News
Microsoft Updates Action Packs
Microsoft has added several new messaging offerings to its latest Action Pack.
Eric Ligman, a Microsoft manager for the Small Business Community Engagement,
wrote in a blog posting that Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 64-bit and Office
Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager have been included in the April Action
Pack shipment.
Action Packs are software bundles available to members of the Microsoft Partner
Program. Aimed primarily at small businesses, Action Packs are not-for-distribution
software that offer partners thousands of dollars of software at enormous discounts.
The software, which are full working versions of the programs, are intended
for "internal business use, testing, evaluation, demonstration, training
and educational purposes only," according to a Microsoft Web site. There
are limitations, the Web site continued: "For example, you can use the
Action Pack software to host your company's intranet but it cannot be used to
host a commercial Web site."
Action Packs are a yearly, renewable offering for partners. The software is
updated quarterly, and cost $349 for the year. Most of the major business programs
are bundled, including Microsoft Small Business Server, Microsoft Terminal Server,
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (Standard Edition) R2, Microsoft SQL Server 2005
and Microsoft Office Enterprise. Server and/or client access licenses are also
included.
Ligman stated on his blog that Action Pack subscribers should be receiving
their beefed-up Action Packs by the end of this month. More information is available
here.
[Article has been updated with change to correct pricing in U.S. -- Editors]
About the Author
Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Virtualization & Cloud Review. Follow him on Twitter @VirtReviewKeith.