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Are providers using legit windows licenses for VM's
darkdestroyer
Member
in General
Hi
I am looking to find out which providers are providing legit windows licenses in their VM's.
I have a friend who is a windows distribution partner and he says that small hosts are not licensing correctly because the cost to do it properly is so high that providing VM's for less than $20 month is not possible.
Does anyone have any feedback on this and is it true that many hosts are not following the Windows licensing module per core like they should?
Comments
ye bullshit. if ya talk with Microsoft instead of support from a windows reseller shop then you will defenedly know.
In your friend's defense, there is no one at Microsoft who fully understands all available options for Windows licensing.
I've heard you can call up about licencing five times and ask the same question, and get five different answers.
I have asked their support about buying bulk (volume) licenses at my old job as IT manager.
There were tons of computers/laptops bought with OEM licenses, some of them Home Edition for basic things like email and working with specific programs from vendors we were distributing and doing installations for. I wanted to use the volume licensing for new laptops and desktops.
Their support said that is not possible, I need to first "legalize" the existing PCs and laptops by buying retail licenses for windows pro because it is illegal to use home edition at a company (what?). He insisted in that and threatened to do an audit if we do not comply. I dropped it and continued to buy OEM licensed new units or retail licenses when needed and gave people which didn't really need windows to either use one of the old laptops/desktops or get a brand new linux one.
We did some math and for iwstack it came at about 9 Eur extra per VM. I suspect we are slightly at a loss here and are only running licensed server in Milano, but a slight loss is worth it when you have the option to offer all those server editions.
They are probably going to pull some weird move in future, so their oversold cloud servers look like a good deal when you want windows servers.
For Russia company MS offer SPLA early. About year or so ago MS change their think and from those times no new SPLA agreement was set with companies in Russia. But most of Russian host already is under SPLA (we too). SPLA allow install only Windows Server Standard on virtual machines under host. Desktop version not allowed as well as own license on virtual machines. Prices was high enough and will increased again in October for another 15-20%.
As far as I know client windows was never an option for SPLA. Who offers windows 7, etc is clearly in breach of EULA.
That's what I was told when I asked if I could get desktop licenses (for desktop use) via our SPLA.
Yes, that's right. Only server version is allowed by SPLA. From other side, under SPLA you can order Data-center version for whole node and in such case you don't need license guest VM's and they can use any Windows include desktop version. But cost of Data-center version high enough especially on multi core's CPU's.
The problem wasn't using OEM licenses for business, it was as he said, using Home for business. I would expect this to be one of those unenforceable ones where people think Home refers to the feature set and not licensing purpose, despite Microsoft prompting the license agreement before every install and legally provides refunds when people return by not accepting the terms.
Anyway, if you were trying for some upgrade pricing, needing to start from legally licensed point would be a start. But if you were going Enterprise at normal pricing, it shouldn't matter the existing license status and would cover a new license regardless of license status.
Staples, Dell, Best Buy, etc are all guilty of marketing Windows Home machines to business users for business use. But yeah, read the license agreement.
Edit: re-reading a recent Windows 10 license I didn't see the language I recall seeing before, perhaps an older 7 or 8 Home license. But it does look like Microsoft has selectively applied their interpretation but it's generally considered OK by Microsoft MVP's.
Well, I must be one of those people. Despite its name I never knew Home was actually restricted in the license by purpose.
I've always used Pro for the features so have never had a Home license to refer to, anyone care to quote the snippet of small print to confirm my longstanding misconception.
Edit: out a rogue apostrophe (late here)
It is not restricted. It never was.
I guess that was a scare tactic they use thinking not even IT managers are reading the EULA and they would be scared by an audit.
I wasn't and went ahead implementing OpenLDAP for the few people that needed it. The people with home licenses didn't need it, of course, just standalone calibration programs from producers, mail, documentation browsing, VPN to connect to HQ, mundane stuff.
Just call MS rep close the end of quarter for their reporting season. They will do all kinds of deals. It is like Black Friday every quarter. We pay next to nothing for office/windows licenses. Unlike Apple, where every iPhone still have a base cost, licenses revenue goes straight to the bottom line. Same with Oracle.