Microsoft Equipt to Combine Office, OneCare in Subscription Service

@Waethorn I haven't seen the EULA so I can't say anything about legalities yet, I would guess there is some clause in there about it. That aside software piracy isn't legal either but many the first thing I see when going into a client the first time is always a huge amount of pirated software. We obviously try to convince clients to legally license their software, but many just don't or can't afford to, I will not touch the illegal software but there is nothing to stop these people from using it.

So my question as a SMB partner is what happens on the SMB level? How am I supposed to tell a business owner with 15 machines they should buy an open license for $250+ per machine for office instead of just buying 5 packs of this? Sure it is good for only a year but how is MS going to shut down office after the subscription expires, and even then $350 for 1 year is much better than the $3,750 open license cost. Heck if the owner never upgraded office again after buying the open license licenses it would take 10 years of renewals to make the open license a better deal. Talk about giving the stuff away, if MS can afford to price this so cheaply for the home market why can't they do the same for the commercial market?

Why would I was a single penny on an antivirus, firewall, e-mail and word processing solution when I already have a complete and open solution like BSD/Solaris/Linux + OpenOffice.org/GoogleDocs + GMail/Evolution/KMail? Why would I want to waste a single penny in a closed, privative, proprietary product when I can go for an open one that runs in almost anything that has a processor in it? If I were a company, I'd choose to stick with the solution that doesn't endanger my company to get married with a closed solution, driven by a closed company that enforces upgrade cycles and licensing costs.

"I haven't seen the EULA so I can't say anything about legalities yet, I would guess there is some clause in there about it." you don't have to. for Office, it's right on the box - "For non-profit or educational use only." "I will not touch the illegal software but there is nothing to stop these people from using it." the idea is to convince them how much it costs if they get audited or busted. also, if they continue using the software after you warn them, threatening to report them helps. you'd be surprised how fast they come back to you with money in hand if you offer it for sale to them. it's good for them to legitimize their software, and good for you, cuz you make more money. in the end, it will cost them less. i don't work on systems with any amount of pirated software. i just plain refuse until they commit to legitimize it. i also require proof of licensing for corporate systems (knowing that volume license keys don't need to be activated on each system - until Wndows Vista, anyway) if a client of mine has a non-disclosure agreement, i counter with my service policy which states that by accepting my services, they "agree that public disclosure of any act deemed of an illegal, unethical, or immoral nature can and will supercede any previous non-disclosure agreements, where required by law" (i forget the exact wording, but my lawyer says it's sound). there's other stuff in there too, such as a no-fault clause, so it covers my butt in just such a situation. i make them sign 2 copies before they receive any services. "I do agree that Outlook should be included." i would've said that before Windows Vista or Windows Live Mail was out, but it's just not warranted anymore. the reason they took it out is because Windows Vista includes a calendar, and a much better contacts management system. the last big feature is Exchange support, but home users don't use it. so.... XP

Microsoft just doesn't learn from its past illegal practices. Here it is again using its monopoly of the desktop to "sell" (read giveaway) a suite of software products to a market that will grow into the next commercial business operators and be so "converted" to the Microsoft technology it will be a forgone conclusion those businesses will licence the same software for their desktops. Just like Microsoft gave the world its current security problems with an OS that prospered because it was easy to use rather than built on a secure model in the firstplace,further monopoly of the desktop applications via this tactic is to follow. Only thing is, they are on the wrong bus promoting desktop PC bound applications, so hopefully this anti competitive tactic will backfire!

> giving them "essential" software It is too bad Microsoft spent all the effort in trying to acquire Yahoo. What they need to do is buy that company that makes Microsoft Word. In that way they could give users of SharePoint, Hotmail, etc. a decent editor to replace those horrid RTF controls.