I missed this story from a couple of weeks ago. This is one of several stories that have been in the press lately about Microsoft SAM program and some of their “shady” practices according to the customers.
While it may be a little shady about how Microsoft is going about doing this, I think they have every right to do this – along with any other software vendor.
With fewer people upgrading to a new software application just for the sake of doing an upgrade, software vendors are looking to get all the new software revenue they can. One of the ways to do this is find all of the lost license revenue.
According to Juan Fernando Rivera, worldwide director of Microsoft’s SAM program, part of the compensation received by the engagement managers is based on the revenue they recover for unpaid licenses on software that customers have been using.
