As promised in my, “Big announcement coming on New Years Day!” post back on December 18th, it is 8:00 am PST on New Year’s Day and here is the big announcement to kick off the New Year!  For the first time ever, Microsoft is expanding the 50%* off Up-To-Date (UTD) discount to include TWO prior versions on both Microsoft Office Professional and Microsoft Windows worldwide and this offer will be available until June 30, 2010!  (If you see “N-2”, “N” is the current version and “-2” means two prior versions)  What this means is that millions of customers running older versions of Microsoft Office Professional and Microsoft Windows will now be able to take advantage of the Up-To-Date discount available through the Open Value Subscription Program to get 50%* off their Year 1 payments! 

So who qualifies for this offer?

• For Microsoft Office Professional Plus:
  • Before the Office 2010 launch:  Companies with OEM, Retail, or Volume licenses for Microsoft Office 2007 Professional, Office 2003 Professional, or Office XP Professional
  • After the Office 2010 launch: Companies with OEM, Retail, or Volume licenses for Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 or Office 2003 Professional
• For Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade:
  • Companies with OEM, Retail, or Volume licenses for Windows 7 Professional, Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional

What you get:

• 50%* off your 1st year OVS payment for Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade or Microsoft Office Professional for every qualifying N-1 or N-2 license you have.  (It’s like receiving credit for your existing qualifying Microsoft assets!)
  • * Estimated Retail Prices of UTD Part #s are ~50% below Estimated Retail Prices of non-UTD Part # for same product.  Reseller prices may vary.  (See HOW THIS WORKS)
• As an example, in the U.S., this means you would be paying $32.00 for a Windows 7 Professional Upgrade and/or $82.00 for Office 2007 Professional Plus in year 1, plus receiving all of the Software Assurance benefits (such as an automatic upgrade to Office 2010 when it launches, Office Home Use Rights, and much more) for that price!

Those of you that have followed my Blog for several years may recall the initial release of the Up-To-Date discount in the U.S. and Canada only allowed one prior version of products to qualify for the 50%* off discount.  Because of this, if you were running anything prior to the latest or one version older of Microsoft Office or Microsoft Windows, you did not qualify for the UTD discount, but with this offer, now you do.  Let’s put the N-2 expansion into real terms:

Before January 1, 2010: 

• Anyone with licenses for Microsoft Office XP Professional could not take advantage of the 50%* off UTD discount because your version of Microsoft Office is two versions old (N-2).  Current version (N) is Microsoft Office 2007, one version old (N-1) is Office 2003, and two versions old (N-2) is Office XP. 
• For Microsoft Windows, anyone with licenses of Microsoft Windows XP Professional could not take advantage of the 50%* off UTD discount because your version of Microsoft Windows is two versions old.  (Current version Microsoft Windows 7, one version old is Microsoft Windows Vista Business, and two versions old is Windows XP Professional)

From January 1, 2010 – June 30, 2010:

• Anyone with licenses for Microsoft Office XP Professional CAN take advantage of the 50%* off UTD discount because the UTD discount is being extended to include two prior versions and your version of Microsoft Office Professional is two versions old.  (Current version is Microsoft Office 2007, one version old is Office 2003, and two versions old is Office XP). 
• For Microsoft Windows, anyone with licenses of Microsoft Windows XP Professional CAN take advantage of the 50%* off UTD discount because the UTD discount is being extended to include two prior versions and your version of Microsoft Windows is two versions old.  (Current version Microsoft Windows 7, one version old is Microsoft Windows Vista Business, and two versions old is Windows XP Professional)

Not only does the UTD discount now extend to two prior versions, it includes these unique ease of use and licensing benefits of Open Value Subscription (OVS) and more:

• “Get it and forget it” licensing – After you purchase qualifying Enterprise Product licenses for your computers through OVS (like Office Professional Plus or Windows 7 Professional Upgrade), if you add more computers during the year, you can use the Enterprise Product software you acquired on your new PCs and not pay anything for the software until the end of the year!  Yes, even if you took advantage of the UTD discount for Microsoft Office Professional Plus to get 50%* off your year 1 payment and then added PCs just 2 months after your initial purchase, you can run Microsoft Office Professional Plus on the new PCs for no cost to you for the next 10 months! Below is a quick 2 minute 46 sec video I put together when OVS was introduced in the U.S. that explains how this works:

• True-up and true-down flexibility – Open Value Subscription provides you with the ultimate in licensing flexibility based on your company’s needs.  Since you simply count your PCs once per year to determine your total subscription price (yearly price X number of PCs), if your company grows or shrinks, OVS matches your needs precisely.  You see above how the adding PCs works, but what about reducing PCs?  For instance, say you had 50 PCs in your company when you started your OVS agreement for Office Professional Plus and later that year you downsized to 35 PCs.  Since you only have 35 PCs on your 2nd anniversary date, you would only pay the annual subscription price for 35 Office Professional Plus the second year, since your company only has 35 PCs now vs. the 50 you started your agreement with.  So it would work just like the video example above but the numbers would get smaller in year two.
• Seasonality flexibility – Does your company have needs that vary by season?  For instance, say you have 60 PCs year-round but you bring in seasonal help in the summer and add 35 PCs during the summer months.  Using the “Get it and forget it” and “true-up and true-down” flexibility, you could get Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 through OVS (and take advantage of the UTD discount for any qualifying licenses you have) now for your 60 PCs since that is the number you have in your company.  When you add the 35 PCs for your summer help, you could use Microsoft Office Professional Plus on those PCs too because of your Office Professional Plus OVS agreement.  Since you are back down to the 60 PCs in January next year for your agreement anniversary (summer help is gone), your Office Professional OVS agreement for next year would still only be for 60 PCs.
  • NOTE: Your annual true-up/true-down is based on # of PCs, not employees.  So if your seasonal # of PCs remains constant and only your seasonal employee count changes, this does not reduce the # of PCs in your company or # of licenses required.
• Up-front and continued savings – Because OVS is a subscription program, the up-front costs are much lower than the other licensing programs available.  In addition, your year over year costs continue to be lower for years to come.  Here’s a cost comparison I did when OVS launched in the U.S. showing Office Professional Plus as an example and how it costs less year over year vs. other licensing programs, even without the UTD discount (which just makes your savings up-front and over time even greater).
• Employee Purchase Program – Because Open Value Subscription is a company-wide program, it includes the Employee Purchase Program Software Assurance benefit, which gives your employees reduced rates on some of the most popular Microsoft productivity, operating system, and entertainment products (like Zune and Xbox).
• Easy Ordering - Open Value Subscription – Easy as 1-2-3
• Ability to add additional products to your OVS agreement at any point
• and more…

* Estimated Retail Prices of UTD Part #s are ~50% below Estimated Retail Prices of non-UTD Part # for same product. Reseller prices may vary.  (See HOW THIS WORKS)

Want to see how some others have made the most out of Open Value Subscription?  Check out:

• Aas-Jakobsen Open Value Case Study
• Other Open Value Case Studies

So here’s to a great 2010 with the first big announcement of the year!  I look forward to bringing you many more in the upcoming year and to great success together.  Happy New Year, everyone!

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights