Microsoft’s software licenses are “too complex”

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Microsoft’s business software licensing is a complicated mess and not likely to get better anytime soon, according to analysts.

Licensing experts Rob Horwitz and Paul DeGroot, who run business boot camps on Microsoft licensing, claim that Microsoft offers so many products in so many countries that “complexity is simply unavoidable”.

Nevertheless, the analysts claim that Microsoft is making life harder for businesses with a scattergun approach to software licensing: “Although Microsoft has a central licensing division that, among other things, designs and administers licensing programs such as Open and Select, numerous Microsoft product groups decide independently what types of licenses are required for a product and how they are priced,” the pair claim on the Directions on Microsoft site.

“Each product group cares most about responding to its competitors, maximising its revenues, and addressing specific customer requests. Consistency, simplicity, and ease of compliance often take a back seat.”

The duo also claim that the emergence of technologies such as virtualisation and multi-core processors have made the situation worse. “Each adjustment triggers many transition complications for existing customers and may introduce obscure new rules or exceptions designed to generate new revenue from emerging trends,” they claim.

The analysts add that businesses are often scared into buying more expensive licences than they need, through fear of falling foul of the complicated licensing rules. “Customers are responsible for building the complex infrastructure and processes necessary police themselves,” the analysts claim.

“Weak enforcement tools can lead customers to buy more licenses than they need or sign up for ‘all-you-can-eat’ license programs, such as Enterprise Agreements.”

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