Posted on October 19th, 2009 by Jon Honeyball

Windows 7: the licensing mess continues

Microsoft TechNet | Top 10 Things to Do First for Windows 7 There’s a fabulous new document on Microsoft TechNet entitled “The 10 Things to Do First for Windows 7″, which is an excellent checklist on what you need to think about doing in your organisation before you move to Windows 7.

I was particularly thrilled to read “Section 3: Plow through licensing”.

Now maybe I am just being a stick-in-the-mud, and I accept it is a Monday morning and I have a headache, but my headache is made worse by reading this:

3. Plow through licensing.

If your organization didn’t deploy Vista, you may not be familiar with the latest volume-activation requirements in Windows. If you’re an admin in an enterprise with more than 25 desktops and/or five servers, if your organization takes advantage of a volume-license program such as an Enterprise Agreement or Select Agreement, and if you purchase Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate (or you upgrade to those versions as part of Software Assurance), you should do the following: Print out a short stack of Volume Activation documents from tinyurl.com/volact, pour yourself a few ounces of a bold Tuscan wine and start studying.

When you eventually declare yourself completely confused, download an excellent webcast by product manager Kim Griffiths, who does a great job of explaining the program’s nuances. You’ll find the webcast at tinyurl.com/volactwebcastwin7.

In brief, to deploy Windows 7 desktops using volume licenses, you’ll probably need to install a Key Management Server (KMS). I say “probably” because you may not have enough machines in your organization to support KMS activation. A KMS won’t begin doling out activation approvals until it receives requests from at least 25 desktops and/or five servers. That’s to prevent unscrupulous vendors from using the same volume-license key for multiple small clients. Once activated, a client must reactivate every six months. Despite what you may have read elsewhere, there’s no reduced functionality mode in Windows 7. If the activation key expires, the desktop background simply goes black and a notification balloon states that the operating system isn’t genuine.

If you have fewer than the required number of devices for a KMS, you can obtain a Multiple Activation Key (MAK) that’s stocked with activation allocations based on the number of volume licenses you purchase, plus a fudge factor that allows you to add machines between true-ups. An MAK key is authenticated by a Microsoft hosted service, so you’ll need Internet access following the OS installation.

A change introduced with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 now allows virtual machines to count against the KMS minimum for activation. This helps to boost your device count if you’re a small shop that uses lots of virtual desktops and servers.

If you already have a KMS for Vista and Windows Server 2008, you’ll be able to download an update for activating Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 machines.”

And at this point, just how many IT managers, especially in smaller companies, are going to say “fuggit” and go to the pub instead?

Tags: licensing, Windows, Windows 7

Posted in: Rant, Real World Computing, Windows 7

Permalink

Follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Social Bookmark this article: What is this?

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

15 Responses to “ Windows 7: the licensing mess continues ”

Bioreit Says:
October 19th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Dunno, seems quite easy to read to me.

But then again, I’ve had to *plough* through our Select Agreement before which really is a turgid load of dross designed for tort lawyers, so by comparison everything is an easy read!
Beany Says:
October 19th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Says to me:

Get a KMS up and running. So I’ll start there when I look at renewing my select agreement.
Matt Says:
October 19th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
And Microsoft wonders why hackers are so ready to crack their schemes… the more difficult they make it for legitimate users, the more likely those users will just say “fuggit” and seek out an activation crack.
Adrian B Says:
October 19th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
“the more difficult they make it for legitimate users, the more likely those users will just say “fuggit” and seek out an activation crack”
In my experience – having been sinking in licencing issues myself – no legit user seeks a crack. What will happen is that anything that can get put off, will get put off. And it’s not just MS – numerous companies are wilfully obscure. They don’t even agree on what a “per user basis” is! (Is it one keyboard / mouse / screen combination or one Windows logon?)
Steve Cassidy Says:
October 19th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
I can see KMSes being a serious pain in the behind. How many large operations with lots of small branches are going to permit KMS discovery traffic through their VPNs? There’s things I can’t do on 2008 *R2* servers because I don’t keep enough of them active to qualify for a KMS – but I need to review enterprise grade features…

It’s going to be a horrible mess: or, more correctly, I’m going to run up my Leopard Server for vital core functions and just keep yelling at MS to do the other stuff…
hjlupton Says:
October 20th, 2009 at 8:24 am
“It’s going to be a horrible mess: or, more correctly, I’m going to run up my Leopard Server for vital core functions and just keep yelling at MS to do the other stuff…”

Thats similar to what I was thinking, Apple’s Mac OS X server employs much simpler licensing. Install, done.

It just makes me wonder why MS make the licensing so complicated when it could be much simpler. Certainly in the case of a small business (less than 25 computers) it’s going to be a major pain.

I’d be tempted to start recommending to small businesses that they might be better served, save money and have less complications using OS X server rather than windows.

just my 2 cents
Wayne Taylor Says:
October 20th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
If you have less than 75 computers then Microsoft SBS Server is the product for those business and the CALS for this is simply.

You can mix Device and User CAL’s and purchase in 5 pack or 1 packs to help with cost.

I agree once your above 75 users, its much more difficult.
David Wright Says:
October 21st, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Jon, what exactly is the point of a volume licence?

I’ve looked at it and I still don’t understand it. To qualify for a volume Windows 7 licence, I must buy computers with Windows 7 installed, then I can install Windows 7 on them… But they have Windows 7 installed. :-S

I can see it from an automatic deployment side, you can install from a single image, but it really confusing that I need to have a Windows licence, in order to be able to use the volume licence….
SKGiven Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:53 am
Anothre hidden task
Neil Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
All volume licences for OS’s since vista are upgrades not full products. MS assume that the PC has a valid OEM licence. If you never upgrade your PC’s OS then you needn’t worry about windows 7 volume licencing.
David Wright Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
That’s what I thought. The Office licences make a little more sense, but again, if you are planning a 5-7 year upgrade cycle, it isn’t cost effective.

As for Windows 7, we’ll need to buy new kit anyway, so it doesn’t make much sense.
Richard Melville Says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:57 am
GNU/Linux — more security, more stability, no restrictive licences, no viruses, no malware, no more to be said.
Clifra Jones Says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:22 pm
GNU/Linux — No ERP/Financial client software (yes, oracle runs on a NIX box but clients are windows), no users who can actually use it, little if any software you users are going to now how to use. large costs to re-train users.

Don’t get me wrong, I wish it wasn’t so, but it is.
Falcon Says:
October 24th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Picture this… my company has over 100 road warriors, working in Australia, a country where the distances between cities are quite significant.
These warriors have laptops on a separate network from my headoffice – basically for security reasons. As an IT manager, how the heck am I supposed to provide them an activation every 6 months?
Let’s see my options:
- Ask everyone to post their laptops to the Headoffice and back? … hmmm every user without a computer for 5 days on average (between posting, receiving, activating and returning the bloody equipment) + post costs + risks of loosing/breaking the hardware… I dont think so…

- Bring everyone to the Headoffice.. sure… it’s Australia… continental country… I dont think so either…

Options? One separate license (not volume license model) for road warriors and another volume license model for my head office people…
if dealing with one licensing model is already scary, imagine managing TWO in the same company!!! … I dont think so either…

Only option resting is … fuggit … leave the laptops on Win XP, in a couple years migrate the whole bloody thing to Linux & StarOffice and/or go Google Apps and in a couple years hopefully the legacy CRM laptop apps can run on CitriX.
Scriptman Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Please research before commenting. It helps to cut down on misinformation. There are several ERP/Financial software solutions for Linux including OpenBravo ERP. Please feel free to investigate. You will not be disappointed.