we have went trhough this process with 2 of our customers and I tell you it was a painful process.
SME tend to use largely OEM, but one client had MS Subscrptions for Office mixed iwth OEM windows, Oem SERVERS, and other licensing for MS products, and it took 10 resubmits of the forms and many calls to get MS to accept that the license list was valid. with every response from them, very very stern about unlicensed software and and immediate requirement to be come licensed. Even to the point of sending through order forms for 25 copies of Office enterprise when the client only had 17 users, and were full y licensed through the rental scheme direct with MS for Office Pro. Its was a very frustrating process. Graeme On 29 March 2012 00:02, Jonathan Link <[email protected]> wrote: > Following this up, I did eventually get a followup email and this is > legitimate. There are some issues with the report, but that's all part of > the process I'm now in. > > > > On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 8:45 AM, Jonathan Link <[email protected]>wrote: > >> I received an email purportedly to be from Microsoft about a Software >> Asset Management (SAM) license review (headers looked like it came from MS, >> but I'm not an expert). They indicated that they were trying to contact me >> this week (it was sent on Tuesday, and the *only* prior contact was a >> misdirected phone call into one of our director's voicemail[1]). >> >> It includes 2 PDFs, one appears to be a report with our name on it, VLPS >> Report, and it appears to have some correct information as to the >> customerID. There's a deployment summary spreadsheet and a USA FAQ >> 2012.pdf. Included in the email are some instructions, a suggestion to use >> the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit to help complete the tasks. >> It includes an email address for [email protected] or to contact >> another person at Microsoft. >> >> The person's display name for contacting me is foreign and has >> (Accenture) in parentheses. It comes from a microsoft.com email >> address, however a reply back to that address generated an access denied >> NDR, but a reply to the other individual did not. I haven't received an >> email (I also forwareded the email to the other address) in response, and I >> would have expected a faster turnaround. The email address did contain a >> phone number, however that phone number, according to 800 notes, has been >> used in several scams in the past, trying to trick people into giving bank >> account information to receive a government grant. A physical address is >> given, but it is the address to the Microsoft campus in Redmond. >> >> So, I cautiously viewed the documents on my iPhone. One document, our >> apparent licensing report appears entirely legitimate. I have had a weak >> password on the eopen site for a while, just hadn't bothered changing it. >> Second PDF (USA FAQ 2012[2]) is not viewable on my iPhone, it just displays >> whitespace, as does the excel file. I'm going to take them to a sandboxed >> computer to view them later. They also want information returned by April >> 16th. >> >> My other concern is some limited googling has suggested that this might >> be legitimate, that Microsoft has engaged in third parties to do this, and >> that there are variations of this process, but those could be cleverly >> built forums with shills indicating the process is legit, so I turn to this >> list for advice. In the body of the email there aren't any instructions on >> where to send the information. If the sender can only send email, having >> another address to receive this information seems to be necessary. >> >> >> [1] The voicemail was extremely static laden and had several gaps in it. >> [2] That's a poorly named FAQ and about the only poorly phrased or worded >> item in the email. >> >> >> > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > -- Good news everyone, you have just received an e-mail from me! ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
