An excellent article by Paul DeGroot on how to interpret a Microsoft Licensing Statement (MLS).
And do as Paul says, make sure to request an MLS for your organization every 90 days and verify it is correct.
Why Agree to Ambiguity?
It amazes me the number of organizations that sign software agreements that contain terms that are either not clearly defined or are downright ambiguous. It should be no mystery that software publishers create agreements with terms that can lead to multiple interpretations. Ask a complicated licensing question of any major software publisher, and expect to get multiple different responses.
My favorite contract language is “please contact your Account Manager, License Advisor, or Reseller for assistance”. Never is the process clearly outlined, but rather just call us we will take care of it. Why would anyone agree to contract language like this?
Not only should your legal counsel carefully review all contracts but your IT teams who will deploy and manage the technology need to make sure the contract terms support how they expect to use the software.
For all contract language not clearly defined add amendments that provide clear language as to what will happen when a given event occurs. Amendments should include irrefutable examples. Even if you do not think a given scenario will impact you during the contract, better safe than sorry.
June 2015 Microsoft Product List Changes
My friends over at Licensing School have dug into the June 2015 Product List and found a few interesting undocumented changes. I find the Office 365 From SA User SL an interesting one.
Surface 2 Road Trip Report
I am sitting at Wolfgang Puck in Terminal 3 of the Chicago O’Hare airport as I write this. I have been on the road since Sunday, and I decided to leave my laptop at home for four days and take my Surface 2 with a mouse and Type Cover 2. I have loved working with my Surface 2 this week, and I have not once regretted leaving my laptop at home.
I have spent the past few days speaking at the SAM Summit in downtown Chicago, and I have so enjoyed using my surface to perform all the tasks I would perform on my laptop. Numerous conference attendees stopped me to ask what I was using, and they all said way cool. I do require a mouse, and I utilize a combination of keyboard, mouse and touch. I call it the magical trio, and it is just fun to use. I have not been a Windows 8.1 fan until this device, and I love it!
Time to sit back enjoy my glass of wine and dinner before my flight back to Dallas. I am a bit excited since I am flying the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner home tonight.
Life is too short to live with a Bad Software Sales Team
After talking with numerous customers attending the IAITAM conference in San Diego back in April and the SAM Summit in Chicago this week, I have heard too many stories of software sales teams not partnering with their customers and working only in their best interest. This got me thinking that life is too short to live with a bad software sales team, and I recommend finding a way to work together or press the publisher to have a new team assigned that will partner with you. This assumes you are trying to partner, and not trying to drive a one way relationship. Having sold at Microsoft from 2005 – 2012, I dealt with many customers, and some were clearly not interested in partnering.
I would start by letting your sales team know what is expected of them and explain why these expectations are important to your business. Setup quarterly business reviews and outline in advance the agenda and expectations of the meeting. Let them know in advance of any concerns you have so they can fairly prepare.
If you have a sales team that will not work in a collaborative fashion, then I strongly recommend sitting down with them to discuss your concerns. If this fails to yield positive results, then I would next escalate the issue to their management. If this fails to correct the problem, then the next step is to ask for a new sales team. This is a serious step, and should only be your last resort.
Make sure to leverage all customer satisfaction surveys to communicate unsettled concerns regarding your sales team, especially the survey sent to the CIO. Most publishers take these very seriously. On the flip side if you have a great sales team then make sure they receive the highest marks on those surveys, this will go a long way to driving a positive relationship.
Awesome $300 Companion Device
There is no doubt that iPad is king of the tablet world and I enjoy using mine, but for my business companion device I have found a refurbished Microsoft Surface 2 with the Surface Type Cover 2 keyboard to be my favorite. Since I am running a 32 GB unit, I leverage a 32 GB microSDHC card for additional space (cannot do this with an iPad). Security is critical to my business and my main drive is encrypted since I leverage a Microsoft account to login. The microSDHC card is protected with BitLocker To Go (requires access to a Windows 8.1 Pro system for initial setup).
The display is full 1080P HD, and looks amazing. The unit gets a bad rap since it is running Windows RT, but since RT cannot install traditional Windows apps, the attack surface is much smaller. I feel very secure running this as my companion device, especially since Microsoft will provide security support for Windows RT 8.1 up to January 2023.
The unit comes with Office 2013 RT, but is limited to non-commercial use. Because I have an active Office 365 E3 subscription, I am able to use Office for commercial use. My favorite modern UI app is the calendar, which allows me to quickly see all of my personal and business appointments in a easy to read single view. I elect to only run my business email through Outlook, and my personal accounts through the built in mail app.
Performance is very good for an ARM processor with 2 GB of memory. A refurbished Surface 2 can be purchased for $200, and add another $80 for the Type Cover 2 keyboard. You can always add a larger microSDXC card to carry all your favorite movies and music along too...
Preparing for Microsoft Certification Exam 74-678
For those interested in taking the Microsoft certification exam 74-678 Designing and Providing Microsoft Volume Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations, checkout the offering from Licensing School.
No Charge Microsoft Licensing Training
There are many choices when it comes to learning Microsoft licensing. Most of them come at a cost and are delivered either in person or online classroom.
What many people do not know is there are two online training options from Microsoft to learn Microsoft licensing, and they are both free of charge. These options are are valuable and well worth taking advantage of. What you will not learn in either are strategies for negotiating with Microsoft and tips to reduce your Microsoft spend.
Where is the new SoftwareAdvocates website hosted?
Several people asked me where the new SoftwareAdvocates website is hosted. Since 2012 the website was running on SharePoint via Microsoft Office 365. With the public website feature being removed by Microsoft, I decided to move the site to a dedicated website hosting service. After exhaustive research, I selected Squarespace as the sites new home. I performed all of the porting myself, with a little help from Squarespace support. I am pleased to report the process of porting the site went better than expected, and I am very pleased with the new site. My favorite feature is true mobile device support.
Six Things You Should Learn Before You Go Through a Microsoft License Review
Excellent article by Peter Beruk.