When is 1 = 4? Understanding License counts, a common question...

I was asked a question today that I thought several people may benefit from having the answer to as it is probably a very common question people have. Since Open License Business requires (5) licenses to start a new agreement, how do you know how many licenses the (L) or (L+SA) or (SA) or Upg or (Upg+SA) are worth? Here is the answer to that question:

Take a look at the bottom of page 71 of the Volume License Product List (available at: https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/downloads/default.mspx ), where you will find the point values assigned to the various license types:

o Standard License (L): 1 license
o Upgrade (Upg): 1 license
o Software Assurance (SA): 1 license
o License & Software Assurance (L+SA): 2 licenses
o Upgrade & Software Assurance (Upg+SA): 2 licenses
o Step Up License: 1 license

As you can see, if the (L+SA) is worth 2 licenses, it is pretty easy to hit the (5) minimum with fewer than (5) PCs. For example, if you acquired the Windows XP Pro (Upg+SA) and Office (L+SA) for a PC, that alone is worth (4) towards the (5) minimum. And that's only for ONE PC. So as you can see, 1 can equal 4…

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman
Small Business Development Manager – U.S. Central Region

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights