[plug] Piracy!

[Ryan]

>> * Ineligibility for technical support or product upgrades
>>     .....
>>     In addition, product upgrades-less expensive upgrades of
>>     existing products-are not available to you.

Since the new Microsoft licensing model which keeps having it's full
implementation delayed due to customer complains, there is no longer any
such thing as an 'upgrade'.  You purchase the full product plus play MORE
to get 'software assurance' aka. 'insurance' and receive any upgrades that
are released in the time of your contract (2 years).  Once that 2 years is
over and you want an 'upgrade' you pay for a full version AGAIN and pay
MORE for 'software assurance' AGAIN.

Your other option to stay up-to-date is to pay the full price every 2 years
(or however long you want).. it actually works out cheaper this way on the
2 year model! the only downside is you won't get any upgrade in that 2 year
period, but Microsoft never said that they would actually make any!  Unless
they made 3 new versions of a product in 2 years you'd never want to by
software assurance.  'I'd love to see that'

I have asked Microsoft people to explain why I would pay for software
assurance when there is absolutely no benefit.  I'm still waiting for an
answer.

One reasoning I heard from Microsoft is a lot of people are still using
Office 97, and since then sales have not been as good, so they are trying
to leave people out in the cold if they don't keep buying the latest
version.  Thus the model is intended to see an ENTIRE repurchase of ALL
mircosoft products every 2/3 years to maintain a regular income flow for
Microsoft.  This means OS, Apps the lot.  Think about that for less than a
seconds and you'll realise how impractical and bone-headed firstly spending
on and then reinstalling every Winblowz computer in an organisation every 2
years is.

Yet another theory i've heard is that product 'patches/enhancements' will
be released only to software assurance customers, while the normal plebs
would only get critical patches, if that.  Or better still, 'patches' will
be released as full versions

It is the same as an insurance company selling you car insurance on the
condition that the only time they'll pay up is when THEY decide to
deliberately drive into the side of your car, which obviously they'd never
do.

Utter stupidity.

Ryan