Software giant's new licence tool

Microsoft has officially unveiled the terms of its new Software Assurance subscription maintenance scheme, taking the opportunity to drop in a ready-reckoner tool to help firms select licences.

The tool is officially called the Microsoft Product Licensing Advisor and is intended to help firms navigate the complex licence schemes. "There has been a big call-out from [chief executive] Steve Ballmer to deliver transparency of terms and this lets a customer play around with the licences to see how their licence is made out," said Ram Dhaliwal, Microsoft licensing programme manager.

Dhaliwal added that Microsoft has reduced the number of product licensing models from 70 to nine, and rewritten terms to reduce legal jargon. Microsoft is also making a return-on-investment tool from Forrester Research available on its web site.

Some watchers believe that the new terms – including exclusive access to the Enterprise version of Windows Vista with volume encryption features, and preferential terms for companies offering software to staff for use at home – will attract more organisations to the subscription models.

"Now that Microsoft has chosen to make certain desirable operating system functions and capabilities exclusively available through Software Assurance (SA), many customers who have not bought SA will need to re-evaluate," Gartner analysts wrote.