The Glade 4.0

So...

Microsoft's Volume Licensing/Software Assurance program is basically a huge black box to me. They are very opaque about it, especially when it comes to pricing. I've put in a few requests for price quotes with various resellers, but haven't heard anything back yet.

Does anyone here have some experience with this system? I'm looking to get ~17 workstations licensed for Windows 7, either Professional or Enterprise; it probably makes little difference. We might also be interested in licensing an equal number of Office 2010 installations when it becomes available. I'm not sure.

Basically I'm just trying to figure out how this compares to buying retail box. Which raises another interesting question. From what I can tell, the VL/SA licenses for Windows 7 are "upgrade only". Is this correct? What are you supposed to do if you buy/build a new workstation for your business?

The cost and licensing restrictions of Windows are really making me /nerdrage, but there's nothing I can do about it.

_________________
Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

I'm not sure that 17 counts as volume, which may be why no one is getting back to you.

_________________

What area of the country are you in?

_________________

I can't deal with the pricing, because I haven't actually ever purchased software in the VL, but I do administer our VL account at work. You can definitely get keys and software to do bare metal installation, depending on how you're licensed.

Once you get the purchase done, it's actually not bad. Login and download any software you need, keys ready on demand through the site, etc.

Sounds like it might be alright for that size organization, with easy growth options. (you just get to pay for the fun!)
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/licensing-options/open-license.aspx#tab=1

P.S. minimum number of workstations for the VL is 5, so you're good there.

Unfortunately, it looks like the Windows 7 licenses available through the Open License system are strictly upgrade-only unless you shell out for the "Software Assurance" program, which gives you access to the "Enterprise" edition of Windows 7, but brings the price up to quite a bit more than retail box. It might be worthwhile if we gave a damn about the SA program, but we don't. I've run into a lot of problems with Windows in my days, but I've never once felt the desire to deal with Microsoft's tech support.

The other issue is MS Office. The best price I could get out of it for Office Professional (by also purchasing Windows 7, SBS 2008, and full set of CALs) was $700 per user! That's completely insane. That's basically double the full retail price, which -- if you buy it now -- gets you a free upgrade to 2010 anyway. I don't get it. Why would anyone in their right mind pay $700 for Office Pro? Either Microsoft has gone crazy or I have.

This whole thing is giving me a headache.

_________________
Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

They can sell it like that because of all the support they give you. (/rolleyes) But, seriously, that and the ability to upgrade. Which is hilarious, because I don't think anyone in our company ever calls MS support.

Ever wonder how much an Adobe Acrobat license costs? It's even worse, I think, something like $1000 for Standard.

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge