Microsoft Quietly Increases Enterprise Application Fees

Without a lot of fanfare, Microsoft has increased the licensing fees for several enterprise applications, including Exchange, its Lync communications server, Windows Server and Terminal Services. The fifteen percent increase applies to Client Access Licenses (CALs) only.

Robert Mullins from eWeek reported, “Effective Dec. 1, Microsoft is raising the price of client access licenses for certain server-based software products due, in part, to the Bring Your Own Device trend. Microsoft says it is raising the price of Client Access Licenses (CALs) for certain server-based products like Lync, SharePoint, Exchange and others because workers are accessing those programs from a growing number of end point devices.”

Computerworld’s Derek du Preez added, “According to Constellation Research, unlike previous price hikes, Microsoft isn’t giving customers several months’ notice before the changes come into effect. Instead, it told resellers about the increases and left it up to them to decide whether or not to tell end user customers.”

ComputerWeekly quoted Forrester analyst Duncan Jones, who said, “I told Microsoft it was a mistake to charge more for user CALs than device CALs. It’s inside-out thinking. There is no evidence that people are deriving more value from MS software and people will not be willing to pay 15% more because they can access it from a tablet.”

SearchEnterpriseDesktop quoted Microsoft customer Scott Frazier, IT administrator at Con. J. Franke Electric. He said, “I think it’s a raw deal. We’re already spending thousands of dollars for server licenses. They’re sticking it to everybody. I think it’s just nuts that we pay for the server and then they charge us to use it.”