Inquiry Spotlight: Microsoft Licensing, Q4 2008

Of the more than 20,000 inquiries Forrester receives annually, a very regular stream comes from IT operations professionals and sourcing and vendor management teams about Microsoft licensing — more than 150 between August 2007 and August 2008. The vast majority of questions from our clients revolve around decisions impacting their volume licensing agreements — whether they are Enterprise Agreement, Select License, or the new Select Plus. In addition, clients are asking about how virtualization will impact their licensing decisions on the desktop and in the data center. At the end of the day, it's about understanding your current and future plans for Microsoft products and then working with the sourcing team to make sure your needs are covered in the agreement.