Customers under Microsoft’s Volume Licensing programs will now be able to enroll copies of Office 2003 that ship with OEM PCs within 90 days of purchasing their license.

Previously, product licenses acquired from OEMs could not be enrolled under SA, launched on August 1 2002 under Licensing 6.0. The company hinted other Windows products from OEMs would also become eligible for SA, but did not provide details.

The change is the latest in a series by Microsoft designed to increase the appeal of Licensing 6.0 and, particularly SA, to customers.

Microsoft’s changes angered large numbers of customers, who feared they are being put on an upgrade treadmill or two and three-year cycles under SA. They also expected to pay more for Windows.

A Yankee Group survey of 1,000 technology mangers in March, while SA was being phased in, found while 28% had signed-up to Licensing 6.0, five percent plan to switch their PCs from Windows to Linux and up to nine percent are seriously considering switching servers.

Recently Microsoft has engaged in a series of steps designed to retrofit SA with offerings that company believes add value to the program, will pacify anger and increase the program’s adoption.

These offerings included telephone support for servers, online support for clients, home-use rights introduced in May, and ability to switch between certain versions of products without buying an entirely new license.

In June, Microsoft launched the Enterprise Edition Server Step-up License, permitting customers on Standard Edition Windows server licenses for a handful of products including SQL Server and Exchange Server to migrate to Enterprise Editions. Customers on Standard Editions of Office 2003 can also upgrade to Professional without a new licenses.

The company’s focus on Office with these latest changes is Microsoft’s attempt to resolve second problem – customers’ widespread refusal to upgrade to latest versions of Office. Office 97 accounts for 30% of the installation base, meaning customers have skipped Office 98, Office 2000 and XP with Office 2003 now due.

Microsoft needs to kick-start the Office upgrade cycle as a new competitive factor is emerging in the form of desktop Linux. Sun Microsystems Inc next month plans to launch its Linux desktop, Project Mad Hatter, while competition is also shaping up form SuSE AG and Novell Inc.

Source: Computerwire