Licensing for small bussiness

[Deleted member 12106]

As I have been doing more and more of the computer work for my company, I have stumbled across more and more "gray" area stuff...

I'd like to put it into the budget to get "new" stuff that is on the up and up.

I have NO idea where to start on chasing this down.

Off the top of my head, we have a terminal server with 10 users then prob another 10-12 desktops and 4 laptops. Some of these machines did come with office and the like, however, we may be looking to move everything up a notch.

For something this small/not major, where does one go?

Would it be worth it to pursue VLK, if so, what's a ballpark cost and where would I look?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Just to get this question out of the way, non-profit/education/government at all?

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Not at all. Totally small business.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Advantage of eOpen/volume licensing....all your licenses are uniform, easy to track..it's all on that sheet right there, single install media from a source/apps share on the server.

Another advantage, if your biz likes to be current on the latest version of Office 'n OS 'n stuff...upgrade assurance.

Disadvantage...comes at a hefty price.

Versus....a smaller biz like yourself, under 75 or so workstations, it's pretty darned easy to pickup an OEM version of office for 150 bucks per computer you order, and keep track of each individual license to which workstation on pen 'n back-o-the-box.

 

[Keiichi]

The one major downside to OEM skus is that they are very inflexible. OEM softweare lives and dies with the machine it's installed with. It's also worth mentioning to install the current version of Office in a terminal service environment, it would need to be the VL version of it.

 

[cyr0n_k0r]

Somewhat thread hijack but I have been running into a similar issue. However we need to figure out a way to volume license our server installs.

We don't run hardly any workstation software (xp, office, etc) but have dozens of servers that we are struggling to find a better way to license them.

Can eOpen work the same way for server only?

 

[SJConsultant]

Somewhat thread hijack but I have been running into a similar issue. However we need to figure out a way to volume license our server installs.

We don't run hardly any workstation software (xp, office, etc) but have dozens of servers that we are struggling to find a better way to license them.

Can eOpen work the same way for server only?

Eopen works for any Microsoft software in any configuration. So if all you need are server licenses, then thats what you buy.

On another note, if you happen to be hosting internet applications with those servers, you may want to checkout Microsofts SPLA which may be a better fit for your organization.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Advantage of eOpen/volume licensing....all your licenses are uniform, easy to track..it's all on that sheet right there, single install media from a source/apps share on the server.

Another advantage, if your biz likes to be current on the latest version of Office 'n OS 'n stuff...upgrade assurance.

Disadvantage...comes at a hefty price.

Versus....a smaller biz like yourself, under 75 or so workstations, it's pretty darned easy to pickup an OEM version of office for 150 bucks per computer you order, and keep track of each individual license to which workstation on pen 'n back-o-the-box.

How hefty? Personally, I'd like to have something where I can install at will, and not have to worry about ti sticking with that system if it dies...

Right now in my desk I have 15+ different office versions, all oem and none of those systems are around...

 

[Keiichi]

Here's a sample for their 12/09 Open Volume price list.
Office 2007 Pro Plus = $475
Office 2007 Small Business = $406
Win7 Pro upg = $184
Svr Std = $711
Svr Ent = $2310
Svr Cal = $29

Keep in mind there are no upgrade SKUs (except for the desktop OS, which only are available as upgrades.)

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Here's a sample for their 12/09 Open Volume price list.
Office 2007 Pro Plus = $475
Office 2007 Small Business = $406
Win7 Pro upg = $184
Svr Std = $711
Svr Ent = $2310
Svr Cal = $29

Keep in mind there are no upgrade SKUs (except for the desktop OS, which only are available as upgrades.)

What's the OS list look like?

 

[Keiichi]

You're looking at it.
Basically with VL you are allowed to downgrade and use any desktop OS previous to what you're license is for. You can also purchase it with Software assurance which entitles you to any upgrades during your current active SA subscription. Win7 Ent is only available to Enterprise customers and VL customers with an existing SA subscription.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

You're looking at it.
Basically with VL you are allowed to downgrade and use any desktop OS previous to what you're license is for. You can also purchase it with Software assurance which entitles you to any upgrades during your current active SA subscription. Win7 Ent is only available to Enterprise customers and VL customers with an existing SA subscription.

Is there a membership fee on top of the cost of the goods? I spose server std is for r2, and, if you want to use win 2k3 then its still the 711?

