Big Changes In Licensing?

The so-called "SuperCAL" under consideration would bundle client access rights to more server offerings than are now included in the core CAL as part of customers' enterprise agreement (EA) licenses, the sources confirmed.

Microsoft aims to bundle in client rights for a wide variety of new server applications in the universal CAL, including BizTalk 2004, Live Communications Server and Virtual Server 2004. The current core CAL includes client access rights for Windows and Office desktop, and client access rights to Windows Server and Exchange.

Even as the Redmond, Wash.-based company is exploring an uber-license, it also is working on a new Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA)-like option that would enable large outsourcers to license software on behalf of their customers, sources said. Currently, customers negotiate their own volume licenses with Microsoft even when the software is hosted and managed by a third party. This extranet provision would simplify and reduce costs for customers, who can pay as they go rather than swallow upfront a three-year user license, sources said.

One Microsoft employee said the universal CAL and extranet licensing options are under consideration for 2005-06, and said Microsoft is also mulling whether to give the server software free to those who nod to the CAL option. "The universal CAL won't eliminate Software Assurance because too many people signed deals, but there will be more options," he said. "The SPLA model will appeal to customers who don't want infrastructure in-house. The superCAL will appeal to people who have IT in-house. It solves the problem of complex licensing."

A partner familiar with the discussions agreed: "Adding SPLA features to EAs is pretty much a done deal. It will be possible to license on-demand provisioning, including try-before-use deals."

Microsoft is under pressure to offer a "pay-for-use license to outsourcers provisioning many clients via a central agreement," the partner said, adding that this sort of arrangement is not currently possible unless the outsourcer is also a reseller.

Also under consideration is a micropayment option for corporate customers. "If you're a company authorized for 1,500 CALs and you're at 1,501, a payment box will pop up asking you if you want to license an additional seat for $15 or whatever," he said.

None of these options has progressed beyond the trial stage, the sources said.

Cori Hartje, director of marketing for Microsoft's worldwide licensing organization, said no major changes are imminent for volume licensing but acknowledged that the company is always pilot-testing licensing options. She would not comment on whether a universal CAL is now being tested.

Microsoft's volume licensing has been under fire for a year now, with corporate accounts complaining that the EA 6 program cloaked price hikes. Partners add slippages for key products, such as SQL Server 2005, and have persuaded many customers that three-year contracts, covering upgrades, might not be cost-effective.