Product Futures by Pool

Customers reviewing their renewal options will find it useful to look at the products they currently use, those they want to use, and what the future holds for both. This review of Microsoft’s product roadmaps looks at them by product pools, which cover the Windows desktop OS, desktop applications (including Office), and servers. (For a more complete picture of Microsoft’s product plans, see the June 2004 Directions on Microsoft Enterprise Software Roadmap. This roadmap ships semiannually to Directions subscribers.)

Note that the additional Software Assurance (SA) benefits available for products in each of these pools usually require that an organization purchase SA on all new licenses in the pool, which makes them eligible for Software Assurance Membership (SAM) benefits. For example, to get SA benefits in the applications pool, an organization must purchase SA not only on Office but also on all new licenses of OneNote, Project, Visio, and similar applications. In most cases, they cannot access these benefits if they purchase SA for only a portion of new licenses. Thus, SA renewal decisions should be considered not only by product but also by product pool.