In my earlier, “Microsoft Open License Basics – You only need 2 computers to qualify for Volume Licensing” post as part of this series, I showed you how you could qualify for Microsoft’s Open License programs with just two computers (not the 5 that some people think you need). In this post, I will teach you another little trick on meeting that initial 5 license minimum to start a new Open License Agreement if your initial purchase falls short of the quantity 5 needed.
Let’s say that you are a company with just two computers, like in my example from the “Microsoft Open License Basics – You only need 2 computers to qualify for Volume Licensing” post and you want to order Microsoft Office licenses for both computers and one or two Windows Upgrades for those computers. This would give you a total of 3 or 4 licenses, depending on if you did the one or two Windows upgrades.
Here’s a cool announcement coming out of the SBS 2008 and TechNet Teams. Have you been wanting to get some hands-on experience with Windows Small Business Server 2008 but didn’t have the hardware to install the hands-on-labs yourself? I’m very excited to announce the availability of three virtual labs now available for you to use on TechNet! These virtual labs are:
Migration from SBS 2003
Administration Console
Working with Clients
In addition to these virtual labs, we also have some demos available for you to download as well, including:
This week you have probably seen a lot of the Windows Phone 7 Series excitement coming out of MIX10 and you may have heard it earlier from several other places as well; however, the excitement is there and continues to grow broader and louder each day. Why? Well, Windows Phone 7 Series holds a promise to be an amazing mobile phone with new innovative user interface and functionality, as well as a great development platform on which you can quickly and easily build games and applications!
With all of the new devices coming out and the huge new software platform available for rich applications, demand for Windows Phone will be high, and developers who want to quickly adopt the Windows Phone platform to capitalize on this untapped mobile marketplace may be asking, “Are there any developer resources available right now for me for this?” I am very happy to post here about the availability of the Windows Phone 7 Series Developer Training Kit, which is available for you to download today!
If you’ve been following me on Twitter (@EricLigman) recently, you’ve seen my tweets about the upcoming live Microsoft Partner Network Q&A sessions with Julie Bennani taking place today from 9-10 am PST and again from 5-6 pm PST via Twitter (@mspartner). What you will also see today is a new series of webcasts posted to the Microsoft Partner Network Community site by Julie regarding the Microsoft Partner Network.
Here is the first video in the series, “Microsoft Partner Network – Overview:”
There are several others in this series, including:
I hope you can join us today for the live Microsoft Partner Network Q&A sessions with Julie via Twitter and be sure to check out the webcast series posted online for even more information regarding the new Microsoft Partner Network.
Here’s an exciting announcement for all of you developers, developers, developers out there! Channel 9 is offering a free Silverlight 4 Training Kit. The training kit includes a whitepaper explaining all of the new Silverlight 4 features, several hands-on-labs that explain the features, and a 8 unit course for building business applications with Silverlight 4.
The business applications course includes 8 modules with extensive hands on labs as well as accompanying videos that walk you through key aspects of building a business application with Silverlight. Key aspects in this course are working with sandboxed out of browser features, elevated trust out of browser features, the new RichTextBox control, implicit styling, webcam, drag and drop, multi touch, validation, authentication, MEF, WCF RIA Services, right mouse click, and much more.
Yesterday marked the kickoff of MIX10 and anyone on Twitter or any other online source couldn’t help but see a flurry of information coming out of MIX10. I thought I would put up some of the interesting tidbits and items I saw from the day for those of you interested.
MIX10 Day 1 Keynote Featuring Scott Guthrie and Joe Belfiore
Windows Phone 7 Series Keynote Announcements from MIX10
Announcing Silverlight 4 Release Candidate – John Papa and Adam Kinney follow up the MIX10 keynote announcement of Silverlight 4 RC by discussing what is new and what materials have been released on the Channel 9 learning center website.
Single licenses of collective products, often referred to as “Suites” of products, offer considerable savings and easier license management and these savings can be so good, that they truly earn the name of “Sweet",” I mean “Suite.” Sometimes though, there are some common misconceptions and misunderstandings of how these suites work and what you can and can’t do with them or how things like the upgrade protection in Software Assurance works with them. In this post, I will try to clarify these questions around suite licensing.
As mentioned above, suites are collections of products pulled together and offered as a single license, often at considerable savings versus buying the individual items separately. A few very well know suites from Microsoft are: Microsoft Office and Small Business Server (SBS). Microsoft Office is a suite of desktop applications while Small Business Server is a suite of server applications.; however, both are suites.
Here at Microsoft, we are always working on ways to bring information to our Partners around the world to help them know about things coming, tools and items available, trends and insights, and much more. One of the tools we have available is the Microsoft Partner Network Video Channel on Showcase which brings information to you through online videos, which allows you to access them at the best time for you from wherever you have internet access, giving you even more flexibility.
As a sample, here is one of the videos posted on the Microsoft Partner Network Video Channel, Allison Watson Unplugged – Microsoft Online Services Webcast where Allison Watson, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group discusses Microsoft's online service offerings
Here is your chance to be among the first to receive Visual Studio 2010 Professional upon it’s release, as well as an offer to help you save some money and get something extra. Right now there is a promotion running for those interested in pre-ordering the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional Upgrade that offers a few really nice benefits:
Save you up to $250 off the Estimated Retail Price
Receive a 12-month MSDN Essentials subscription
Be among the first to get it (Downloadable on April 12th)
For those of you in the UK, Microsoft is launching the first of three Bing television ads that will be hitting the airways today, Wednesday, March 10th across ITV, Channel 4, Five and their portfolio of TV services as well as Sky Media and IDS digital channels including Bravo, Dave, GOLD, Living TV and Good Food.
Want a peek at the first one? Here you go:
Like this? Share it with others:
Thank you and have a wonderful day,
Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTERand RSS Global Partner Experience Lead Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
This week you have probably seen a lot of the Windows Phone 7 Series excitement coming out of MIX10 and you may have heard it earlier from several other places as well; however, the excitement is there and continues to grow broader and louder each day. Why? Well, Windows Phone 7 Series holds a promise to be an amazing mobile phone with new innovative user interface and functionality, as well as a great development platform on which you can quickly and easily build games and applications! 
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