Licensing Costs
Organisations must ensure that
they hold valid licences for all deployed software. Failure to manage
licensing properly, can and often does, result in heavy fines. Licences vary
in price, but bulk buying will reduce costs per licenses. All installed
network operating systems must have a licence per user and per machine.
Applications software, even though installed on a central server and
distributed across the network, must have a license purchased per user. Some
licences are calculated on the basis of the machine that is running the
software.
Recently, the development of
ASPs (application service providers), are changing the way licensing works.
ASPs offer users the chance to operate on a pay-per-use basis - renting out
software rather than charging a flat fee for installation on a company's own
systems. This method is causing traditional licensing to undergo significant
changes in the industry. Users of Microsoft’s Office 10 offers a simple
choice for users: they can either acquire Office on an open-ended licence
for a single payment as normal, or make a much smaller down payment followed
by an annual subscription. This would entitle the user to all updates and
point revisions automatically. At the end of the 12-month period, users have
the option of renewing their subscription. If they choose not to, Office
allows existing documents to be viewed and printed, but nothing new can be
created or saved.
Licensing has become a very
complex and confusing area for network administrators to manage, now that
the conventional method is undergoing such change. In the ensuing disorder,
one thing is for sure; this is an inescapable and costly requirement. |
