Additional Samples of Past Directions on Microsoft Content
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Microsoft Product Roadmap: An all-in-one product planning reference
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Microsoft Licensing [ Description
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- Business Online Services Prices Drop (Nov. 16, 2009)
- Microsoft has enhanced and cut the cost of many of its hosted services by 20% to 50%, which will improve their competitive position but affect partner compensation
- CRM Online Update, Price Change (Nov. 16, 2009)
- Dynamics CRM Online received a service update and new pricing in Nov. 2009
- Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 Available, Editions Announced (Nov. 2, 2009)
- Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4 is now available and the launch date and editions have been announced
- Volume Licenses Available for Self-Hosting (Oct. 19, 2009)
- Oct. 2009 changes to volume licensing include permitting ISVs to use such licenses to host their own applications and removal of the 30-day grace period for SA renewal when a volume agreement ends
- Free Licenses, Support for Web Platform (Sep. 28, 2009)
- The new WebsiteSpark program offers free software licenses, technical support, and other benefits to selected small Web development and design companies
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Preserves Licensing (Sep. 21, 2009)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 licensing models, product usage rules, the number of editions and differences between them, and product pricing remain almost identical to its predecessor
- Terminal Services Licensing Changes (Sep. 21, 2009)
- Licensing changes for Terminal Services, renamed Remote Desktop Services (RDS) in Windows Server 2008 R2, include new license nomenclature, merged licenses, price increases, and new licensing options
- System Center Essentials Management Suite (Sep. 21, 2009)
- A new licensing package available from Microsoft through OEMs combines systems management and virtualization software in a suite aimed at small to midsize businesses
- Services Provider Licensing Updated (Sep. 21, 2009)
- Changes to the Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) give third-party hosters and ISVs more flexibility, lower prices, and a broader range of Microsoft products that they can host
- Financing Provider Expands (Sep. 7, 2009)
- Microsoft Financing has expanded its relationship with De Lage Landen Financial Services, a vendor financing provider, to cover more countries
- Windows Anytime Upgrade in Windows 7 (Aug. 31, 2009)
- Customers needing advanced features of Windows 7 may be able to use the Windows Anytime Upgrade to get a higher edition
- Management Suite Licensing Changes (Aug. 24, 2009)
- A second type of System Center Server Management Suite license differs in the number of virtual machines that can be managed on a server and whether licenses are allocated per-device or per-processor
- New Enrollments Provide Broad Server Licensing (Aug. 24, 2009)
- The Enrollment for Application Platform and Enrollment for Core Infrastructure are two approaches to broad server licensing for midmarket and enterprise customers
- Windows 7 Upgrade Options Trimmed (Jul. 20, 2009)
- Large organizations that buy new PCs in the second half of 2009 will need to purchase upgrades to get rights to Windows 7
- Azure Pricing, Release Date Announced (Jul. 20, 2009)
- Pricing for the Windows Azure Platform for cloud computing and a Nov. 2009 release date were announced in July 2009
- Licensing for Microsoft Online Services (Jul. 6, 2009)
- User Subscription Licenses and Subscription Services Licenses are used for Microsoft Online Services, but their integration with on-premise licenses is still a work in progress
- Windows 7 Modifies License Rights (Jun. 22, 2009)
- Some license rights will change in Windows 7, including the right to downgrade to Windows XP
- Software Licensing Platform Relaunched (Jun. 22, 2009)
- Software Licensing and Protection (SLP) Services, a service used by ISVs to prevent unauthorized application use and protect intellectual property, is being relaunched by start-up company InishTech
- Software Rentals Legalized (May 4, 2009)
- Rental rights could reduce piracy in emerging markets and give customers in all markets more flexibility in how they purchase hardware and software
- Evaluating Software Assurance (May 4, 2009)
- Software Assurance (SA), Microsoft's subscription-based software maintenance plan, provides product version updates, support, training, and various other benefits
- Spread Payments, Discounts for Dynamics (May 4, 2009)
- Dynamics customers can spread payments over three years with no interest charges through new licensing options announced in Apr. 2009
- OS, Enterprise Licenses and Upgrades Heavily Discounted (Apr. 20, 2009)
- Responding to sagging markets, Microsoft is offering a broad variety of discounts on business licenses
- Looking Ahead to Licensing Windows 7 (Mar. 23, 2009)
- Customers planning upgrades to Windows 7 can take steps today, such as purchasing Software Assurance upgrade rights on new PCs, that can reduce the total cost of upgrading
- New Volume Pricing Planned for Midmarket (Feb. 23, 2009)
