NetFlash: Microsoft users: No bang for big bucks

Microsoft’s customers have been uneasy about the company’s Software Assurance licensing program since before it started a couple years ago. With software maintenance costs the highest in the country, Microsoft was asking its customers to sign over big money in return for upgrades and support – and in a tough economy to boot. The thing is, in a few months a whole lot of those contracts expire, and in many cases customers never saw an upgrade. Technically, Microsoft never made any promises, but that’s cold comfort to those customers. There is a silver lining, however; see our story to find out more. Microsoft users: No bang for big bucks http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0308licensing.html?net

Microsoft’s customers have been uneasy about the company’s Software Assurance licensing program since before it started a couple years ago. With software maintenance costs the highest in the country, Microsoft was asking its customers to sign over big money in return for upgrades and support – and in a tough economy to boot. The thing is, in a few months a whole lot of those contracts expire, and in many cases customers never saw an upgrade. Technically, Microsoft never made any promises, but that’s cold comfort to those customers. There is a silver lining, however; see our story to find out more.

Microsoft users: No bang for big bucks

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0308licensing.html?net

Moving Linux to the desktop

The Microsoft licensing flap is especially important given ever-increasing competition from the open-source world. This week we check in on the prospect of running Linux on desktop machines. How feasible is it today for enterprise companies?

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0308desktop.html?net

Bottom line alone isn’t selling VoIP

VoiceCon 2004 demonstrated that more businesses are seriously considering VoIP, but the benefits of the technology remain difficult to justify using just traditional bottom-line analysis. The event bucked the shrinking-show phenomenon that has plagued the IT industry by drawing 3,500 attendees and 107 exhibitors to the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, up from last year’s 3,000 attendees and 53 exhibitors.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0308voicecon.html?net

IBM, Sun to meet over open source Java

Representatives from IBM and Sun will meet in a week to 10 days time to discuss IBM’s proposal for creating an open source version of Sun’s Java technology, an IBM executive said Thursday.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0305ibmsunt.html?net

Today at “Layer 8”

Start your week on the right foot by visting Layer 8 where we bring you such nuggets as: Is the end near for Howard Stern?; Presidential politics uncensored; Public relations spam at work; and more not-just-networking news. Plus we’ll be lighting a fire under a new caption contest today. Can a Monday get any better?

https://www.nwfusion.com/weblogs/layer8/?net