Microsoft Software Assurance (SA) is a

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

maintenance program aimed at business users who use

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...

, and other server and

desktop application A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

s. The core premise behind SA is to give users the ability to spread payments over several years, while offering "free" upgrades to newer versions during that time period.

Overview

Microsoft differentiates License and Software Assurance. Customers may purchase (depending on the program), a license without Software Assurance, Software Assurance only (but only to be used in combination with an existing license), both a License and Software Assurance together. The three possibilities are not always available, depending on the program (single license or volume license).

Features

The full list of benefits, effective March 2006, are as follows: * Free upgrades: Subscribers may upgrade to newer versions of their Microsoft software * Access to exclusive software products:

Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs ("WinFLP") is a thin client release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and optimized for older, less powerful hardware. It was released on July 8, 2006, nearly two years after its Wind ...

, Windows Vista Enterprise Edition, Windows 7 Enterprise Edition, Windows 8 Enterprise Edition and

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) is a suite of utilities for Microsoft Windows customers who have subscribed to Microsoft Software Assurance program. It aims at bringing easier manageability and monitoring of enterprise desktops, emerg ...

are only available to Software Assurance customers * Training: Free training from Microsoft and access to Microsoft E-Learning, a series of interactive online training tools for users. This training can only be taken at a Microsoft Certified Partner for Learning Solutions and can only be redeemed for training that is categorized as Microsoft Official Curriculum. * Home use: Employees of a company with SA can use an additional copy of Microsoft software * Access to source code for larger companies (1,500+ desktops) * 24x7 telephone and web support * Additional error reporting tools * Free licenses for additional servers provisioned as "Cold backups" of live servers * Access to

Microsoft TechNet Microsoft TechNet was a Microsoft web portal and web service for IT professionals. It included a library containing documentation and technical resources for Microsoft products, a learning center which provides online training, discussion forums ...

managed newsgroups * Access to Microsoft TechNet downloads for 1 user * Extended Hotfix support: Typically Microsoft charges for non-security hotfixes after mainstream support for the product has ended (e.g. 5 years for Windows); this charge is waived for SA customers whose contracts started before 1 July 2017. As of 1 July 2017, Extended Hotfix support is no longer available through Software Assurance. All benefits are generated by a Benefits Administrator at the customer organization and can be managed on the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center.

Criticism

Software Assurance is often criticized for its expense and the lack of "free" software upgrades within the contract period. The development period between major operating system versions often exceeds three years, requiring customers to renew their software assurance for another contract period, in order to get the next upgrade for "free".

History

Software Assurance was part of Licensing 6.0 and initially only provided upgrades, but around the time of the

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release, more benefits were added. In March 2006, Microsoft added

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Enterprise Edition and

. In June 2011 Microsoft added Windows Thin PC, a

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application that allows locked down versions of Windows 7 to run on older hardware.

References

External links

Microsoft Software Assurance home page

An Independent View of Microsoft Software License Agreements, Network World, November, 2010

Top 75 Microsoft Licensing Terms – A Glossary From A(ntigen) To Z(une)
{{Microsoft products Microsoft initiatives Software maintenance