- New pricing for Open Value will make it easier for midmarket customers to enjoy the deep discounts of Enterprise Agreements, without abandoning their current resellers
- Fee Changes Push LARs to Midmarket (Feb. 23, 2009)
- Changes to fees earned by Large Account Resellers (LARs) indicate Microsoft's growing concern about the LAR channel and Enterprise Agreements, but could have a negative effect on the resellers
- Windows 7 Editions Announced (Feb. 9, 2009)
- Windows 7 will have as many editions as Vista, but each higher edition will be a superset of the next-lower edition, eliminating one point of confusion, and Microsoft's marketing will focus on only three editions
- Agreement Licenses Servers Enterprisewide (Jan. 26, 2009)
- The Application Platform Agreement (APA), a little-known licensing option now being offered to more customers, can help large organizations budget for Microsoft platform servers, including SQL Server
- OS License Change Aids Consolidation (Jan. 19, 2009)
- Windows Server 2008 Client Access Licenses (CALs) are no longer automatically required whenever Windows Server 2008 is used to host virtual machines
- Changing Demands on Large Account Resellers (Nov. 17, 2008)
- Pressure from Microsoft and the shift to online services sold directly to customers or through a broad range of partners are squeezing Microsoft's Large Account Resellers(LARs)
- Software Licensing Platform Discontinued (Oct. 27, 2008)
- Software Licensing and Protection (SLP) Services, a service used by third-party ISVs to prevent unauthorized application use and protect intellectual property, is being discontinued
- Open Plans Support Tactical Buying (Oct. 20, 2008)
- Open volume licensing plans are aimed at smaller customers, although they can be used by enterprises and have become more complex over time
- New Packaged Services for SA (Oct. 13, 2008)
- Consulting services focused on Exchange deployments and 'business value' have been added to the list of Packaged Services available with Software Assurance
- New Virtualized Desktop Scenarios Licensed (Oct. 6, 2008)
- Starting in Jan. 2009, Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) subscriptions will provide an officially sanctioned way to license a greater variety of virtualization scenarios than is possible today
- Server OS Rules Limit Virtualization Options (Sep. 22, 2008)
- New rules affecting the mobility of virtual machines within a data center could have an impact on how data centers are designed
- Licensing Windows Server (Sep. 15, 2008)
- OS server licenses come in several editions, and the precise licensing model and rights granted vary by edition--especially related to hardware virtualization
- Evaluating Enterprise Agreements (Aug. 18, 2008)
- An Enterprise Agreement eases desktop license management and offers great discounts, but is not best for every company and requires careful analysis
- Server Virtualization Rules Relaxed (Aug. 18, 2008)
- Changes to virtualization licensing rules will make it much easier to create dynamic and automated data centers, although the rules don't apply to all Microsoft products
- Licensing the Windows Client (Aug. 18, 2008)
- Outlines the licenses and subscriptions organizations must acquire from Microsoft to provide a Windows desktop to users under the most common desktop architectural scenarios
- Partners Get Commissions on Microsoft-Hosted Services (Jul. 21, 2008)
- Outlines the monthly per-user prices for Microsoft-hosted services: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Server Online, and Live Meeting
- Select Plus Eases License Management (Jul. 7, 2008)
- Select Plus, a new volume licensing program based on the longstanding Select program, makes it easier for large customers to manage multiple agreements, but introduces new variables in purchase planning
- Pooling, Multiplexing Changes Complicate Upgrades (May 26, 2008)
- Licensing rules for multiplexing and pooling, technologies that can reduce the number of users directly accessing Microsoft servers, are complex and in some cases undocumented
- Deployment Planning Benefits Modified (Apr. 21, 2008)
- The number of deployment planning days has increased for customers who purchase Software Assurance on desktop applications and Client Access Licenses
- Retail Vista Price Reductions (Mar. 10, 2008)
- The price for stand-alone consumer versions of Windows Vista will decrease when SP1 enters the retail channel, but as OEMs sell the most licenses, the effect will be muted
- Pre-Owned Licenses for Transfer (Mar. 10, 2008)
- A new approach to transferring licenses gets around Microsoft rules prohibiting the resale of volume licenses and could open a substantial market for pre-owned licenses
- Vista Home Virtualization Permitted (Feb. 25, 2008)
- An ongoing debate about virtualization with consumer versions of Vista finally gets resolved with a decision to permit it
- CRM 4.0 Updates Licensing, Pricing (Feb. 25, 2008)
- CRM 4.0 prices are unchanged for organizations supporting more than 75 users, but Microsoft has eliminated the low-cost CRM edition aimed at customers with less than 75 users
- CRM Prices Drop for Hosters (Feb. 25, 2008)
- A price cut in CRM 4.0 reduces operating costs for hosting partners, but the introduction of CRM Live, Microsoft's cut-rate customer relationship management service, adds another challenge
- Licenses Push Unified Communications Marketing (Feb. 18, 2008)
