A side effect of enterprises moving towards Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions is that it whets their appetite for simpler licensing. Think about it. You can pay Google $50 per user per year for Google Apps Premier Edition (and complete the transaction within minutes), or you can spend days, weeks, and even months negotiating with Microsoft on an enterprise license for Microsoft Office.
OK. If you also buy MOSS 2007, we can give you an additional 2% off of the price of Office. Oh, you also want to buy OCS? Let me see how that will effect the deal we can give you [clicking of keys in the background].
This is a purely hypothetical conversation, but you get the idea--it's long and complicated, and in the end you aren't really sure what you've paid for each product. Now just because licensing is easier with Google Apps doesn't mean large enterprises are flocking to it--but it does make them wistful for a simpler licensing life.
All of the big software vendors--IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle--will have to get over the idea that licensing software has to be complicated. If you have a large direct sales force, complicated pricing is tolerated and even welcomed. That's why byzantine enterprise software pricing (e.g., bundling, discounts, and special deals) has been the modus operandi for years, and enterprises haven't had another option--until now.
Therefore, a huge question is how the large software vendors will alter their pricing practices going forward: will they keep their old and increasingly outdated habits, or will they simplify licensing to save their customers time and aggravation? I must admit I remain skeptical that these behemoths (1) will figure out that they need to change and (2) be able to act on that realization. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that at least one Microsoft division is moving in the right direction with Small Business Server 2008 (a packaging of Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, Office Live Small Business 2008, Windows SharePoint Services [WSS], and Windows Server Update Services for small businesses).
You can read the InfoWorld article here; in terms of licensing, the article notes:
Microsoft SBS Client Access Licenses (CALs) can be assigned to users or machines, a nice option if you're running multiple shifts or have users with intermittent access requirements. CALs are available in 20-packs, 5-packs, or, in a hat-tip to the realities of small-business life, single-CAL packs. In addition, SBS comes with five "temporary CALs" that you can borrow against to get a new user up and running immediately. The idea is that you set up a new employee with a temporary CAL and then buy the regular license, returning the temporary CAL to the pool. This way, you don't have to wait until you've had a chance to buy a CAL before you can bring on a new user, and you don't have to buy more CALs than you need. In many ways, the new licensing scheme may be the most important change to the product.
While not as simple as Google Apps, this is a start in the right direction, and recognizes that licensing is going to be more dynamic in the future. Companies don't know how many employees they're going to have in the future--especially in these tough economic times--and so a more dynamic licensing model is a good thing.
So the next time you see your IBM, Microsoft, or Oracle sales rep, ask him or her how they're going to make your licensing life easier over the next year. They'll probably look up at the ceiling, shift from foot to foot, or try to change the subject. But if enough customers ask, the large software vendors will recognize that this is a problem that they need to fix.