versions of CALs, Std and Enterprise. Here I hope to highlight the main differences between the 2 servers editions and also explain why there are more CALs, how they differ and when you’ll need them.

Exchange Server 2007 comes in both Standard and Enterprise versions, as did previous versions of the product. Standard is aimed at the small to medium business while Enterprise is for the larger companies that need the increased functionality.

Exchange Server 2007 Edition Offerings

Feature

Standard Edition

Enterprise Edition

Storage Group Support

5 storage groups

50 storage groups

Database Support

5 databases

50 databases

Database Storage Limit

16 TB per database

16 TB per database

Single Copy Clusters

Not supported

Supported

Local Continuous Replication

Supported

Supported

Cluster Continuous Replication

Not supported

Supported

Standby Continuous Replication ***

Supported

Supported

***Offered via Service Pack 1

As you can see, the Enterprise Edition is aimed at the higher end companies who have many thousands of users and/or require high levels of redundancy via the clustering options.

The CALs also come in Standard and Enteprise Editions, but they can be used with either server version so you can have Std Server with Enterprise CALs, an Enterprise Server with Standard CALs or a mixture of the two.

The Standard CAL(surprisingly!) offers the standard functionality you’d expect from Microsoft Exchange- access to email, shared calendars and Outlook Web Access (OWA).

The Enterprise CAL is an additive meaning it must sit on top of an already purchased Standard CAL. The Enterprise CAL offers extra features including Unified Communications and ForeFront Security. A full comparison can be found here.

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Microsoft Project Edition Comparison


Microsoft Project is a very popular, industry wide Project Planning tool that comes in 2 basic forms, Standard Edt and Professional Edt. As with most Microsoft products, there are various differences between the 2 versions that can make all the difference when deciding which one to buy for you & your company.

One of the main differences is collaboration. Standard is a stand alone product for Project Managers that do not need to collaborate and work with others on projects; while Project Pro allows people to collaborate across enterprises via Project Server (which is a separate product).

The Microsoft Comparison Chart shows the features of the different versions (including Web Access) side by side to help make your decision a little easier.

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Microsoft Office 2007 Edition Comparison


With the current 2007 release, there are a number of different versions of Microsoft Office. They all contain different products and they all come with different price tags so making sure you pick the right one is definitely important.

The full comparison chart for the different versions of Office can be found here but I’m going to cover the main differences below.

What are the different editions?

There are 5 separate version of Microsoft Office 2007 and these are:

The first thing to note is that ALL the versions include Word, Powerpoint & Excel. If those three applications are all you need, then Standard is the best edition for you as it is the cheapest*, and Standard also includes Outlook, as do all the version other than Home & Student. (*This is assuming you’re licensing this within a Corporate environment, as Home & Student isn’t valid for business use.)

  • Access is only available with Pro & Ultimate.
  • OneNote is included only with Home & Student and Ultimate.
  • Small Business includes Accounting Express.
  • Groove & InfoPath are included with Ultimate only.
  • Office Home & Student allows for installation on up to 3 devices in the same household via retail, but not OEM (pre-installed).

Applications such as Access, OneNote, InfoPath, Outlook and Groove can all be purchased separately to work alongside an existing office installation. So for example, you could buy Office Standard and then get OneNote separately.

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