 

[Keiichi]

Nope, but you do need to buy five licenses to start (they can be server cals.) Yes you will purchase licenses for 2k8 R2 but you may use 2k3 R2 as long as it's the same sku (std to std, ent to ent.)

 

[Skud]

Nope, but you do need to buy five licenses to start (they can be server cals.) Yes you will purchase licenses for 2k8 R2 but you may use 2k3 R2 as long as it's the same sku (std to std, ent to ent.)

Continuing on this thought, once you open up an agreement I believe you can add to it for up to a year before having to go through the 5 license minimum again.

An easy way to get around that is to order the volume copy of MS Math. I think it's only $3 per license.

Riley

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Here's a sample for their 12/09 Open Volume price list.
Office 2007 Pro Plus = $475
Office 2007 Small Business = $406
Win7 Pro upg = $184
Svr Std = $711
Svr Ent = $2310
Svr Cal = $29

Keep in mind there are no upgrade SKUs (except for the desktop OS, which only are available as upgrades.)

Are these volume use, or, per machine use? I ask because looking at some of the dell desktops, its $300 to get adobe acrobat pro and office 2k7 pro, I was going to put in the budget next year for new desktops, but, that doesn't cover our terminal server needs. I know we have 15 or 20 cals, but from what I gather, a VLK is needed for a ts.

 

[Keiichi]

The stuff I listed are for volume use, so they can be installed on any machine as long as your concurrent userbase does not exceed the amount you are licensed for.

One thing I forgot to mention, is that with VL media you can setup deployment images etc. You can't really do that with OEM media.

 

[swatbat]

For the desktop OS I would just go with buying it with the computers. For office an open license can be good. Servers for a small setup it really doesn't matter.

Anyway I'd start by doing an inventory of the current machines and the major software on them. Start looking for things like office cds, av licenses, etc.

In the future I'd label the stuff. We generally use a ptouch and number machines at clients. We then mark the software with the same number. Perfered way is to have some folders to store software.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

For the desktop OS I would just go with buying it with the computers. For office an open license can be good. Servers for a small setup it really doesn't matter.

Anyway I'd start by doing an inventory of the current machines and the major software on them. Start looking for things like office cds, av licenses, etc.

In the future I'd label the stuff. We generally use a ptouch and number machines at clients. We then mark the software with the same number. Perfered way is to have some folders to store software.

some of the mahcines we have came with no os, or, are licensed for vista basic, or, xp home. Pretty worthless in the workplace IMO.

Yeah IDK, interesting mess dropped into my lap. If I could wave the wand I think I would just get new machines for whoever needs one, make sure they are all the same then just image them.

 

[swatbat]

some of the mahcines we have came with no os, or, are licensed for vista basic, or, xp home. Pretty worthless in the workplace IMO.

Yeah IDK, interesting mess dropped into my lap. If I could wave the wand I think I would just get new machines for whoever needs one, make sure they are all the same then just image them.

Yea you need a standard policy on ordering machine. IE order them with 7 professional, office whatever you need(ie basic, sbs, etc), acrobat standard, etc etc.

 

[Keiichi]

Oh Forgot to mention VL desktop licenses are upgrade licenses from a Professional edition of windows. Home, Basic, premium do not qualify for the upgrade.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Yea you need a standard policy on ordering machine. IE order them with 7 professional, office whatever you need(ie basic, sbs, etc), acrobat standard, etc etc.

I hear ya.

I say I want a cheese burger with bacon and fried onions and I get a plain hamburger

I don't order the stuff directly, I tell someone else what I need, and then they determine what they think I should get

 

[Keiichi]

To be honest, if they won't let the most qualified person decide on how things should be done, then time to start looking elsewhere. It's not worth it to do all that work and then go with a plan thought up by someone that has no idea what they're doing but they're going with it just because it's their decision to make.

 

[swatbat]

To be honest, if they won't let the most qualified person decide on how things should be done, then time to start looking elsewhere. It's not worth it to do all that work and then go with a plan thought up by someone that has no idea what they're doing but they're going with it just because it's their decision to make.

I just wouldn't install the missing software and throw away and pirate disks.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Update:

Off the top of my head I need the following
3 licenses for servers
15-25 for office
15 cals
25 for adobe.

Note, we are not using that many "gray" area installs, but to bring everyone up to the same across the board, it looks like this is where we would need to go.

Now, looking at the volume licensing stuff, it seems with MS products, one would be saving more money when buying volume by buying the retail version from say newegg. Pros or cons with this?

