If you are a larger company, consider signing up for the Microsoft ‘eOpen’ license.

You can get eOpen with or without ‘Software Assurance’. Software Assurance means you pay a fee every 3 years to MS, and you automatically get the newest versions of the software.

Even if you don’t have Software Assurance, the ‘eOpen’ part of the license gives you a lot of flexibility.

I work for a dental company that has about 100 computers. If we buy a machine without eOpen licensing and that machine dies in 4 years, we have to buy a new machine, and new copies of Windows and Office.

With eOpen, we are legally allowed to transfer that copy of Windows and Office to a newly purchased machine. In other words, you can purchase bare machines and load your copy of Windows and Office on it. You also get 1 CD key from Microsoft that works for all your computers.

Combine the eOpen copy of Windows with a tool like nlite and you can build an automated reinstall CD. It now takes me less than 30 minutes to wipe and reinstall any one of our PCs. (Reinstalling Eaglesoft takes a few minutes longer because retarded Patterson can’t figure out how to make a silent installer.)