- Product licensing plays a key role in Microsoft's sales and marketing strategy for its unified communications product set
- Open License Subscriptions Available (Jan. 21, 2008)
- A new subscription software plan for small customers could preserve cash flow and encourage them to buy more Microsoft software
- Windows Server 2008 Packaging, Licensing, Pricing (Jan. 21, 2008)
- The most commonly sold packages of Windows Server 2008 will include Hyper-V virtualization technology, and a new virtualization product will also make the technology available stand-alone
- Campus and School Agreements Amended (Dec. 17, 2007)
- Academic subscription licensing has been updated to give institutions more flexibility
- Vista Enterprise Options Reduced (Nov. 19, 2007)
- Virtualization on Blade PCs is all but prohibited, and the right to swap Vista Enterprise for Ultimate is curtailed
- VS Source Code, Licensing Changes (Nov. 12, 2007)
- Changes in the license terms for the Visual Studio IDE, along with read-only access to the source code, could help partners build add-ons
- Configuration Manager Licenses More Costly, Restrictive (Oct. 22, 2007)
- Configuration Manager 2007 splits the management licenses for servers into Standard and Enterprise versions, requires virtual machines to be licensed separately, and fills out management licensing suites
- Management Costs Rise for Virtual Machines (Oct. 22, 2007)
- Management tools, such as Operations Manager and Configuration Manager, will now be licensed per operating system environment rather than per device, substantially raising prices for virtualized systems
- Licensing Contract, Rules (Oct. 8, 2007)
- Volume licensing contracts are getting shorter, and multiple Web sites for license management will be consolidated
- SA Becoming General-Purpose Subscription Service (Aug. 20, 2007)
- Software Assurance, introduced as an upgrade rights program in 2001, has evolved into a broader maintenance program, and is now becoming a license to license other Microsoft software and services
- Communications Server 2007 Packaging, Licensing, Pricing (Aug. 13, 2007)
- Details the various server licenses and Client Access Licenses (CALs) required to implement a real-time communications system built on Office Communications Server 2007 and Communicator 2007
- CRM Service Pricing, Schedule (Jul. 23, 2007)
- Dynamics Live CRM, an online customer relationship management service from Microsoft, will be available commercially in early 2008
- Vista Virtualization Change Reversed (Jul. 16, 2007)
- On the verge of relaxing virtualization rules for the use of Windows Vista in virtual machines, Microsoft changed course
- Forefront Client Security Subscription Licensing (Jun. 25, 2007)
- Forefront Client Security uses a subscription rather than a perpetual license, and customers should be aware of the full costs and commitments of subscription licensing
- Desktop Use Rights Expanded (May 21, 2007)
- Volume customers can now install Microsoft's desktop applications multiple times on the same device, making it much easier for organizations to use desktop virtualization
- Operations Manager 2007 Packaging, Licensing, Pricing (May 21, 2007)
- Although the cost of monitoring server machines with Operations Manager 2007 remains about the same, there is a huge price break for monitoring devices that run nonserver OSs
- Virtualization Licensing Adapts to New Challenges (May 21, 2007)
- Significant changes to licensing of Microsoft software in virtual machines will help customers adopt virtualization technologies, although licensing and technical challenges remain
- New License for Dynamics Snap, Portal Applications (May 14, 2007)
- A new license plan will lower the cost of deploying Snap and portal applications for Dynamics AX but could increase the cost of the other Dynamics portal applications
- New Licensing Options for Desktop OS (Apr. 23, 2007)
- Changes to Windows OS licensing reflect new deployment technologies, including use of network and virtual OS images
- Licensing Advisor Updated (Feb. 26, 2007)
- The Product Licensing Advisor, Microsoft's main pricing site for volume customers, gains additional features aimed at sales and promotion
- Enterprise CAL Suite Reduces Complexity, at a Price (Jan. 29, 2007)
- The Enterprise CAL Suite will help customers buy a plethora of new server licenses, but it also marks an era of increasing costs for the latest Microsoft technologies
- Office UI Licenses Available (Dec. 18, 2006)
- Developers who want to make applications that look like Office 2007 can get a free license from Microsoft, but it provides no code-only the rights to use Microsoft's patents, copyrights, and other intellectual property
- Dynamics ERP Licensing for Hosters (Dec. 18, 2006)
- New licensing rules will make Microsoft's ERP applications available to hosting services providers on a subscription basis, but the company has not said it will host those applications itself
- Exchange 2007 Packaging, Licensing, and Pricing (Dec. 4, 2006)
- Feature differences between the Standard and Enterprise Editions of Exchange Server 2007 as well as the Standard CAL and Enterprise CAL; pricing and other details for these licenses
- Vista EULA Revised (Nov. 20, 2006)
- Rules that restricted the transfer of retail Vista licenses to new machines have been modified, following an outcry from hardware enthusiasts
