It seems, that clarification was in order since requesting the new SKUs for SBS 2008 it has been pointed out to us that as of tomorrow, the current SKUs going forward from October 1, 2008 will be for SBS 2008 products only!
There was a little bit of a misunderstanding on our part as far as the price increase also being related to the fact that SBS 2003 will no longer be available for purchase on an Open Value Licensing Agreement as of tomorrow.
That means that all of the juicy Software Assurance benefits we get with an SBS 2003 R2 Premium, and Standard too, will end today!
A downgrade to the SBS 2003 edition purchased will be a part of the Licensing Agreement which means that we will be able to install and configure an SBS 2003 R2 Standard or Premium setup.
This does not mean that we will be able to run any combination of the SBS 2003 and SBS 2008 licensed product. We will need to run either one or the other environment only.
Some programs to mitigate the cost increases associated with SBS 2008:
In this case, it pays to be clear in our communications and the questions we needed to ask about the price increase. It did not dawn on us that the price increase would also mean the end of SBS 2003 as we know it for Open Value Licensing.
A quick search via a few search engines turns up little in the way of an announcement that SBS 2003 would no longer be available for purchase via Open Licensing. Anyone have a link to a page that is clear about this? Please post it in a comment.
And, none of the Microsoft Partner materials that we went through has any indication of the end of SBS 2003 availability on Open Licensing either.
For clients purchasing Open Value Licensing tomorrow and beyond: Welcome to SBS 2008! :)
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.
2 comments:
I specifically recall from the SBS partner tour that 03 would be available as the best deal with SA through the end of October. . .
Marco,
I dug around in what materials I have around the shop, did a bunch of searching, and checked through the Partner Newsletters with nothing apparent.
In my various inquiries, I heard about the end of October too.
What I did not hear was the fact, and it is a fact according to our MS Licensing contact at our principle supplier, that SBS 2008 would be the product SKU for Open Value Licensing from October 1, 2008 onwards.
I had assumed that the end of October was the deal so I never thought to question his mention of the price increase on October 1 a while back. To me, the price increase was in preparation for the shift to SBS 2008.
Thanks,
Philip
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