Woody Walton   I commonly encounter partners that buy and then resell Microsoft OEM licensing, especially Windows Server and the Windows Client.   The typical reason for this is usually price, but the ease of purchase also comes into play.  There certainly is a measure of convenience...

B  V  A The Big Easy Offer 10: Customers get an opportunity to earn subsidy payouts on eligible Microsoft volume license purchases that can be applied towards future purchases of Microsoft software or associated services from their Microsoft partner of choice. · Offer valid purchase period...

    Woody Walton   When it comes to Microsoft licensing, most know that it is necessarily or unnecessarily complex depending on who you are! And although I am by title a Partner Technology Advisor, my support of Microsoft partners in the transaction process expose me to a lot of licensing...

Tim Tetrick As part of our updated Office 365 services rollout (see the recent blog post from Steve Ballmer), I wanted to provide you with a heads up on some key changes coming to the E (Enterprise) and K (Kiosk) plans.  First, Office Web Apps is being added to the E1 and K1 plans.  Currently...

By Ron Grattopp …. So in my previous blog post I gave you the rest of the story around Windows RT which includes Office Home & Student 2013 RT (Office RT), but what I didn’t call out specifically, that you need to know, is that Office RT is NOT designed or licensed out-of-the-box for “commercial...

Josh Condie - Practice Accelerator is a Microsoft offering designed to help partners build a technical services practice around Microsoft solutions. Practice Accelerator is a comprehensive set of reusable tools, resources, and best practices introduced in training delivered via Microsoft Live Meeting...

If you haven’t been keeping up with the current promotion announcements – don’t let these two pass you by! Microsoft has just announced the fall lineup of subsidy rebate promotions for customers: Big Easy 9 Cloud Easy Re-launch Q: What is a Subsidy Rebate Promotion? A: Our subsidy rebate promotions are...

  By Ron Grattopp ….We are rapidly approaching the public launch (GA) of Windows 8, when it becomes available to all customers, including retail and OEM.  At which time we will also see a spate of new devices running Windows 8 on form factors from small tablets all the way up to large-screen...

B  V  A I recently saw some interesting information out on the web on Windows Server 2012 and wanted to make sure everybody understands our licensing changes.  We are NOT moving to core licensing with Windows Server 2012! You can stack additional licenses on top of each other to add virtual...

Woody Walton From time to time I get a question from a partner on SPLA licensing. With the Service Provider License Agreement, or SPLA, service providers and ISVs can license Microsoft products on a monthly basis, during a three-year agreement term, to host software services and applications to...

Josh Condie – Yesterday, Microsoft announced Office 365 for Government.  This represents a great opportunity for our SMB partner community, especially at the local and regional government level.  Small State and Local Government entities are the perfect candidates for secure and private cloud...

Rob Waggoner I get this question pretty often when I talk about the benefits of Open Value. Open Value provides ongoing benefits that go far beyond just the software license.  Check out my video where I talk about the additional benefits our customers and partners can realize from Open Value.  ...

Josh Condie – The Online Services Partner Update Newsletter is a great resource for the evolving world of resources (demo environments, pre-sales, etc.), programs and support for both new and mature Microsoft Online Services partners.  I highly encourage you to subscribe below, if you haven’t already...

Q: (from Aja) What courses are available as part of the eLearning benefit delivered as part of Software Assurance?   A: It took a little searching, but off of the www.microsoft.com/licensing site, I went to the Software Assurance page, selected Training benefits, and the eLearning page: http://www...

This is the gist of questions I see frequently from partners; “How do I license Microsoft XYZ?” Although I live with our products, I rarely have what I would call an authoritative answer off the top of my head; I usually have to look it up myself. Let me help you cut out the middleman (me) and tell you...

  Woody Walton I live in Kansas City.  If you are from the Mid West too, you know there are not as many “live” Microsoft events coming to town as in say New York or L.A with maybe the exception of perhaps Chicago or Dallas.   So  for those of you you in the Twin Cities and Houston...

Rob Waggoner     If you need to pass either of the MCP Licensing exams, we have some very good preparation content on the Partner Portal that can help you get ready.  The exams I’m talking about are: 70-671 Designing and Providing Microsoft Volume Licensing Solutions to Small and Medium...

by Ron Grattopp….. This is an exciting customer offer designed to encourage customers to act now on BPOS and to help partners drive online services adoption . This offer will run from February 1 through April 1, 2011. Qualifying customers can receive up to the equivalent of 50% of their first annual...

Q: (from Dan) Can you confirm what the minimum amount of Microsoft technology involved in a Microsoft Finance agreement? It used to be one Microsoft product but then switched to a significant percentage of the total dollar amount.   A: I want to start by confirming that Microsoft Financing will...

Woody Walton   Happy Holidays all!   I wanted to drop you a note and let you in on a promotion that is forthcoming.  On January 3rd we will launch the BIG CASH SWEEPSTAKES! Remember, you cannot win if you do not play! You can find out more at the link in the abstract below. Ring in the...

Q: (from Jeff) The last time you spoke with us, delivering Office 2010 VL training you mentioned that Home Use Rights is a new feature in Open Business VL with Software Assurance. We were recently told by a licensing specialist that Home Use Rights is a feature of Open Value with Software Assurance....

    Start Date: October 25, 2010 End Date: December 31, 2010 Target Audience: Small and M idsize Organizations Market Segments: Commercial and Local Government Organizations Products Included: • Designer and Developer Tools • Dynamics ® CRM (Open Value & OVS) • Microsoft Exchange® Server...

Use this promotion to capture expiring annuity revenue for small- and medium-business (SMB) customers by offering a cost-effective way to upgrade to the Windows 7 operating system and Microsoft Office 2010. The Microsoft Open Value Subscription program up-to-date discount for existing desktop platform...

Q: (from Jeff) I’ve got a customer who will be typically using Office from their Terminal Services (RDS) farm. But if there are connectivity problems, they want the option of running Office locally. Do they need to license Office with Software Assurance. A: I knew I wanted to do some research on this...

Q: (from Peter) We have received a couple of inquires in regards to portability rights on individual FPP applications such as Word 2010, Excel 2010, Visio 2010, etc. How can we verify if these FPP versions have portability rights? A: This one took some digging. First off, did you know we don’t call them...