Updated: July 10, 2020 (July 6, 2009)
Analyst ReportLicensing for Microsoft Online Services
The shift from perpetual licenses that require a one-time payment to subscription licenses that require an annual payment is a major goal for Microsoft because of the ongoing (and often larger) revenue that they generate. Like most services, Microsoft Online Services are purchased as annual subscriptions that license services, users of those services, and sometimes devices that use services. Microsoft offers discounts for customers who use both online services and more traditional on-premise server software and devices, but in most cases users are likely to use one or the other, not both.
Online Services for Business Users
Microsoft offers online services for consumers (such as Hotmail), developers (such as the Windows Azure platform), server management and security (such as Forefront), and business users (such as Exchange Online). This article focuses on the last category of services, sold as Microsoft Online Services, which today includes hosted versions of the following servers:
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