BMS Blog: SBS Consulting in the UK

So today we are performing our first SBS 2008 production installation. I’d like to say this has gone smoothly without any glitches and for the most part so far it has.

We were all prepared to complete a migration using the technet provided resources but unfortunately the clients already flaky server decided to give up the ghost  completely so we have had to resort to a brand new install. We were able to get all the clients data off a current backup including their Exchange data so after importing all the data and running through the to-do list we were ready to install the Client Access Licences (CALs)

After 20 minutes of 4 of us searching trying to find some kind of licensing console and doing some searching on the ‘net it finally dawned on us that there is in fact no licensing console and no licensing enforcement - yep, you heard that right - NO LICENSING CONSOLE AND NO LICENSING ENFORCEMENT!!!

So what does this say about Microsoft? Other software vendors are able (and do) lock out users of their software if the number of licences is exceeded - so why don’t Microsoft? In SBS 2003 via the licensing console we had a basic way of telling how many licences were installed and the maximum usage of those licences since the last reboot - admittedly this wasn’t foolproof but it was better than nothing! Now not only do we have to change our policies to record how many licences a client has, but it is also harder to track how many users/devices they have connected to their server - that’s what I call a huge step backwards!

I would really love someone from Microsoft to provide a single good reason for removing licence enforcement, I really would. In one fell swoop not only have MS made our lives more difficult from a technical/admin point of view, they’ve also made it (even) easier for unscrupulous partners and customers to ignore licensing issues - Come on Microsoft, you need to be sharper than this!

Emily Lambert has posted about a unique opportunity for SBSC partners to attend Distributor Bootcamps:

http://blogs.technet.com/uksbsc/archive/2008/11/07/unique-opportunity-for-sbsc-partners-to-attend-distributor-bootcamps.aspx

These look well worth checking out as not only will you hone your licensing skills but will also qualify for a free exam voucher for Windows SBS 2008 or Windows EBS 2008!!

We’ve all seen the unscrupulous partners that put unlicensed software into clients, but a recent contract win for us highlighted another way some less than honest partners generate income.

Having carried out a full software audit it turned out they were in fact correctly licensed. This came as no surprise to the customer who commented:

“I would be surprised if we weren’t correctly licensed as we have renewed the Microsoft licences every year with the previous support company.”

We assumed they meant they had software assurance and were perhaps renewing that or some such - but no. In fact the previous partner had been charging them for “renewing” the actual licences every 12 months! This was generating them some £7-8,000.00 turnover every year!

I’ve read a couple of blog posts recently about the issues revolving around customers that refuse to legally licence software. What do you do when a customer won’t play the game and refuses to become legally licensed?

I know what we do - we shop them. Either to Microsoft or FAST, or sometimes both. And we tell them that we’re going to shop them. This normally elicits a sharp intake of breath (and sometimes worse) from the person I’m talking to but the point is this: Anyone who knowingly uses Microsoft software that isn’t properly licensed is a thief - pure and simple - and I don’t want to be associated with thieves thank you very much.

This isn’t just about licensing though. This is about the bigger picture. If they are unscrupulous enough to blatantly ignore licensing issues then what are they going to be like when it comes to paying your invoices or worse? They’ve already shown their hand and proved they have no morals. My take is these people aren’t worth dealing with and you should walk away. That’s not an easy decision to make particularly when you are a small business and every customer counts, but it is still a decision that has to be made.

Are there any exceptions? Well, we came across a new customer who was using quite a few unlicensed copies of office and couldn’t afford all the licences in one go, although they wanted to do the right thing. In that instance we asked the customer to sign a letter of intent to purchase a specific number of licenses per month until they were fully licensed. I know the correct thing to do would have been to remove the unlicensed software until the licenses had been purchased but sometimes you can cut your nose off to spite your face as they say.

When we report customers we don’t do it lightly and we are aware of the implications and the possible results of our actions, which can include heavy fines and even imprisonment,  but at the end of the day a clear message needs to be sent to people who think they can get away with it. This is your livelihood they’re messing with and it’s your margin they’re eroding by using unlicensed or illegal software.