Adobe, we have various versions from 4.0 to 9.0 across the organization. They do offer an upgrade version of 9.0, however, I don't think one could technically use just 1 of the lic to do an install upgrade on each workstaion, so, I would be more apt to just buying the full versions.

Also, looking t new machines from Dell, it seems for 1100$ you can get a unit out of the box that is ready to roll, os/office/adobe, this seems like the best idea to cover our desktops, but we still need to cover the terminal server.

The biggest part that I am scratching my head on is the terminal server licensing, from what I gather is that I would need a VLK version of office for this?

 

[Keiichi]

Now, looking at the volume licensing stuff, it seems with MS products, one would be saving more money when buying volume by buying the retail version from say newegg. Pros or cons with this?

The only Con is that everything is digital. And you have to pay extra for a media set. MS makes images available to download for their products, with Adobe it's recommended to get at least one set of media. Keep in mind that all of your licensing information is kept on the company's respective licensing sites.

Adobe, we have various versions from 4.0 to 9.0 across the organization. They do offer an upgrade version of 9.0, however, I don't think one could technically use just 1 of the lic to do an install upgrade on each workstaion, so, I would be more apt to just buying the full versions.

With adobe I think their policy is that you can upgrade from two previous versions, although don't quote me on that you should talk it over with your rep. There is no separate upgrade and full version key. The installer does not check for previous versions. It's all done by the honor system.

Also, looking t new machines from Dell, it seems for 1100$ you can get a unit out of the box that is ready to roll, os/office/adobe, this seems like the best idea to cover our desktops, but we still need to cover the terminal server.

As long as you're not getting OEM versions of anything then you're good. With Dell you can customize your systems so that they come preinstalled with your apps using your licensing info. Terminal server cals is just a set of extra cals you need to purchase.

The biggest part that I am scratching my head on is the terminal server licensing, from what I gather is that I would need a VLK version of office for this?

Yes, only the VLK SKU of Office 2007 will install on Terminal Server.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

The only Con is that everything is digital. And you have to pay extra for a media set. MS makes images available to download for their products, with Adobe it's recommended to get at least one set of media. Keep in mind that all of your licensing information is kept on the company's respective licensing sites.

With adobe I think their policy is that you can upgrade from two previous versions, although don't quote me on that you should talk it over with your rep. There is no separate upgrade and full version key. The installer does not check for previous versions. It's all done by the honor system.

As long as you're not getting OEM versions of anything then you're good. With Dell you can customize your systems so that they come preinstalled with your apps using your licensing info. Terminal server cals is just a set of extra cals you need to purchase.

Yes, only the VLK SKU of Office 2007 will install on Terminal Server.

Adobe Acrobat 9.0 upgrade needs a key from a previous version, otherwise it's a 30 day time bombed demo.

So you're saying not to get the dell machines that come with an OEM copy of office?

 

[swatbat]

Update:

Off the top of my head I need the following
3 licenses for servers
15-25 for office
15 cals
25 for adobe.

Note, we are not using that many "gray" area installs, but to bring everyone up to the same across the board, it looks like this is where we would need to go.

Now, looking at the volume licensing stuff, it seems with MS products, one would be saving more money when buying volume by buying the retail version from say newegg. Pros or cons with this?

Adobe, we have various versions from 4.0 to 9.0 across the organization. They do offer an upgrade version of 9.0, however, I don't think one could technically use just 1 of the lic to do an install upgrade on each workstaion, so, I would be more apt to just buying the full versions.

Also, looking t new machines from Dell, it seems for 1100$ you can get a unit out of the box that is ready to roll, os/office/adobe, this seems like the best idea to cover our desktops, but we still need to cover the terminal server.

The biggest part that I am scratching my head on is the terminal server licensing, from what I gather is that I would need a VLK version of office for this?

With OEM software you are not suspose to move it from one machine to another. Volume licensing doesn't have the same requirement. Also with volume licensing you can always get software assurance where you pay a set fee each year and will keep getting the updates for it. Big reason for running that many systems though is that you can make a clean image with everything you need on it and just image new machines to save time.

If you want to go the oem route then yea buy dell optiplexs where they throw in acrobat 9std when you buy office with it. If you go this route I suggest that you get a ptouch and number each machine. Number the office and acrobat license as well as anything else and file it away in folders for each machine. I'd also make copies of the office keys and keep them somewhere else as proof. Volume licensing just makes simpler.