- Product Activation Comes to Business (Nov. 6, 2006)
- To stop pirates from using misappropriated volume license keys to circumvent Windows activation, all customers—including volume license customers—will have to activate Windows Vista and Longhorn Server
- Desktop Management Applications Become Subscriptions (Oct. 23, 2006)
- Desktop utilities acquired through several 2006 acquisitions—AssetMetrix, DesktopStandard, Softricity, and Winternals—will be available only to Software Assurance customers and only as the Desktop Optimization Pack
- Dynamics Licensing Plan Tweaked (Oct. 16, 2006)
- Minor updates to Business Ready Licensing, the packaging plan for Dynamics enterprise resource planning products, increase volume discounts on client licenses and add functionality to the plan's entry-level package
- Software Asset Management Makes Waves (Sep. 11, 2006)
- Pushing software asset management engagements on customers who may not be compliant with Microsoft licensing rules has had mixed results
- New Dynamics Licensing Includes Free CRM (Aug. 21, 2006)
- Business Ready Licensing eliminates per-module Dynamics pricing and simplifies the Enhancement Plan maintenance contract, but customers may find themselves licensing Dynamics modules that they do not need
- SA Supports Legacy Hardware (Jul. 31, 2006)
- A slimmed-down edition of Windows XP is now available for Software Assurance customers to extend the life of their legacy hardware
- Management Licenses Modified, Bundled (Apr. 24, 2006)
- The license required for devices managed by Microsoft Operations Manager has been split into Standard and Enterprise Editions, and a new licensing bundle combines device licenses for several management servers
- New Software Assurance Benefits Rolled Out (Apr. 3, 2006)
- Software Assurance benefits get another boost, with better technical support and new desktop deployment planning services
- Client Access Licenses Split Server Features (Feb. 20, 2006)
- Customers will require more than one CAL to access the full feature set of some Microsoft servers, complicating customers' choices and possibly raising prices
- License Advisor Updated (Feb. 20, 2006)
- An online product licensing guide has been updated to include more countries, more volume licensing programs, and links to product use rights
Microsoft OrgChart: Diagrams top 700+ Microsoft executives
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- View past version of our OrgChart in poster (graphic) or outline form.
Research: In-depth reports on key Microsoft technologies and initiatives
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Update: Timely analysis of the latest Microsoft news
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| Table of Contents |
Sample Articles |
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November 2008
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Windows Successor Requires Additional Research
SQL Server 2008 Improves Auditing, Change Tracking
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October 2008
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Licensing Windows Server
Windows Campaign Focuses on Hardware, Retail
|
| September 2008 |
Evaluating Enterprise Agreements
Five Businesses Plan for FY'09 |
| August 2008 |
Partners Get Commissions on Microsoft-Hosted Services
Asset Inventory Service Aids License Management |
| July 2008 |
Software Plus Services and Developers
Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Supports Hyper-V |
| June 2008 |
Systems Management Product Roadmap
Pooling, Multiplexing Changes Complicate Upgrades |
| May 2008 |
Application Compatibility May Slow Server Adoption
Advertising Group Focuses Beyond Search |
| April 2008 |
Online Business Services Aim at Broad Market
Management, Security Products Need Updates for New OS |
| March 2008 |
ASP.NET Extensions Previewed
Yahoo Acquisition Proposed |
| February 2008 |
Windows Server 2008 Packaging, Licensing, Pricing
Raikes Retiring from Business Division |
| January 2008 |
Putting the 'Windows' in Windows Live
Partner Labs Tighten Relationships |
| December 2007 |
Windows Server 2008 Controls Network Access
Solution Plans Define Enterprise Partner Relationships |
| November
2007 |
Management Costs Rise for Virtual Machines
Free Online Collaboration Service Planned |
| October
2007 |
Windows Server, Service Packs Due in 2008
EU Appeal Fails and Other Legal News |
| September 2007 |
Early Adoption Programs Aid Product Development
Five Businesses Steady into FY'08 |
| August 2007 |
Visual Studio 2008: A First Look
Optimization Model Structures Sales Efforts |
| July 2007 |
Windows Media Platform Less Strategic
Managed Services Strategy Broadens |
| June
2007 |
System Center Product Roadmap
Operations Manager 2007 Packaging, Licensing, Pricing |
| May
2007 |
Next Windows Server Takes Shape
Dynamics Consolidation Plans Intact |
| April
2007 |
SharePoint 2007 Tweaks Portals, Administration
Digital Media Advances in Vista |
| March 2007 |
SharePoint 2007 Improves Enterprise Search
Exchange Gets Developer Overhaul |
| February 2007 |
Exchange 2007 Assists Regulatory Compliance
Focus Moves Beyond PC at CES 2007 |
| January
2007 |
New File Formats in Office 2007
Office Live Offers Simple Collaboration, Applications |