Report: Customers scrutinizing Microsoft license agreements more than ever

“Microsoft is slated to announce its earnings for the third
quarter of its fiscal 2009 on April 23. During the subsequent call
with Wall Street analysts and press, Microsoft will, no doubt, be
asked about its renewal rates for its volume license agreements —
the best-known of which are its Enterprise Agreement (EA) and its
accompanying Software Assurance (SA) program.

“The various promotional deals that Microsoft has been offering
its volume licensees — not to mention overall EA price cuts of up
to 26 percent — “tell us that it’s tough out there, DeGroot said.
Microsoft also has been increasing the rebates it is offering its
large-account resellers (LARs) for selling EAs to smaller
companies, DeGroot said.

“As it has largely saturated the large and mid-market business
areans with its volume programs, Microsoft is seeking to get
smaller users into its volume programs, DeGroot said.”
Two things about this caught my eye–it ties in with other
reports about how Linux is making a dent in Microsoft revenues, and
you can purchase the report this article references for $749.
Imagine spending $749 just to get some guidance through the
Microsoft licensing maze– ed.

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