Information Systems:Microsoft Licensing
Written by Darren Freedman May 19 2016
The topic of Microsoft Licensing is something that has a certain amount of "open to interpretation" to it. There are 3 main types of licenses and each of the 3 have a bunch of sub types. The easiest license type to understand is the retail license. This is boxed software that you can purchase at Best Buy. In recent years, Microsoft has leaned away from boxed retail licenses and started selling software as a subscription for the context of retail customers. A traditional retail box copy of Windows or Office could be only installed on 1 computer at a time but the software could be moved to a different computer as long as it did not exist on the previous machine. Retail boxed licenses are generally expensive and Microsoft does not want that type of license used in a business setting even though there is no technical restriction - you can even by retail licenses of Windows and Office from CDW.
The next type of license is OEM or "Original Equipment Manufacturer". PC makers like Lenovo sell their laptops and desktops with a pre-installed OEM license of Windows. (Servers never come with a OEM Microsoft license) The laptop or desktop will also have what's called a Certificate Of Authority COA sticker that shows the device is properly licensed. It's important to understand that the COA sticker used to show the version of Windows installed and the license key. That isn't the case anymore because the OEM's will often downgrade the Windows version even when the PC is licensed correctly. OEM licenses, whether they are for Windows or Office, are tied to that specific computer. An OEM license of Office can only be installed on 1 computer and that license and install cannot be moved to a different machine. Even if the PC is end of lifed or the motherboard pops, the license cannot be moved or re-used. This is why OEM licenses are the least expensive due to these restrictions. In recent iterations of OEM Windows on recent models, the product key is stored in the BIOS or UEFI space so that the OEM install activates automatically on the correct hardware and allows better security for Microsoft's product keys.
The third type of license is the volume license. This one is much more complicated than the first two and mostly because there are a lot more rules and regulations for system administrators in the work space to follow. business open value 1 year versus 3 year terms own the license but SA can expire upfront versus split payments software assurance kms audits enterprise agreement 500+ link to other page with licensing website