The version of the Microsoft Product Terms that sets forth the terms of use for volume licenses, effective as of May 2, 2020, has substantially changed the terms of use for fromSA subscriptions. At first glance, the change seems marginal, but its impact is all the more significant, especially for organizations that are actively managing their software assets.
The essence of the modification is that Microsoft now requires the customer to retain the underlying perpetual licenses for fromSA subscriptions until the subscription expires. FromSA licenses allow purchasing Microsoft subscriptions for customers who have Software Assurance (SA) for their specific perpetual licenses. By this, Microsoft tries to compensate for the investment (and cost) that the purchase of perpetual licenses would have entailed for the user organization, which would be lost, at least in part, by switching to a subscription model.
Prior to May 2 of this year, the existence of perpetual licenses was a necessary and sufficient condition only for the purchase of fromSA subscription, but it was not for the validity of the right of use provided by the subscription. Thus, the user could even sell the underlying perpetual licenses on the secondary software market. In this case, at the next contract round, of course, it was only possible to purchase a full subscription, but supported by an appropriate mid-term TCO calculation, the sale could have been a profitable option.
The modification of PT mentioned above eliminated this possibility. In the case of fromSA subscriptions signed after May 2, 2020, the licenses can be considered as licenses for additional use, and the existence of the underlying perpetual licenses is a condition for their validity.
We have addressed the opportunities and conditions of the secondary software market in some other articles in recent years:
