Bradley J. Willson”
sent this to the linux-biz list.
From: nt-list-admin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com
Subject: NTools E-NewsFlash - MORE ON OFFICE & WINDOWS 2000 PRICING
To: "Latest Win NT News"
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NTools E-NewsFlash - MORE ON OFFICE & WINDOWS 2000 PRICING
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January 7, 1999. (You heard it here _first_)
How much is this going to cost me, you must have been thinking when you
read about Windows 2000 (W2K), formerly known as NT5. Yesterday Microsoft
released pricing for Office 2000. I have also done some research to find
out about the pricing for the W2K itself. Here are the results:
Their officials said yesterday that Office 2000 will deliver increased
functionality while keeping prices for the Office 2000 Professional,
Standard and Small Business suites consistent with existing Office 97
prices. But they did add a new flavor to the suite called Office 2000
Premium. It includes Frontpage 2000 and PhotoDraw 2000 and will set you
back $399 for an existing Office upgrade. For new users the estimated
price for will be a whopping $799.
The next lower in price is Office 2000 Professional for $599. Version
upgrades will cost $309, upgrades from non-Microsoft applications will
be $349.
Cheaper still, is Office 2000 Small Business for $499. Version upgrades
will cost $209, and competitive upgrades from non-Microsoft applications
will cost $249.
The standard Office 2000 flavor that the majority of you will buy is
also 499, the version upgrades will run $209, and competitive upgrades
will cost $249.
The upshot: count on $209 per seat before volume discounts.
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Microsoft said you qualify for aditional goodies that if you buy Office
97 before the Office 2000 release. They include discounts on Kingston
memory, dictation software from Lernout & Hauspie, and Web hosting from
AnaServe Inc. They also announced that at the launch of Office 2000, you
will get the IntelliMouse for a reduced price if you buy it with an Office
2000 Premium upgrade.
NOW, HOW ABOUT PRICING FOR W2K ITSELF?
The great majority of us will pay about the same amount of money as we
pay today for NT Server 4.0, even though W2K _promises_ to be more
functional, scalable, and reliable. Whenever it really arrives.
Further, if you are clustering on 2-way SMP or 4-way SMP systems you will
pay actually significantly less for enhanced functionality. A small
minority of you (mainly on large non-clustered systems) will pay more.
Microsoft claims more functionality, throughput, and reliability though.
We will believe it when we see it.
W2K pricing is not yet final. If you calculate and compare "cost per
transaction" (already pretty low compared to the competition) it will be
even lower in the future.
In a nutshell, what's W2K give us over the existing NT4.0?
W2K Server includes Active Directory, COM+ object technology, Public Key
Security Infrastructure, Web services, IntelliMirrorTM management
technologies, and Terminal Services, to name a few. The price for the
entry level SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) will be very close to today's
NT Server 4.0 level.
I expect the majority of you will use the W2K Server. It will support
up to 2-way SMP systems with up to 4GB physical memory. If you are
running NT Server 4.0 on a 4-way SMP machine, you can upgrade to the
4-way version of W2K Server.
W2K Advanced Server has all the features of W2K Server but includes
application high availability clustering, Component load balancing,
network load balancing, and up to 64 GB large memory support. The
good news is that despite the greater features, MS has set the
expectation that it will be priced less than today's NT Server 4.0
Enterprise Edition that retails for around $4,000.
W2K Advanced Server will support up to 4-way SMP on new systems and up
to 8-way SMP on upgrades for the installed base of Windows NT Server
4.0 Enterprise Edition.
The W2K Data Center Server will be the most powerful and reliable
version of Windows NT technology ever shipped. With support for up
to 32-way SMP, and up to 64-GB of physical memory, these systems will
service more than 10,000 simultaneous users in some workloads.
W2K 2000 Data Center Server product will be priced above the current
Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition. But if you calculate on a
per transaction basis, this will very likely be the most cost-effective
alternative in the marketplace for high end applications like ERP,
OLTP, data warehousing, and enterprise workflow systems.
For a detailed list of the features included in Windows 2000 Server
check out:
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/windowsnt5/default.asp