How can I properly licence an office? [duplicate]

I have a small business client who has a few windows servers and many workstations but as far as I can tell only has a few valid oem licences (some mismatched like xp home when xp pro is installed) for the workstations and almost no valid licences for the servers (It came with 2000 and now has 2003). They're partially interested in going legit and becoming properly licensed but fear its going to be a large cost. Interestingly enough they also fear that they'll get hammered on not being licensed so far and would rather keep under the radar.

I can't say this is the first time I've come across this, someone gets a hold of a slipstreamed xp pro cd or an office install that includes the key and are happy when it just works.

I'm not interested in giving them a hard time or turning them in. As I said I see this in my small business clients all the time and it wouldn't behoove me to mess with their businesses. I'm just looking for a good path to get them back into legitimacy.

Anyone have experience with this?

Solution 1:

Consult your local license provider. They wont get slammed at running illegal software - especially if you're looking at legitimising them. I'd look at how many clients you have, and how many servers. The Action Pack is really meant for IT Professionals (ie. You and I).

Consider their position too; If they're in Education or Non-Profit, they can get heavy discounts and get VLK (Volume Licensing). Alternatively look at "Microsoft Open License" ( https://partner.microsoft.com/UK/licensing/licensingprograms/ltvolumelicensing/vlopenlicense ) This allows for Pay-as-you-Go, and only requires a minimum of 5 PC's.

Good luck! :)

Solution 2:

Start by inventorying their software.

Compare the inventory with their licenses, take note of how the software is used, some licenses only allow certain types of use (MSDN licenses, for example).

Prepare a report for them, listing their software and identifying any items for which you could not find licenses. Suggest that they locate or purchase licenses for this software, since not having them available is a legal liability.