Step-Up Licenses Offer Product Upgrades for SA Customers

Newly-introduced “step-up” licenses could lower costs for volume license customers upgrading from Standard Editions to more full-featured Professional or Enterprise Editions of Microsoft products. Step-up licenses are very similar to product upgrade licenses that were eliminated in 2001 with the advent of the Software Assurance (SA) upgrade program. Step-ups will only be available to customers who participate in SA, and could make that program more attractive by giving customers an opportunity to upgrade products at no financial penalty.

How Step-Ups Work

A step-up is a special license that allows a customer to upgrade from the Standard Edition of a product to the more expensive Enterprise or Professional Edition. The step-up is similar to the product upgrade (PUP) licenses formerly used to make the transition between editions. For example, to upgrade from Office 2000 Standard to Office 2000 Professional, a volume licensing customer could purchase a PUP for about US$89. (Note that this differs from upgrades between versions, such as from Office 2000 to Office XP, which requires a version upgrade license, now available only in retail channels.)