Tick, tock... Only 12 days left for 3 years of FREE UPGRADES!

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For any of you located in the U.S., remember to take advantage of the Windows XP Pro Rebate (worth up to $15,000) by having your customers acquire their upgrade licenses via Volume Licensing by December 31, 2004. Details on the rebate are listed at: https://www.microsoftincentives.com/windowsrebate/

How big of a savings is this for your customers (and how are the upgrades free)? Let's take a small company as an example:

- Company has 5 PCs and is looking to move to Windows XP Pro
- Since they are upgrading all their PCs (5), they qualify for the Open Value Company-Wide Option (https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/programs/open/companywide.mspx) to take advantage of the lower pricing and the ability to standardize. (Windows XP Pro Upgrade + SA through Open Value Company-Wide program is part #E85-01013 and has an ERP of $248) This option upgrades all of their PCs to Windows XP Pro, plus provides three-years of upgrade protection, plus provides three years of eLearning for their Windows software, and any systems SA benefits.
- 5 * $248 = $1,240 total ERP (U.S.). Since they are able to spread payments over three years through the Open Value Program, $1,240/3 = $413.33 first year payment.
- Windows XP Pro Rebate for 5 PCs = $400, paid in first year; therefore, first year payment for customer is: $413.33 - $400 = $13.33 total for all 5 PCs!
- Their total cost for the 5 PCs is: $1,240 - $400 (rebate) = $840. Based on this, the per PC cost = $840/5 = $168.
- Remember, that $168 per PC gets the customer: upgrades all of their PCs to Windows XP Pro, plus provides three-years of upgrade protection, plus provides three years of eLearning for their Windows software, and any systems SA benefits.
- Since the retail boxed Windows XP Pro SKU has an ERP of $199, by choosing the Open Value Company-Wide option, the customer is spending $31 LESS per PC AND they are getting the three years of upgrades, etc.! Did I mention it is $31 LESS PER PC than a one-time upgrade via retail boxed product???? Even if they don't want the three FREE YEARS OF UPGRADES, please save them the $31 per PC by showing them the savings the Open Value Company-Wide and Rebate offers them.
- Just my $.02

Eric Ligman
Small Business Manager – U.S. Central Region
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights