Microsoft plans to restructure its software licensing policy to include uniform, Internet-based licensing of such products as Windows NT, Windows Terminal Server, and its BackOffice and Office suites.
The licensing scheme will likely comprise three tiers, based on a user's point of origin: the Internet, a corporate extranet or an ASP (application service provider).
ASPs, an emerging group in the outsourcing market, supply users with access to applications such as Office over the Internet. Outsourcing applications reduces deployment cost and time.
Microsoft's goal is to provide users with a consistent Internet licensing policy across its product line. That doesn't necessarily mean the cost of its applications will drop.
"It is understanding how the technology is used and the value of it to the customer," said Solveig Whittle, a product manager for Microsoft.
Under the plan, client licenses for external users accessing a SQL Server database on a company's Web site-which could number in the millions-would be priced lower, for example, than a client access license for a supplier on a corporate extranet.
"This is critical to us," Whittle said at this week's Thinergy thin-client trade show. "If we can address the Internet issue and the work-at-home issue, we'll have addressed a lot of the pricing issues."
Many users disagree with that assessment. Microsoft has been under criticism over some of its pricing models since last fall, when it dropped concurrent licensing, which enables users to share software licenses on a network.
In June, Microsoft announced what some considered exorbitant licensing terms for WTS (Windows Terminal Server), its NT-based thin-client server software code-named Hydra.
A corporation licensing Microsoft's WTS for three servers and 250 users, for example, would have to pay $US59,500 under the Microsoft Open License Program for volume licensing. By comparison, a 120-user concurrent license, if Microsoft offered such a license, would cost $US34,161.
"It is appalling," said Robert Edwards, manager of IT services for Avalon Bay Communities. "If I can't get more than 60 users on a server at once, why should I pay for more than that?"
Edwards uses Citrix's WinFrame and MetaFrame software on seven four-chip Pentium Pro servers, each of which can handle about 60 simultaneous users.
Whittle said that Microsoft has no plans to offer concurrent licensing.
