When it comes to the consumerization of IT, Microsoft just doesn’t get it. The company’s software licensing policies have lagged advances in hardware and software for years; and now, an apparent effort to use licensing to give its Surface tablet an edge may backfire on Redmond.
Microsoft and other traditional software vendors have struggled with how to change their licensing rules ever since the advent of virtualization, which divorced software from hardware. Instead of assigning one license per machine, virtualization requires licensing of virtual machines, which are continually being created, moved around, and eliminated.
The rapid adoption of mobile platforms and cloud computing have strained old licensing schemes even more. In fact, a prediction that Dave Buchholz, principal engineer at Intel Corp.'s Intel IT unit, made to me in early 2011 has proved prescient: "As corporate employees start using many different devices -- smartphones, laptops, iPads -- corporations are asking, 'How many licenses am I going to have to buy?' "
Two years ago, Microsoft adjusted its licensing policies in an effort to adapt to virtualization, relaxing licensing requirements for virtual clients. It also extended remote access rights to allow enterprise users that were covered under Windows SA to use “non-corporate devices” -- at that time, mostly PCs and laptops -- to access virtual Windows desktops and Microsoft Office applications hosted on a VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) platform.
But the rules were convoluted, confusing, and essentially useless, according to Paul DeGroot, a consultant whose firm, Software Licensing Advisors Inc., specializes in, well, advising clients on software licensing. In parsing the language, DeGroot figures that the these remote access rights only permit “access from untrusted devices over insecure networks, the kind of thing that most corporations will do their level best to block.”
Then last spring, Microsoft tweaked the rules again in preparation for launching Windows 8. Again, the changes are very confusing. (Apparently software licenses are so complex that consultants like DeGroot can make a living deciphering them.)
For example, in the case of Windows RT, the tablet version of Windows 8, here’s what the latest changes boil down to: Corporate users that are covered under Microsoft’s Windows Software Assurance program will be able to use Windows RT tablets with no additional licensing costs. But they will not have access rights from iPads or Android tablets. Those users will be required to buy something called a Companion Device License. (DeGroot gives a good explanation of the rule changes here.)
The Wall Street Journal recently picked up on this change, reporting that Microsoft is using its licensing as a way to give Windows RT-based tablets and its own new Surface tablet an advantage in the enterprise market.
DeGroot told the Journal he’s not aware of any case in which Microsoft has actually enforced these licensing charges, at least not yet. But it’s certainly a worry for CIOs now and in the future. “A coming nightmare scenario for many organizations will be the day that Microsoft asks them how many of their employees access email or work documents from their smartphones or iPads,” said DeGroot.
This type of subtle pressure -- the potential for Microsoft to find (and fine) enterprises out of compliance for trying to accommodate the BYOD trend -- is so twentieth-century. It shows that Microsoft is still stuck in the old client-server world.
One CIO in the Journal blog warns that the action and Microsoft’s general attitude may force him to “engineer [Microsoft] out” of the enterprise. Microsoft does not seem to recognize that the iPad and other tablets have already made significant inroads into the corporate market.
Such backward policies are likely to backfire on the company and further alienate CIOs and corporate users.
[Ed note update: At press time, Microsoft had not responded to a request for comment on the views expressed in this blog. Three days later, a Microsoft spokesperson replied that the company is unable to accommodate the request for comment at this time.]
jabailo - For all this to happen, Facebook needs to be vastly transformed. Businesses would need some control and ownership of content they post to Facebook, and the configuration of their Facebook pages. Right now, Facebook can cancel an account or delete a page for any reason or no reason at all.
Tam Harbert - There is also the question of whether the employer should require the employee to provide his own work tools. For years, employers provided employees with PCs and cell phones -- should employees now be required to pay for those themselves?
That's a great question, and after I wrote my IE post, I was thinking about that all day.
I had this thought, that in fact, you could create a whole business organization simply by organizing a group of "Friends" about a central busienss web page and manipulating Facebook permissions.
Remember, Facebook defines itself as complete revolution in communications.
For example, in Facebook there is no email. Who needs it. You have a wall, and there are public walls. You can post things on the wall and yes, also send private messages.
As far a various automation, Facebook, is a complete development environment. You can do everything from building a simple web page, to using the FBML (Facebook Markup Language) to using Facebook as gigantic web service+cloud.
But really, the key thing is that assuming you have a disperse group of "experts" -- marketing, sales, manufacturing, management, information systems...you wouldn't have to do anything more than connect up their existing Facebook accounts.
You would even have all their HR information right at their fingertips! Facebook is just scratching the surface of how it goes beyong to being a "cloud platform" to inverting how one joins an organization.
Instead of getting a job, and entering my information into an HR system, all my information is already there...work history, demographics...and I just press the Like button and voila, the HR consultant has some portion of my info for public viewing.
Hi, Mitch. Yes, but when they do start having security problems, what can they do? The genie will already be out of the bottle. Those enterprises that have figured out how to do BYOD AND maintain enterprise security will rule. I think we'll get to the point where people will not work for a company that doesn't allow BYOD. The consumer technology has zoomed past the enterprise technology here.
Quite frankly, I think everyone is too focused on "devices".
My own take is that we're entering the Pocket Caculator era of personal computing. We see $69 android tablets from China. Those aren't going away. Fire and Nexus already look overpriced and Surface continues to try and put the genie back into the bottle.
My perspective is that the big winner right now on all levels is Facebook. To me the audience, and more and more businesses are transforming themselves into Facebook Groups. They are getting people to comment on their posts, share their schedules.
As far as clouds, Facebook is the world's biggest cloud, and it has built in user identification and security.
In sum, Facebook is the complete proprietarization of every major facet of the Web. And businesses will see that as better for them.
Thus the issue is no longer operating systems, browsers, individual web sites, search engine optimization or any of that stuff.
The new paradigm is social and the platform is Facebook.
I don't think Microsoft yet understands how to cope with the BYOD shift in the enterprise. The power has shifted to the individual user, and IT will remain relevant only if it can enable those users with what they need to do their jobs while also protecting the company in terms of data security and regulatory compliance. The tech landscape is littered with the carcasses of tech companies that failed to recognize and adjust to such shifts. (Remember Digital Equipment Corp's Ken Olsen saying there was no reason for a person to ever have a computer in their home?) Unfortunately, Microsoft seems too tied to old software models. I'm not convinced that it will be able to adjust.
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