Microsoft's Pricing Strategy

The BackOffice Small Business Server (SBS)
costs about Rs 45,000 for a five-user license. Additional client access licenses are
available in packs of five and will cost Rs 9,000 per pack. Maximum users possible are 25.

NT Server 4.0 is priced at Rs 25,000 for a
five-user license, and for each subsequent user license you will have to pay about Rs
1,000. All other goodies-SQL server, Exchange server etc. are separately priced.

While SBS and NT 4.0 starts with a minimum of five users, NT Enterprise Edition license
starts with 25 users. This license for 25 users will set you back by about Rs 1,20,000.
Additional user licenses cost the same as that for NT server 4.0.

The pricing of Microsoft products, like
that for the offerings of other IT vendors, is linked to the prevailing Rupee-Dollar
exchange rate. The pricing that you get is also dependent on the total value of MS
products that you are buying. There is a fairly simple point system which determines the
pricing you get. According to TS Krishnan, Director (Enterprise Customer Unit), Microsoft
India, this is an open system, and the details are provided to all customers. So, next
time you buy Microsoft products, ask for the Microsoft Open Licensing Program (MOLP). You
may get a better deal!

Microsoft offers four-volume pricing
policies, A through D under MOLP. Each policy has different discount levels and support
options. Microsoft has kept these policies flexible. MOLP works like this: Points are
gained for each tool, application, or client that you wish to purchase and the total
points earned determine the pricing policy that you become eligible for.

For e.g. NT Server is worth 15 points and
each additional client license is one point. Microsoft Office is worth two points. Project
gets you one. If you buy software worth 20 to 200 points, you qualify for A-level pricing.
Above 200 and up to a thousand points qualifies you for B. Above one thousand and up to
two thousand is C, and above that is D. So, if you want to purchase one NT Server with
1000 additional clients then you accumulate 1015 points, which makes you eligible for
Policy C pricing.