October 18, 2010 at 12:57 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Software Assurance Cuts Back
October 18, 2010 at 2:08 am
Unfortunately I did pay for this, never used it and now it look as if it will be taken away.
Perhaps MS will provide a refund to me...
October 18, 2010 at 3:29 am
My company offers this, so does that mean that any licences that have been bought will be revoked or that we should get in there quick?
October 18, 2010 at 4:26 am
My company offered Office through this program. A couple of months ago, though, we were informed that anyone who'd bought the software through this program would no longer be covered and they had to uninstall and delete it from their home computers because Microsoft wasn't offering it that way any more.
Which sucked for people who'd spent money on the software. (I wasn't one of them.) If they wanted a copy of Office at home, they had to repurchase it at full price now.
October 18, 2010 at 4:28 am
Bah - that sucks!
October 18, 2010 at 6:52 am
I've taken advantage of the Home Use Program via my employer (US Air Force) a couple of times for Office (2007 and 2010) and Visio (2007 and 2010) but not the EPP. Those prices were way more than HUP. While I'm sure they were a lot lower than retail, it still wasn't a big enough carrot for me to bite at something I didn't absolutely need. It's a shame that the program is being cut though...
October 18, 2010 at 7:08 am
By enrolling in CE courses at the local college, we get insane discounts on most MS software. Since we get refunded by the company at the sucessful completion of a class, it's both education and software for the time spent to upgrade ones skills.
😀
October 18, 2010 at 7:17 am
A recent change to our Enterprise agreement allows us to install Office at home "for a nominal fee", presumably to defray costs at my place of work. I use open source products for the little bit of (personal) work I do at home, and I've made it quite clear that if the company wants me to work at home, they can pay me to do so, and that includes the computer and any software it may involve. They don't use my car, they aren't using my computer or my software.
October 18, 2010 at 7:19 am
My employer offered this. It also included Microsoft branded hardware like the Xbox, mice, and keyboards. Most XBOX games are not made by MS so it didn't include any that I wanted.
However, from my perspective, I could buy it cheaper from a local retailer because it was the same price, but with MS I had to pay shipping.
The website sucked as well. No wonder no one took advantage of it. I figure with no one using it and the admin cost to maintain the crappy website, it was a no-brainer to ax it.
I did/do participate in the at home use program. That is sweet.
Regards,
Joe
October 18, 2010 at 7:57 am
We've had a good take-up of the Microsoft Home Use Programme, the Dell Employee Purchase Scheme and the Hewlett Packard Employee Purchase Scheme but we've never offered the software assurance scheme because we've had MS-HUP.
Maybe it's just MS removing the lesser used scheme.
October 18, 2010 at 11:36 am
I have used the Home Use Program to buy deeply discounted Microsoft software, such as Office 2007 and most recently Office 2010. While I have used other software such as Open Office (a fine and useful product) having the same tools at home as at work cuts down frustration significantly. And seriously, Microsoft Office is just plain great! I appreciate that Microsoft has offered this in the past. I am sorry to see it go.
October 18, 2010 at 11:57 am
I don't know about the SA package, but I have often taken advantage of "special program" and "promotions" from Microsoft that gives away software (especially to developers). I have Visual Studio Professional 2010 and SQL Server 2008 R2 web edition that I received free from joining the Microsoft WebsiteSpark program for personal development and research at home. Of course the web edition of SQL Server seems to be limited, in that it doesn't provide SSIS or SSAS support (it does have SSRS though).
Back when 2005 was on top, Microsoft sold the SQL Server 2005 developer edition for $50 but at the same time there were several special promotions in which the developer edition was given away for free. These promotions went many months and made me wonder why anyone in their right mind would pay $50 for something they could get for free. However recent posts I made regarding problems with trying to obtain the 2008 R2 developer edition, enlightened me how many MVP's on this site had no idea that 2005 developer was being given away for free (btw: 2008 R2 developer currently can no longer be obtained, even by 3rd party vendors, except through joining TechNet, with a minimum $200 yearly subscription).
Likewise with Office, Microsoft had many special promotions in which the entire Office (2007) product was practically given away for a nominal amount. It just takes keeping your ear to the ground and investigating all the promotions Microsoft puts out.
"Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand." -- Martin Fowler
October 18, 2010 at 12:05 pm
mgautreau,
The primary reason to have an at home system, mimicking your work setup, is not to work from home, but to maintain your proficiency in learning to use all the new additions and paradigm changes such as WCF, MVC, SSIS, SSAS, Linq-to-SQL and/or Entity Frameworks, etc.
The workplace is for working, and studying or experimenting with new technology is frowned upon and/or banned completely, so you have no choice but to do it at home or lose your edge.
"Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand." -- Martin Fowler
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