Just when you think you have everything in order, another new Microsoft release comes out and you are faced with the decision of whether or not to upgrade or just stick with what you have installed. The option of upgrading to the new Office 2010 has many organizations pondering whether or not they really need it, and can sacrifice the costs to do so, especially considering the current economic climate.

For those organizations that have Software Assurance (SA), you are in luck. You may not need to pay to upgrade as its part of your SA contract. Those that opted out of SA, or smaller businesses that are buying their software from the local Staples of Office Depot are facing a significant spend to upgrade. There is, however, a loop hole. Yes, a Microsoft loop hole! If you currently have Office 2003, you should consider upgrading to Office 2007, and then to Office 2010. Because Office 2007 offers upgrade pricing, which gives you a discount not available with Office 2010, you could save as much as $200 per installation.

If you want to upgrade from Office 2003 to Office 2010, you have to buy, install, and validate a copy of Office 2007. Then you will get a free upgrade from Office 2007 to Office 2010. So, you can move from 2003 to 2010 for the discounted cost of moving from 2003 to 2007. The only downside is all the extra installation time and effort.

Two things to watch out for when considering this move on the licensing front – pay attention to each version and the licensing terms. You may need to buy a specific version of 03 and/or 07 in order to qualify for the right free upgrade. If you really want to upgrade, and save some money while doing so, make sure you have copies of Office 2007 handy, or get them while the getting is good!

We recently answered that question in SearchOracle.com, where Miro is part of the Ask the Oracle Expert: Questions & Answers column. Here’s the original question and our answer.

Has Oracle changed its policy in licensing databases on VMware? From my understanding, they are treating VMware as soft partitioning. Is there any official documentation with regards to VMware/Oracle licensing that I can refer to?

Yes, in a nutshell it is treated like soft partitioning given that they are not recognizing VMware for purposes of limiting CPUs needing licensing.   No, there is NO official Oracle document regarding Oracle’s treatment of VMware, likely because they are still developing their position on the topic.

New 8 and 12-core processors…what does this mean for Oracle and Microsoft?

Some good news regarding Microsoft licensing in virtual environments – near the end of March, Microsoft announced that customers with active Software Agreements on Windows desktop software can freely access virtualized Windows desktop instances without additional charge. This is an important and welcome departure from the prior model of Virtual Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) which resulted in additional costs to customers contemplating the move to a virtual desktop environment.

The critical point here, of course, is an active Software Assurance agreement. Recent cost cutting measures, coupled with reluctance in moving from the stability of a Windows XP platform to the Vista platform, have resulted in Software Assurance being dropped in some instances.

For all of you that are using Itanium versions of Microsoft products, be aware that the company plans on phasing out support of the architecture. Don’t panic though – this process will take about 8 years to fully take effect. Microsoft claims that Itanium is being replaced but more capable technologies from makers Intel and AMD, and will be the way of the past in a few short years, although Intel has just introduced a new version of Itanium as recently as February.

According to Dan Reger of Microsoft, Windows Server 2008 R2 will be the last version of Windows Server to support Itanium along with SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010, which have yet to be released. Windows Server 2008 R2 will be supported until July 9, 2013, while extended support will continue until July 10, 2018.  Red Hat is also mimicking Microsoft as phasing out support as well.

You can’t say you haven’t been warned!

We have addressed how the per-device licensing model that Microsoft currently utilizes is slowing the adoption of virtualization, making it too expensive. But… guess what? Later this year, Microsoft is finally going to make some changes!

Some of the complaints from the industry have been about the required purchase of SA in order to access virtual desktop tools, and that Virtual Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD), which is required, is too expensive.

While Microsoft is well aware of these issues that have only just come forward to say that the intent to create a “hybrid” licensing model between per-user and per-device licensing.  The software company claims that it cannot accurately get a count of licenses per access point using any alternate licensing model, which currently exists; so Microsoft will have its work cut out for them when trying to come up with a new model.

We predict that Microsoft will introduce small changes, gradually, to accommodate the most immediate problems with virtualization, until the company can develop a model that works for everyone involved.