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Microsoft Cuts Software Licensing Costs

So, Microsoft is knocking some dollars off its software licensing costs for small and mid-sized businesses with subscription-based licensing for small businesses.  The plan is called Open Value Subscription program and it costs about 1/3 of the expense of software licensing.  Basically, Microsoft offers discounts when the software is initially purchased through the subscription program.  The benefit: SMBs has an option of decreasing or increasing licensing over a 3-year period if their business needs change. So, the total cost of […]

Users fed up over software licensing, pricing and tactics

In Computerworld today, Brian Fonseca reported on Forrester’s not-so-shocking findings from a recent survey –Corporate IT departments are fed up with software licensing.  Noted by Forrester Analyst Ray Wang: “The whole point of buying a perpetual license was not to be beholden to the vendor.” Read the entire ComputerWorld article. 

Eliot for President!

I wanted to post a brief entry today with some exciting news. Eliot Arlo Colon has been appointed to President of Miro, effective today. Eliot has served as the company’s COO for the past seven years where he has negotiated over $700 million in software licensing transactions, saving our clients more than half a billion dollars in licensing, support and consulting fees. Eliot is our go-to guy when it comes to Oracle software licensing which has been a tremendous asset […]

Week in Review in the World of Software Licensing

Its seems that software licensing has been the hearts and minds of many as Forrester rolls out its reporter on application licensing and pricing and Microsoft launches a licensing quiz. • Forrester points out is 29% of a company’s total IT budget will be spent on software-related costs in 2008 including on software maintenance fees – around 30% of the budget – according to Forrester’s “Software Licensing and Pricing” report. In the most recent “Trends 2008: Applications Licensing and Pricing” […]

Microsoft and Yahoo: Together at Last?

So the plot thickens and after 2 months of behind the scenes negotiations (and whispers amongst the people “in the know”), the cat is out of the bag. Microsoft is proposing to buy Yahoo in order to compete against the all-knowing Google. It’s a bit like pitting the mighty Oz against Merlin. The offer on the table is an estimated $44 billion and change. Does Yahoo get a break on their Microsoft software licensing?

Piracy Police could come knocking at your door!

Baseline Magazine recently published an informative article about what steps to take should you get an audit letter from the BSA. The process, as scary as it is, should be handled with care in order to come out with the smallest settlement possible, and avoid litigation if at all possible. What exactly is the BSA and what do they want with us? “The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. […]

Miro in the News: Microsoft Tests Partners’ Licensing Knowledge

So the latest buzz is about Microsoft’s licensing quiz for its channel partners. What a clever way to drive licensing sales and assert their software compliance rights. In fact, that’s exactly what I told Kevin McLaughlin, our reporter friend at CMP in his January 28 article “Microsoft Tests Partners’ Licensing Knowledge.” Software licensing is a complex enough issue. The quiz serves as a tool to help channel partners uncover how much they don’t know about licensing and gets the point […]

Open Source: An Open Sore?

Open Source has been an open sore when it comes to software licensing.  Forget about the well-established software procurement process the IT department has worked so hard on.  Instead, people are just downloading free and available open source codes off the web.  The result is that IT managers don’t know about these downloads and what software license is covered or not covered. So, Hewlett-Packard launched an enterprise software licensing tool for implementing open source governance and consulting services.  They are […]

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