Also you can buy a "volume" license for adobe products. I have never looked into it but I know it can be done. A friend had a volume type license for photoshop and acrobat pro where he use to work.

Nice thing with dealing with someplace like dell is that you can buy the machines and the volume licenses from them. If you company wanted to take out a dell credit line and pay for it overtime they could. For things like terminal server I would stick with the volume licenses. Your dell rep can get you the quote. My dell rep has been good at responding to us. Had him draw up 10 different quotes for me yesterday.

O yea accrobat 9 will upgrade from version like 5 or above. When I client needs acrobat pro I generally hit ebay or something like it and buy a sealed copy of accrobat 5, 6 or 7. In the past 6 was generally the cheapest out of them. We then would pick up the acrobat 9 pro upgrade. Came out like over 100 bucks cheaper a seat to do it this way. I remember a client asking me why we ordered it that way and I told them it saved them 500 bucks. Thats all they needed to hear.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

O yea accrobat 9 will upgrade from version like 5 or above. When I client needs acrobat pro I generally hit ebay or something like it and buy a sealed copy of accrobat 5, 6 or 7. In the past 6 was generally the cheapest out of them. We then would pick up the acrobat 9 pro upgrade. Came out like over 100 bucks cheaper a seat to do it this way. I remember a client asking me why we ordered it that way and I told them it saved them 500 bucks. Thats all they needed to hear.

This will be helpful. This is nearly a 4k savings est. on 25 users. Currently, we only have 2 users that use adobe 9.0 pro, but, I want everyone to have the same software. Right now, we have on on adobe std 8.0, another on 6.0 pro, some on reader only, and some on 9.0 pro. yuck.


So basically buying 11 machines with the software preloaded is going to be not such a hot idea as each machine will have its own licensing, and making an image of one to use on each one if a restore needed is pro a no-no...

 

[swatbat]

This will be helpful. This is nearly a 4k savings est. on 25 users. Currently, we only have 2 users that use adobe 9.0 pro, but, I want everyone to have the same software. Right now, we have on on adobe std 8.0, another on 6.0 pro, some on reader only, and some on 9.0 pro. yuck.


So basically buying 11 machines with the software preloaded is going to be not such a hot idea as each machine will have its own licensing, and making an image of one to use on each one if a restore needed is pro a no-no...

Best bet would still be looking at an adobe volume license or just getting the dells where they throw in acrobat standard when you get office which you will see on the optiplex.

You can still do an image with each machine having its own licensing. You can sysprep office where it will install but ask for a cd key the first time you open it. If you are using new dells you can just use the windows disk with them as it uses a special volume license key that tells windows to check the machines bios for a vendor code so you don't need to really worry about that. With acrobat I believe if you install it without putting in a key you can load it as a trial.

With the above setup if you reimage a machine you pull the serials out of the file and start office and acrobat and load the serials and activate both peices of software. Still would save you a good deal of time.

Other option would be to buy the systems and have dell sell you a volume license for office. They might be able to do one for acrobat as well. Cost wise though managing the single licenses will be cheaper at least as an upfront cost. It will require extra time to keep up on them. As I said I'd make folders with each machines software and make photo copies of the backs of office software so you have a copy showing that you own the software. If it was via volume licensing for the ms products you just print a sumary.

 

[Keiichi]

Adobe Acrobat 9.0 upgrade needs a key from a previous version, otherwise it's a 30 day time bombed demo.

So you're saying not to get the dell machines that come with an OEM copy of office?

Not the VL versions of Adobe's software.

And yes don't buy OEM copies of Office if you can help it. The flexibility of the VL SKU will save you money in the long run. Just remember one thing OEM software lives and dies with the hardware it is bundled with.

Adobe's licensing programs are pretty much straight forward. You buy the licenses, purchase the initial media set (after you get that initial media set you don't have to purchase any more.) They keep track of your perpetual licenses on their website. The one good thing is that they're platform agnostic, so you get product keys for the PC and MAC versions. You still are bound to the number of licenses for concurrent installs, but it's a nice perk.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Not the VL versions of Adobe's software.

And yes don't buy OEM copies of Office if you can help it. The flexibility of the VL SKU will save you money in the long run. Just remember one thing OEM software lives and dies with the hardware it is bundled with.

