Issued by: Exell Technologies


So what's new?:

Adobe Open Options (AOO) 4.5, as the experts call it, is the new licensing program, which now also includes all the Macromedia products with some extra enhancements, but we not going to go into two much detail, if you require more information, let us know.

There are three primary licensing programs and two of them (TLP, CLP) have a different structure for commercial, education and government customers. We will concentrate on commercial for TLP and CLP explanations, if you require more detail on education or government, please let me know.

The first option is the most popular one, i.e. box product:

This is a once-off purchase and operating specific, normally bought from IT outlets such as Incredible Connection, although many suppliers prefer to sell this option because it is less hassle and seems to be cheaper to the client. It is not the best suited option for a business, even a one-man show. We will cover the reasoning behind this later but the one biggest issue is license administration, for as long as you use that product you must be in possession of the original disk and serial number. If you have purchased upgrades on the original box, you are still required to show the original full version, making it a storage and admin nightmare when you get audited, or asked for proof of the original license.

Second one is called TLP (Transactional Licensing Program):

TLP is more suited for a single business, i.e. you do not have more than one branch. In short, the more products you purchase per order the more discounts you receive. Each product carries a point base and the more points you accumulate with the order the higher the discount structure, e.g.:

1. CS3 Design Standard carries 1200 points, so now if you purchase 1 license you will be quoted on level 1,
   
2. Purchase 2 licenses and you will be quoted on Level 2
   
3. Purchase 13 licenses and you will be quote on Level 3

The biggest advantage here is the opposite of the box license, you do not have to keep anything after installation, should you lose your CD you simply purchase a new one for as little as R150 per disk, all your license information and serial keys are stored on the Internet. Another huge saving option is the maintenance plan or upgrade plan, which is not available with the box license, should a new version be released, and it falls within your upgrade plan you will receive the upgrade absolutely free, where as with box product you need to purchase it again. More advantages will be discussed further down.

The third option is called CLP (Cumulative membership Licensing Program):

This program is more suited for large organisations and the initial requirement is a minimum order of 25,000 points for example 20 CS Design Standard licenses. This is also not for government or education entities. If you're this large, best you give me a call immediately. Please contact us if you have a requirement for a CLP agreement, the benefits and savings are endless.

Ok, for some reason the above still seems to be confusing so here is a table that sums it up a bit more and below it I have compiled an example for you on the savings as well as a table on the benefits between box and paper licensing with maintenance or upgrade plan.

TLP vs. CLP Licensing: (Box is one at a time, no discount levels and admin nightmare)

WORLDWIDE COMMERCIAL MARKET SEGMENT
Component	TLP 4.5	CLP 4.5
Geographic scope	Worldwide	Worldwide
Scope of participation (commercial organisation)	Limited to one company name in one region. Typically has one tax ID. Subsidiaries and global offices are specifically excluded from being added to one transaction.	Any entity that does not qualify as a Government or Education entity and who wishes to enroll in a CLP 4.5 Membership.
Basis of program	Total point value of each order	Total point value of initial order combined with future orders
Minimum points value of initial order	1 point	40,000 points (in U.S, Canada and Japan, 25,000 points in all other regions)
Level minimums (United States, Canada, and Japan)	Four levels R = 1 point S = 1,500 points T = 25,000 points U = 50,000 points (unpublished)	Four levels 1 = 40,000 points 2 = 100,000 points 3 = 225,000 points 4 = 350,000 points
Level minimums (all other regions)	Three levels R = 1 point S = 1,500 points T = 15,000 points U = 30,000 points (unpublished)	Four levels 1 = 25,000 points 2 = 50,000 points 3 = 100,000 points 4 = 200,000 points
Customer enrollment?	No	Yes, between the Program Member (and possibly an Affiliate) and Adobe
Membership term	N/A	2 years
Minimum reorder	N/A (each transaction qualifies for its own discount level)	No
Concurrency available?	No, except Adobe® FrameMaker® Shared	No, except FrameMaker Shared

Box License vs. Paper License:

Box	Paper License
Original CD and serial number required as proof of ownership, lose CD you lose the license	All serial numbers stored on Adobe Licensing web site, easy admin, lose CD no problem
Upgrade Plan not available	Upgrade Plan available
No discount levels	Discount Levels depending on number of licenses
No free upgrades or automatic product information	Automatic notice, free upgrade with upgrade plan

In short you will save on time and money, always know what is happening, Adobe tells you with paper license!

Purchasing Scenario 1:

You decided to replace your 4 Quark applications with 4 Adobe CS3 Design Standard applications:

Note: These prices are related on standard market related pricing and will differ between suppliers.

• Supplier one quotes you on box license and comes in at R46,488 at R11,622 per license.
  
• Supplier two quote you on 4 x Paper Licenses, 1 x CD and 1 x Doc set with 4 x 2 year upgrade plan and comes in at R63,560 at R15,640 per license plus CD and DOCSet at R250.
  
• Supplier three quotes you on 4 x Paper Licenses, 1 x CD and 1 x Doc set and comes in at R43,977.60 at R10,913.90 per license plus CD and DOCSet at R250.

Now with option 1 and 2, should a new release come out within two years after your purchase you will have to buy a full upgrade but with option two you will get it for free, also refer to the table above for the other advantages?

Option two might be more expensive now but if you keep the upgrade plan up to date it will you save you lots of administration time as well as money on upgrades. Bottom line if you use the Adobe range of products for your business, it is only in your best interest to convert to paper license and add the upgrade plan!

I trust that the above will make it easier next time you request a quote or receive a quote from a supplier.

Should you have any further queries or questions whether you purchase your products from Exell Technologies or not, simply send an e-mail to Dewald@exelltechnologies.com.

There is also a host of documentation available on www.adobe.com.

Visit our PRESS OFFICE: Specialising in software licensing and workflow consulting, mainly focusing on production process automation and supplying all required software and hardware platforms such as Adobe, Quark, MAC and more...- more....

[5 Mar 2008 12:38]

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