How SA Handles Packaging and Licensing Changes

Microsoft sometimes modifies how it packages and licenses a product, and this can affect Software Assurance (SA) upgrades. For example, Microsoft may offer new product editions or introduce new Client Access Licenses (CALs) to cover newly introduced features.

If the new offerings are not identical to the product edition or CAL on which the customer has SA, the customer typically receives rights to the “closest match” along with some other concessions. However, such concessions may still involve extra costs.

Two examples—Office suites and CALs for Exchange and Communications Server—illustrate the different ways Microsoft handles packaging and licensing transitions for SA customers.

Office. Volume licensing customers with SA for Office 2003 Professional Enterprise, the highest-level Office 2003 edition available, received rights to Office Professional Plus 2007. Microsoft deemed this to be the closest match, since Office Professional Plus 2007 contains newer versions of all seven main components in Office 2003 Professional Enterprise, plus an eighth application, Communicator 2007. However Office 2003 Professional Enterprise owners with SA did not get rights to Office 2007’s highest-level (and highest-priced) edition, Office Enterprise 2007, which contains two additional applications: Groove 2007 and OneNote 2007. To give Office 2003 SA purchasers a cost-effective way to move to Office Enterprise 2007, Microsoft offers a special license that allows an SA customer to “step up” from Office Professional Plus 2007 to Office Enterprise 2007 for the difference in the license and SA prices of the two editions. A customer without SA would have to purchase new Office Enterprise 2007 licenses if they wanted the upgrade and would not get credit for any Office licenses that they already owned.