Adobe's licensing programs are pretty much straight forward. You buy the licenses, purchase the initial media set (after you get that initial media set you don't have to purchase any more.) They keep track of your perpetual licenses on their website. The one good thing is that they're platform agnostic, so you get product keys for the PC and MAC versions. You still are bound to the number of licenses for concurrent installs, but it's a nice perk.

With adobe, I know when you d the install, you have to connect to the server to reg, lets say I do this on a machine, and it has an accident, I can no longer use said machine to deactivate that lic, from the adode web site, can I go in and "kick" that machine off or?

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Best bet would still be looking at an adobe volume license or just getting the dells where they throw in acrobat standard when you get office which you will see on the optiplex.

You can still do an image with each machine having its own licensing. You can sysprep office where it will install but ask for a cd key the first time you open it. If you are using new dells you can just use the windows disk with them as it uses a special volume license key that tells windows to check the machines bios for a vendor code so you don't need to really worry about that. With acrobat I believe if you install it without putting in a key you can load it as a trial.

With the above setup if you reimage a machine you pull the serials out of the file and start office and acrobat and load the serials and activate both peices of software. Still would save you a good deal of time.

Other option would be to buy the systems and have dell sell you a volume license for office. They might be able to do one for acrobat as well. Cost wise though managing the single licenses will be cheaper at least as an upfront cost. It will require extra time to keep up on them. As I said I'd make folders with each machines software and make photo copies of the backs of office software so you have a copy showing that you own the software. If it was via volume licensing for the ms products you just print a sumary.

Yeah I seen the optiplex systems come loaded with the software. Was not aware that dell sells the vlks. I would still need to cover a terminal server, when users are not at work, some work from home or on the road.

With imaging, what's the easy/cheap way to create the image, then, deploy the image? I think I have played with sysprep before...Ideally, I'd want to get all of the new machines in 1 shot so when they are deployed, its just done.

Another thought was to get as many people as possible on a TS just so I don't have to deal with their desktops at all. This would also eliminate people bringing in thumb drives, which seems to be getting popular.

 

[Keiichi]

With adobe, I know when you d the install, you have to connect to the server to reg, lets say I do this on a machine, and it has an accident, I can no longer use said machine to deactivate that lic, from the adode web site, can I go in and "kick" that machine off or?

The activation mechanism is a bit different on the VL versions. You don't have to go with the activation transfer like you do with the other versions. I suppose if you do install it on 1000 machines at the same time and you're licensed for 5, you might get a call from Adobe.

 

[swatbat]

Yeah I seen the optiplex systems come loaded with the software. Was not aware that dell sells the vlks. I would still need to cover a terminal server, when users are not at work, some work from home or on the road.

With imaging, what's the easy/cheap way to create the image, then, deploy the image? I think I have played with sysprep before...Ideally, I'd want to get all of the new machines in 1 shot so when they are deployed, its just done.

Another thought was to get as many people as possible on a TS just so I don't have to deal with their desktops at all. This would also eliminate people bringing in thumb drives, which seems to be getting popular.

Do you already have a dell rep? If not get one. If the guy sucks you can always request another one. The rep I go through has been good though. CDW wouldn't give us a new rep when I got pissed at our current one. Guess how much business I've done with them in the last 6 months?

If all of the machines are the same then yea a image with sysprep or something would be fine. You will still have some basics that need to be done like setting up the machines on the domain but you can really speed the process up. I did a religious school last year and we pretty much setup everything, copied the setup profile to the default profile section and sysprep'd the machine and imaged it. We then booted of a true image disk, threw in a dvd with the image and started the transfer. We did like 75 machines in total. Should have setup a boot from nic setup but didn't feel like messing with it. Just started making my way around the rooms. By the time you were at the end the first machines were done. Threw them on the domain, installed the network printer because of an issues with it that stoped us from putting it on the image(fucking dell pritners) and was done. Did all 75 machines with 2 people in under a day and the printers were the biggest issue.

Anyway dell can handle the volume licensing. You can always get a quote with the optiplexs, a vlk for office, vlk's for the servers, and quotes for any other software you might need. Just had my dell rep get me quotes on renewing a symantec backup exec agreement so we can upgrade a client from 11 to 12.5 so we can get the newer linux agent to work on a new redhat server. Hell I've even had them quote eset for me although we don't generally buy it through them. I would think they could get your adobe quote as well. That way you have a single source for pretty much everything you need.

