Microsoft targets iPad, Android users with tablet virtualization license fee

Modern tablets have seen tremendous growth in both the consumer and enterprise markets, and many analysts estimate that the tablet will one day outperform the PC market as a whole. It therefore makes sense that Microsoft is now ready to stake its claim in the tablet market with the coming release of the Windows 8 operating system and Windows RT tablets (based on chips designed by ARM) expected to arrive sometime this year.

With Microsoft jumping into the modern tablet market, a new licensing change comes along. In a move described by some as Microsoft’s attempt to slow down Apple iPad adoption by enterprise consumers, the company is creating yet another add-on licensing fee for Windows, which this time is being imposed on tablet devices running virtualization programs to access Windows applications across corporate servers.

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Today, desktop virtualization is one technolog continuing to expand and grow in market share. One of the catalysts for this growth in the desktop virtualization market has been the introduction of the Apple iPad, and companies like Citrix, Red Hat, Virtual Bridges, and VMware have made great use of these modern tablets to help increase an organization’s desire for VDI technologies. Most Windows shops leveraging desktop virtualization are doing so by purchasing something called Software Assurance (SA) from Microsoft. SA provides businesses the right to operate multiple virtual machines on their desktops and to access remote virtual machines.

Microsoft’s latest addition to the Windows 8 licensing world is known as a Companion Device License (CDL). The CDL is for Microsoft customers who want to provide full flexibility for how employees access their corporate desktops across various devices. For users of Windows Software Assurance-licensed PCs, this optional add-on will provide rights to access a corporate desktop (either locally in a VM or remotely via VDI) on up to four personally owned devices. But this new add-on fee is raising eyebrows. What’s already considered by many as a complicated licensing process, just got more complicated.

According to virtualization experts, the CDL may solve a licensing problem for Microsoft that a lot of people didn’t even know existed. Under the current VDI licensing terms, organizations that use devices not covered by Software Assurance (such as iPads, Android-based tablets, thin client devices, and employee-owned PCs) must also buy the Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) license subscription, which costs an additional $100 per device annually.

Here’s where the complicated grows ever more complicated.

For users whose PCs have Software Assurance on Windows, Microsoft offers what it calls “roaming rights.” Roaming rights are supposed to provide users with access to a virtual desktop infrastructure from another device, but it evidently comes with weird restrictions that you may not have understood. Though designed for what was thought to be the VDI use case for the mobile worker working remotely, SA roaming rights do not cover devices that a user owns or controls, such as a home PC. According to a Microsoft customer FAQ, roaming rights can only be used on a “device that is not controlled, directly or indirectly, by you or your affiliates (e.g., a third party’s public kiosk).” Going further, the device can’t run on the licensee’s network. That means the SA roaming rights only permit access from an untrusted device across an insecure network. Honestly, how many administrators find that to be an appealing scenario?

These restrictions impacted virtualization providers but not Microsoft directly since it didn’t have a competing technology at the time. But now that the Redmond giant is ready to enter the tablet market with Windows 8, the virtual desktop infrastructure has been reconfigured to allow for a more relaxed set of rules.

Here’s where things get even more interesting. If a user’s nonlicensed personal device happens to be a Windows RT device, the company doesn’t need to buy the additional CDL to cover the user’s accessing of their primary SA-covered desktop. According to Erwin Visser, senior director in the Windows commercial group, when used as a companion of a Windows Software Assurance-licensed PC, Windows RT will automatically receive what is being called “extended VDA” rights. Visser added, “These rights will provide access to a full VDI image running in the datacenter which will make Windows RT a great complementary tablet option for business customers.”

The Windows RT extended VDA license does away with restrictions, and it provides coverage for personal as well as company-owned devices in VDI scenarios. It also provides support for both public and private networks. But now Microsoft is basically assessing a penalty on organizations that don’t buy Windows RT tablets. It’s not good enough that an iPad user has a PC with SA on Windows; they also need to purchase a new Companion Device License.

Microsoft has been a big proponent of going after VMware for its server virtualization licensing changes made with the introduction of vSphere 5.0. VMware’s licensing change has been dubbed a “vRAM Tax,” and Microsoft has been relentless using it in various FUD campaigns when going head-to-head with its rival. But the Redmond giant is now creating a sort of “tax” of its own for people or organizations choosing to use competitor technologies, such as the Apple iPad or Android-based tablets.

At the end of the day, these licensing updates may be about Microsoft trying to stall competitors in the tablet market, but it’s also about Microsoft wanting to get paid. The big problem for organizations isn’t whether Microsoft should or shouldn’t be getting paid (of course it should) — it’s about the confusion caused by the layers upon layers of licensing created. Some of these license policies may have been understandable back in the ’90s when companies had a one-to-one user-to-device ratio, but today’s modern business world and modern user doesn’t fit that old school methodology. It sure seems like it would be a much simpler world if Microsoft would move its Software Assurance over to a per-user model rather than per device.

Microsoft is trying to solve a licensing problem that many organizations don’t even know exists. To add to that confusion, once again, Microsoft isn’t providing a way for these same organizations to track which users are using personal devices at work in order to know how many CDL add-ons are even necessary! Will companies have to buy a CDL for every user just to be safe? Or should they purchase a percentage and hope for the best? Without a mechanism in place to remotely track whether or not they are in compliance, some customers may be looking at much higher licensing costs if they were to face an audit.

If you thought VDI licensing for Windows 7 was confusing, welcome to the “upgraded” licensing for Windows 8.

This article, “Microsoft targets iPad, Android users with tablet virtualization license fee,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in virtualization at InfoWorld.com.