Did you know VMware's offering a 25% vSOM discount? That's right, VMware has been providing a 25% discount to upgrade to vSOM from naked vSphere since Labor Day weekend. The standard upgrade price is $825 MSRP, but the promo price drops it down to $620 MSRP. That’s over a $200 savings per CPU. There are some serious savings to be had here so I wanted to quickly bring you up to speed so you could assess the solution and see if it makes sense for your organization.

By Rob O'Shaughnessy, Software Licensing Specialist, Pre-Sales Technical Support This was published in 2014, Microsoft still offers this service, and Rob is still here. For the latest on Microsoft's Software Asset Management tools and practices, check out this page.  I’ve been working in the GreenPages licensing department for over 14 years and many readers are probably asking the question, “why?”  Do you honestly like torturing yourself, Rob?  No, not really. I did have a full head of hair when I first started here and with each license change it recedes, so at least I'm saving on shampoo costs. Let’s face it, there are so many rules and regulations with licensing that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with.  Just when you think you understand, it changes.

By Rob O'Shaughnessy, Software Licensing Specialist, Pre-Sales Technical Support It’s the Final Four for the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, and if you’re like me and your bracket is busted the only thing to root for is a potential happy hour deal at your local watering hole. By midnight on Tuesday morning a victor will be crowed, and there will be fans celebrating their teams win on the court (and winning bets) and fans mourning their loss both on the court and perhaps in their wallet.

By Rob O'Shaughnessy, Director of Software Licensing   There’s some good news, and there’s some bad news.  The good news is Windows 2012 R2 is being released…the bad news you have to pay for it.

By Rob O'Shaughnessy, Software Licensing Specialist   I attended Adobe’s MAX conference in rainy, LA, California last week and I felt bad, as a local, that a lot of travelers had to witness our once a quarter rainfall, however with all the forest fires ranging around SoCal it was an unexpected relief.  Adobe put some fires out on their own by providing some great insight as to what they are doing to the software community.

By Rob O'Shaughnessy Opening week for the NFL, apple cider donuts and VMware product announcements are all signs that autumn is finally here. I’m not sure what I’m more excited about, no more vRAM entitlement conversations or the Patriots new look offense. Being a big sports nut and self-titled President all things Boston Sports in greater Los Angeles I should say the Patriots, but not having to explain vRAM and this many gigabytes is what you get with that edition and 12-month average and high water marks, etc. etc. etc. is going to be nice.

I had the pleasure of attending the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, Canada earlier this month and worldwide it was as 16,000 attendees squeezed into the Air Canada Center for Microsoft’s morning key note speeches.  That’s the most that arena has seen inside its snug confines since Vince Carter was dunking on opposing players, or I guess when Vince Carter could dunk period.  It was a week where Microsoft spent making some big announcements, covered some important changes and showcased some new products “Eh.”

Microsoft’s Office 2010 has been out for a couple of years now, but how many people actually know about it and its full capabilities? It’s like those people who are just discovering Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby. I mean peanut butter inside of a pretzel inside of a pint of ice cream, is that even possible? I guess so because we landed on the moon. Well Microsoft Office 2010 has been around for some time as well and I bet a lot of people are still using older versions of Office mainly because, hey it works. Sometimes Microsoft’s biggest competitor is itself, but in this case Office 2010 does have some nifty features that older versions of Office don’t have, and I find that these useful features save me time during the day that I can spend doing more appropriate things, like say eating ice cream.

  In anticipation of Microsoft’s release of SQL 2012 later this year (no official release date yet), I wanted to highlight some of the new editions and important licenses changes that will come with SQL 2012.