Throughout the year I try to share resources and information with you that I think will be helpful for you. Often times these resources will include links to free eBooks that we make available on a variety of topics. Today, I thought I would post a large...

Last week, I put up my Large Collection of Free Microsoft eBooks post (60+ eBooks) here on the blog and the response and feedback I am receiving about it is incredibly positive about how much you liked it. Because of this, I thought I would put up this...

UPDATE: "Hack" identity and more answers from Windows 7 Upgrade Install posted HERE First, the feedback, excitement, etc. we’ve been seeing since the launch of Windows 7 last week has been phenomenal! Thank you to all of you for providing your...

Have you ever started a new Microsoft Office Excel, Word, or PowerPoint file and been getting pretty far along when you accidentally close the document before saving it (or lose power and the computer shuts down, etc.)? Here’s a helpful little tip for...

Here is some great news for all of the small businesses out there from Microsoft that I am very happy to be able to tell you about! As we all know, small businesses are under incredible pressure to: Reduce operating costs Improve productivity Grow their...

There have been several questions about the terms in the Microsoft OEM System Builder Agreement where it stated that an OEM Microsoft Desktop Operating System license could be sold with "non-peripheral" hardware and how this perceived "loophole" was being...

Over the past several months this topic seems to continue to arise and the amount of misinformation and illegitimate offers appears to grow and grow which causes much confusion for those who are truly looking to acquire legitimate Microsoft software....

A Client Access License (CAL) is a license granting access to certain Microsoft server software. CALs are used in conjunction with Microsoft Server software licenses to allow Users and Devices to access and utilize the services of that server software...

Yesterday at SMB Nation, the topic of the SBSC exclusive managed newsgroup with 4-hour (Yes, 4 hour instead of the standard 24 hour!) guaranteed response time came up and many Small Business Specialists wanted to know more about it and where to find it...

There have been several questions about User CALs and Device CALs recently, so I thought I would post about these two options to try and provide some clarity and resources for you to use. 1) A CAL (Client Access License) gives a physical User or physical...

Earlier this year I made the announcement that we are going to be starting our SBSC brand awareness initiatives with to-customer marketing of the SBSC ‘Blue badge’ for brand awareness. Since that time, we have launched initiatives such as We’ve Gotta...

So there have been several threads, Blogs, conversations, etc. around the Microsoft Action Pack, what it includes, is enough included, etc. in the recent days. As always, I have been reading these thinking about them from the Partner side and the Microsoft...

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...

This topic came up in our User Group yesterday and since it seemed to be quite a hot topic, I figured I would share it out more broadly so everyone could understand the issue at hand... The question asked was, "If a customer has OEM licenses of Office...

With the holidays here, people are in the “big sale” mode looking for deals and specials all over. I saw a question this morning regarding the Microsoft Office Home and Student edition which someone saw on special and they wanted to know if this would...

A few weeks back, I built a slide now referred to by several as the “ John Smith ” slide to help explain how User CALs work and to dispel some misconceptions out there (this slide was included in my SBS Licensing session that you can view online). Since...

We have heard your concerns and requests for simpler OEM terms which were the same for OEM Server, Desktop Operating System, and Desktop Application licenses and as of September 1st a NEW OEM System Builder Agreement went into effect. Here are some of...

Today Microsoft and the Windows Server Solutions Team are proud to unveil our new integrated server solution designed for midsize businesses – Windows Essential Business Server - previously known as Windows Server code name “Centro”. This is a significant...

What are the different Open License Programs, what are the differences, and who are they for? This is a relatively common set of questions I have seen over the years, and one that you have probably seen addressed in some fashion on the blog over the years...

As you know, Microsoft Office 2007 launched for Business customers through Volume Licensing in November of 2006 and went to general availability through Retail Box and OEM in January of 2007. As such, now is a great time to educate your customers on the...

As you have probably heard already, the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription is becoming available in two separate offerings, allowing for the rich set of benefits that each offers be more tailored to the Partner types subscribing to each.  Well, for...

Attention Microsoft Partners, it’s the first day of the New Year and it’s time for the first breaking news announcement of 2008… We are thrilled to announce that on March 3 rd , 2008, Microsoft will be launching the Microsoft Open Value Subscription Program...

Earlier today I received a mail from a Partner stating they found Microsoft licensing to be “confusing and convoluted” in regards to Microsoft Office in a Terminal Services environment. This was posted in response to an earlier Blog post I had: “ OEM...

Last week I gave a licensing seminar before the Northern California Area Quarterly Partner Briefing that ran throughout the morning. In the session we covered many, many aspects of licensing, including “What licenses do you need to use Windows 2003 Terminal...

One of the questions we are asked quite often is, “Can I add Software Assurance to my OEM Office license, and what happens if I do or do not add it?” Here I will walk you through it step by step to answer this question for you: First, let’s take...