Past that I would look into a bunch of open source software you can install as well as various freeware. Load things like 7-zip, vlc, infanview, imageburn or cdburnerxp, filezilla, etc if you think their is a chance they will use it. I've had way too many issues with the roxio crap dell ships with their machines for instance. Also remember to load the free upgrade for office 2k7 that allows you to save via pdf in it. No reason not to.

Have you figured out what other software besides the adobe you need? Av being the biggest although depending on the line of work you might have others.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Do you already have a dell rep? If not get one. If the guy sucks you can always request another one. The rep I go through has been good though. CDW wouldn't give us a new rep when I got pissed at our current one. Guess how much business I've done with them in the last 6 months?

If all of the machines are the same then yea a image with sysprep or something would be fine. You will still have some basics that need to be done like setting up the machines on the domain but you can really speed the process up. I did a religious school last year and we pretty much setup everything, copied the setup profile to the default profile section and sysprep'd the machine and imaged it. We then booted of a true image disk, threw in a dvd with the image and started the transfer. We did like 75 machines in total. Should have setup a boot from nic setup but didn't feel like messing with it. Just started making my way around the rooms. By the time you were at the end the first machines were done. Threw them on the domain, installed the network printer because of an issues with it that stoped us from putting it on the image(fucking dell pritners) and was done. Did all 75 machines with 2 people in under a day and the printers were the biggest issue.

Anyway dell can handle the volume licensing. You can always get a quote with the optiplexs, a vlk for office, vlk's for the servers, and quotes for any other software you might need. Just had my dell rep get me quotes on renewing a symantec backup exec agreement so we can upgrade a client from 11 to 12.5 so we can get the newer linux agent to work on a new redhat server. Hell I've even had them quote eset for me although we don't generally buy it through them. I would think they could get your adobe quote as well. That way you have a single source for pretty much everything you need.

Past that I would look into a bunch of open source software you can install as well as various freeware. Load things like 7-zip, vlc, infanview, imageburn or cdburnerxp, filezilla, etc if you think their is a chance they will use it. I've had way too many issues with the roxio crap dell ships with their machines for instance. Also remember to load the free upgrade for office 2k7 that allows you to save via pdf in it. No reason not to.

Have you figured out what other software besides the adobe you need? Av being the biggest although depending on the line of work you might have others.

No, do not have a dell rep...

Can the dell rep get me vlks to use on other systems that we already own? I would like to get a 15 user terminal server setup with office and adobe. From what I understand with VLK, is, you buy a lic for say office 2007, and you can use offife 2003? Same with servers, buy the win2k8, use win2k3. I'd like to keep the terminal servers running win2k3, they are setup, they work, and they take no resources.

Our users are very basic, in terms of their needs, the optiplexes, I wasn't going to get them with optical drives and prob unplug the front USB ports. Nothing like someone bringing in a thumb drive and it takes the drive letter as their mapped network drive I think counting me, there are 2 other people that know what a compressed archive is...so we *should* be fine, but it wouldn't be nothing either to toss 7-zip in. Maybe a vnc client.

Our shop software could go on the image, av, we have symantec corp, printer drives, I would prob just pop in on an as-needed basis.

 

[swatbat]

No, do not have a dell rep...

Can the dell rep get me vlks to use on other systems that we already own? I would like to get a 15 user terminal server setup with office and adobe. From what I understand with VLK, is, you buy a lic for say office 2007, and you can use offife 2003? Same with servers, buy the win2k8, use win2k3. I'd like to keep the terminal servers running win2k3, they are setup, they work, and they take no resources.

Our users are very basic, in terms of their needs, the optiplexes, I wasn't going to get them with optical drives and prob unplug the front USB ports. Nothing like someone bringing in a thumb drive and it takes the drive letter as their mapped network drive I think counting me, there are 2 other people that know what a compressed archive is...so we *should* be fine, but it wouldn't be nothing either to toss 7-zip in. Maybe a vnc client.

Our shop software could go on the image, av, we have symantec corp, printer drives, I would prob just pop in on an as-needed basis.

Dell can sell you ms volume licenses by themselfs. Yes if you buy an office 2007 volume license it will allow you to download office 2003 and xp and give you volume license keys for them. Same with server licenses. The server 2008 licenses in my volume license site have keys for 2003 r2 32 and 64 bit and a 2003 std key.

