The Meter is Running… but CIOs are saying “STOP THE CAB!”
CIO: The Meter is Running… but CIOs are saying “STOP THE CAB!”
Microsoft’s wildly unpopular Licensing 6.0 and Software Assurance plan unleashed outrage from CIOs and forced the company to make major concessions. Licensing 6.0 replaces confusing upgrade rules and options with a yearly subscription plan known as Software Assurance. Customers pay for the original license and a yearly fee, and are covered for all upgrades. But CIOs were enraged to find that Software Assurance would raise software costs 25 percent to 29 percent over the cost of the original license every year companies use the software. Not signing up for Software Assurance by Microsoft’s deadline would cost companies two to three times more than it did under the old licensing rules because they would be forced to buy the new license to get upgrades. Microsoft claims the plan won’t cost most customers any extra, and it conceded two deadline extensions and waived some hard-line requirements. But organizations ranging from the $10 billion Burlington Northern railway to the hamlet of Murray, Utah, say they want no part of Software Assurance, and polls indicate they are in the majority.
