Acquiring and distributing the right software, the right way, at the right price is a major concern for organizations today. Microsoft understands the importance of making the process efficient, flexible, and cost-effective. That is why we developed Select.

Select is a comprehensive volume software purchasing program that can reduce your total cost of software ownership and help reduce the risk of piracy within your organization.

Select consists of three licensing program options, so you can choose the right licensing mix to meet your organization's needs. The program options are the Microsoft Enterprise License, the Microsoft Variable License and the Microsoft Open License.

The Enterprise License offers Selects best estimated retail prices while also encouraging the adoption of a single product or family of products across an entire enterprise. You can define your "enterprise" to include a single building, a department, or your entire organization.

If your organization uses a variety of Microsoft products, the Variable License allows you to mix-and-match products within specific pools of products to reach higher volume levels.

The Open License gives your organization the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of Select with a lower minimum purchase requirement. For example, you can participate in Open License even when purchasing as few as 50 units of product. Of course, the more units you buy, the more you save!

In addition to these three license types, the Select program also offers Maintenance options. By enrolling your software licenses in Maintenance, you get the benefit of upgrading your old licenses and keeping all your licenses at the most current version, all for a fixed fee per license. The fixed Maintenance fee per license allows you to anticipate your upgrade costs over a two year period, so you can avoid unplanned budget spikes. Streamlined acquisition and predictable Maintenance fees make license and upgrade expenses a smaller part of the total cost picture.