As far as the optiplexs go I wouldn't unplug the front usb ports, I would just disable them in the bios. You can turn off just the front ports on a lot of the models. Even that really isn't needed though. With endpoint protection I believe you can disable usb drives from being reconized.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Dell can sell you ms volume licenses by themselfs. Yes if you buy an office 2007 volume license it will allow you to download office 2003 and xp and give you volume license keys for them. Same with server licenses. The server 2008 licenses in my volume license site have keys for 2003 r2 32 and 64 bit and a 2003 std key.

As far as the optiplexs go I wouldn't unplug the front usb ports, I would just disable them in the bios. You can turn off just the front ports on a lot of the models. Even that really isn't needed though. With endpoint protection I believe you can disable usb drives from being reconized.

Endpoint will allow you to disable usb altogether. However, I do not have end point.

I'm going to have to find out where this company wants to go with their systems first. My largest concern is if I pop win 7 and office 2007 in front of these people, they will have NO clue. backgrounds are refereed to as screen savers, and, they believe when they setup an account online, say at a web site, when you click the "remember me" box, a password is not required, on ANY machine in the organization. However, putting winxp and 2k3 on them if we go vlk would be a non-issue, as everyone has used it. Personally, gimme win7 and office 2007.

Pricing out adobe using the upgrade method was much more palatable than pricing per a retail lic, even under the vlk prices listed on the adobe site.

Pricing out the software, I saw on CDW for a lic for office was something like $429, vs, buying retail copies of office 2k3 at $250 a pop.

Pricing out server OS, I think it was something like 700$ for win2k3 ent w/ 25 cals. This would cover a ts no prob.

However, on some of the new server stuff, it may be more viable to peruse the vlk.

Through dell, are there any price breaks to be had buying VLK's? I read a lot that when placing large orders for hardware, generally they can kick in extras., not sure on software. Where would one start to get a dell rep? I just don't want to contact a rep only to get spammed non-stop with sales pitches and the like.

 

[swatbat]

I don't think you will save anyting getting it through dell.

If you want to run xp you can buy a single vlk for windows 7 and use that xp key they give you on any machine that is stickered for xp pro or greater. They will let you use the volume license in place of the oem one. This does not work for office though.

Best bet is to get with a rep and tell them what you need be it cdw or dell. They will get with a ms licensing specialist and give you a quote for what you need. Personally I would go through dell as I've had too many issues with cdw.

As far as hardware goes they can usually make you a pretty good deal if you go through a rep. They can also do a quote on one of the dell sales which is good for 30 days if I remember right vs whenever the sale ends. On servers you can save a good deal, desktops it depends on whats on sale. I've also been able to find a really good sale price and have our rep quote it for multiple systems. I've also gotten them to honor sales in the past that expired.

VLK's have 2 major advantages. First is the amount of time you can save by making licensing easier and less hassel to manage. This includes making an image. Second way is if you get software assurance. This is a subscription type deal but you will get the newer version of the software as it comes out.

FYI for office and terminal server you need a vlk. It will notice on 07 and I think 03 that it is on a ts box and get pissy if it is not. Something you can look at in the future is a 08 terminal server which will allow seamless desktop like citrix. Pretty much you do a rdp session for just an app so it looks like it is running on the desktop when it isn't. They have also fixed a lot of print issues if you run the universal print driver although I haven't played with this myself(printing in 2003 terminal server can be hell)

 

[Keiichi]

Through dell, are there any price breaks to be had buying VLK's? I read a lot that when placing large orders for hardware, generally they can kick in extras., not sure on software.

Not really, since companies tightly control pricing on VL SKUs where you get them is pretty much the same, and the only way to get a (albeit tiny discount) is to buy in bulk.

Where would one start to get a dell rep? I just don't want to contact a rep only to get spammed non-stop with sales pitches and the like.

You can call their Medium Business line at 1-800-247-2097 Option 2. This should get you started and they'll qualify your business. Apparently now they want your company to spend at least $10K annually. The more you spend the bigger your discount. Keep in mind that the discounts are not offered to their home systems. And from my experience the only times my rep initiated a call was to see how I was doing and not to pitch stuff. They send out their newsletters but nothing that's spammy or a forced pitch.

Anyway the sales rep generates the quotes for you based on your spec, there is some room to haggle on the hardware so do it with care, the pricing is always better than what you see on the website. The great thing is they usually run random promos once in a while (free shipping, or a free something with a system.) I remember when I made a $$40K+ purchase from them last year, I got a free Sony 42" LCD tv YMMV.