Microsoft's main volume license types are Open License, Select License and Enterprise Agreement. SA comes standard with the Enterprise Agreement, but costs an additional 25 percent to 29 percent of the cost of a new license annually to add to the other licenses, depending on whether it is for server or desktop software.
IBM charges 25 percent of the cost of a new license for support, Oracle 22 percent and others from 18 percent to 22 percent, according to Gartner, which suggests users who declined to buy SA in the past should carefully rethink their decisions, the analyst company said.
The SA extras that a user receives will depend on the product being licensed, the license type and the number of licenses bought. A chart detailing who gets what will be on Microsoft's Web site later on Tuesday, a spokesman said.
All SA takers for Microsoft's desktop products qualify for the new "Home Use Program," under which an employee of a company that takes out SA can get a copy of the software to use at home for the cost of shipping a CD, Microsoft said. Users won't be allowed to take home the CD they use at the office, however, and employees will need to order a CD from Microsoft.
The free support comes with SA for server products only, and telephone support during business hours is reserved for those who purchase Enterprise Editions of the server products, and even then is only for customers with certain license types, Microsoft said. The support is for problem resolution only and won't replace "mission critical" support or any extensive support contracts customers have now, Microsoft said.
Desktop software users can get some support through TechNet, Microsoft said.
Although the additions to SA are "a very big first step," Microsoft can do more to reconcile differences with its customers, DiDio said.
"You don't win trust back overnight. Microsoft has a lot of work to do to regain customer trust and confidence," she said.
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