Software licenses are the backbone of Microsoft’s empire. Now, through a slightly convoluted set of licensing agreements, the software kingpin is making its proprietary offerings available for third parties through rental agreements with members of its partner network. Datamation has the details.
Microsoft quietly announced at the beginning of the year that it will finally begin renting out some of its software via its partner network.
However, for those already bewildered by Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) complex licensing terms, don’t expect that to get any easier with the change.
“As of January 1, 2010, Rental Rights license SKUs were added to the worldwide Microsoft Product List for Volume Licensing, Microsoft Product Use Rights (PUR) document, and Microsoft Volume Licensing price lists as additive licenses through the Microsoft Open License, Microsoft Select License, and Microsoft Select Plus agreements for the following products,” a posting on Microsoft’s partner licensing site said.
Translation: Microsoft partners can now acquire legal licenses that let them rent Microsoft software to their customers.
The post also notes, however, that many third-party rental schemes in place currently around the world, which claim to permit rental of Microsoft software, are not legit.