How Microsoft Office is licensed in a Terminal Services Environment
There are a lot of different types of licenses available for Microsoft Office (Volume Licensing, OEM, Retail Box). Not all licenses are covered in a Terminal Services environment. To help clear things up a bit, Eric Ligman has posted a detailed article titled “Answer to a question on how Microsoft Office is licensed in a Terminal Services environment and why OEM Office doesn’t cover it, in plain English” explaining the differences. Eric writes:
- Microsoft Office is a desktop application. As such, you need (1) Microsoft Office license per desktop using the Microsoft Office software. Terminal Services does not change the number of devices accessing and using a software application, it merely provides another avenue to access the software through. So licensing Microsoft Office doesn’t change at all regardless if Terminal Services is used or not. You still need one license per device accessing and using the Microsoft Office application.
- When someone purchases a commercial software license (Microsoft or not), they are not purchasing the software itself. The software bits and bytes are owned by the software publisher. What you are buying is the rights to use the software under the terms and conditions of the license agreement you purchased. As such, when purchasing software, you should purchase the license that provides you with the rights you want.
- For instance, if you want to be able to run Microsoft Access, don’t buy a Microsoft Standard license because this does not give you the rights to run Access. Be sure to purchase an Office license that does provide you the rights to run Microsoft Access.
- If you want to be able to run Microsoft Publisher, don’t buy a Microsoft Standard license because this does not give you the rights to run Publisher. Be sure to purchase an Office license that does provide you the rights to run Microsoft Publisher.
- c. If you want the rights to be able to transfer your Office license from one machine to another one when you retire the original PC, be sure you buy a license that provides those rights. Don’t buy an OEM Office license since OEM licenses do not provide transfer rights. Volume Licensing and Retail Box Office licenses do provide transfer rights.
- If you want the rights to be able to install a prior version of Office instead of the version you purchased, be sure to purchase an Office license with downgrade rights. Don’t purchase an OEM or Retail Box of Office 2007 since those do not have downgrade rights. Purchase a Volume License of Office 2007 since it does have Downgrade Rights.
- If you want the rights to be able to access and run Office from a network device, be sure to purchase an Office license with Network Storage and Use Rights. Don’t purchase an OEM Office license since it does not provide Network Storage and Use rights. Purchase a Volume License of Office so that you have Network Storage and Use Rights.
- The statement that because you have an OEM Office license, you should be able to use it in a Terminal Services environment is the same as saying you have an Office Standard license so you should be able to run Access. Why? You did not purchase the rights to have Network Storage and Use rights just like you did not pay to have rights to run Access, so why should you be entitled to do so? Simply purchase a license that provides you with what you want.
Be sure to check out the Licensing section on MSTerminalServices.org as well…
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Ben Lipman Says:
August 21st, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Ok, so does this mean you need exactly one additional license per terminal server since it is the device using Office instead of the workstation or does this imply that you need no additional licensing for the TS box itself? This is all assuming the licensing in question is Volume.
Eric Ligman Says:
August 21st, 2007 at 5:48 pm
As my post on the Blog states, you need (1) Office license per client device running/accessing Office, since it is actually the client devices accessing the Office software on the server. You do not need an Office license for the server itself, unless you have someone sitting at the server and using Office on it directly. (Which is highly discouraged since servers should not be used as client devices). So if you have (10) devices using Terminal Services to run Office from the server, then you need (10) Office licenses (with network storage and use rights).
Nick Smith Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:01 am
Which suggests that if you have Office on the PC, you would also have the right to connect to a TS from that PC and use Office on the TS?
I’ve been told this fairly confidently by People Who Ought to Know. Which suggests (And I have indeed been told this is so) that if you have a legitimate OEM licence for the PC which is connecting to the TS then that works OK too.
What is Open Office? Says:
October 9th, 2007 at 6:38 am
Want a simpler license? To avoid possible litigation, here at work we’ve all switched to Open Office. Not only is it easier to use, but it cost us nothing to setup and install. The $12400 that was saved went right into our pockets: every employee got an Open Office bonus of $250 in their paycheck last August, with an additional $1650 used to refurnish the office kitchen. And we don’t worry about Microsoft barging down the door with a software audit. All our software has always been legal, but we don’t need the bother of proving it.