Many online service providers are well aware that
Microsoft's Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) entails
a licensing framework that can be difficult to manage. SPLA may be
a great model for businesses seeking to "float" their
license expenditures from month to month based on usage. However,
what Microsoft considers "usage" and what most companies
and individuals consider "usage" can be very different.
The result is that monthly SPLA-reporting obligations can be very
burdensome, especially for products licensed on a per-user basis
under Subscriber Access Licenses (SALs).
Fortunately, there are developers who are beginning to offer
products that may help some companies to better manage and even
reduce or eliminate some expenditures under SPLA. For example,
relatively new to the market is a product called Winflector, which might be a candidate for
service providers interested in a replacement for Windows Remote
Desktop Services (RDS) SALs under SPLA. Ordinarily,
