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Vista’s licensing speeds NSW govt move to Linux desktops

That’s the headline of this article in ComputerWorld. It continues:

The NSW Office of State Revenue (OSR) is taking a tough stance against Microsoft’s decision to make an enterprise edition of Windows Vista only available to companies that have signed on to its Software Assurance program. The tax collection agency has declared it would rather switch desktop operating systems than lock itself into Microsoft’s licensing regime.

[…]

Asked whether Microsoft’s Software Assurance subscription licensing regime – under which volume users pay an annual fee for support, patches and upgrades – was influencing any potential shift on desktops, Babhoota said previous upgrade offers from Microsoft had provided a less than compelling economic case to his organization.

I think that’s interesting. MySQL Network is of course also subscription based. I guess the crucial difference lies in the value the complete package provides. For MySQL Network, it appears to be working (I hear from users that they are happy with it).
In this day and age, you can’t just charge some fee for whatever and expect a company to fork out. Those days are long gone… companies, and particularly IT departments, are penny-wise now. And that’s good!

I see the above as an important hint for companies considering subscription models, it’s not about what’s convenient from the company’s perspective (in terms of ongoing revenue), but about value for the customers.
Well, duh! 😉
But apparently, not all companies get that yet. The above is just one big example, there have been others already.

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