Breaking News - Operating Systems
& Software:
Microsoft Loosens Terms Of Server
Licensing
Microsoft Corp. said it would change its licensing policy to allow
customers
to pay for fewer copies of a range of programs used on corporate servers.
The revised "Per Processor License" policy, along with other licensing
changes
that will go into effect from April 1, comes less than a year after the
world's largest software maker introduced a new licensing plan that irked some
customers and in some instances, raised the cost of software.
The new policy affects Microsoft software installed on servers, or
computers
that manage computer networks, that are built with multiple processors.
Licensing terms for Windows, the operating software that provides about a
third of Microsoft's revenues, were not affected by the change.
Harley Sitner, senior product manager, said that Microsoft had been
approached
by customers nine months ago asking why they had to pay for the entire number
of processors on a server, even if Microsoft's software only ran on one or a
few of those chips.
"The fair thing to do is to say that you only have to pay for the
processors
you need," Sitner said.
Under the new plan, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft's customers pay
only
for the chips on a server that use the program.
Sitner said that Microsoft's licensing plan had not kept up with the pace
of
hardware innovation and the proliferation of multiple-processor server
systems.
With budgets tight, corporations have been cutting costs by consolidating
their server systems onto multiple-processor computers and adopting Linux
(news - web sites), the open source operating system that can be freely copied
and modified, unlike Microsoft software.
Sitner said the new server policies were not implemented in response to
competition from Linux, but to fix outdated licensing practices.
Microsoft also said it would revise its licensing policy that charges
customers for the number of devices that access a server.
Instead of paying for the number of devices connected to a server,
customers
can instead pay for the number of users accessing a server, regardless of the
number of devices.
That way, an organization that has more devices than users can save by
opting
for the new licensing option. The new policy for device or user access
licenses will go into effect later in April, when Microsoft ships the newest
version of its server software.
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