Deal will bring Windows 8 to 75% of the Department of Defense employees.
I'm sure you've been hearing that sales of Windows 8 have been slow and/or disappointing since its release in late October. Some blame it on the hardware, while others are saying that sales was actually meeting, admittedly lowered, expectations. After scoring gigantic win on Friday, though, I'm pretty sure Microsoft will have put any of those fears to rest.
The Defense Department has awarded a three-year, $617 million joint enterprise license agreement for Microsoft products, it was
announced Friday.
The net new contract was awarded to Insight Public Sector, a division of Insight Enterprises, one of the largest global Microsoft Large Account Resellers, Microsoft
wrote on its blog, and the deal will cover nearly 75% of all Department of Defense personnel. Microsoft called it "the most comprehensive licensing agreement" it has ever established with the DoD.
As part of the deal, the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) will be given access to the most recent versions of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office 2013, SharePoint 2013 Enterprise and Windows 8.
The new SharePoint 2013 Enterprise, Microsoft says, "will unlock new levels of cross-agency information sharing through improved enterprise search and social communications features while powering advanced business intelligence and reporting capabilities," while the Department of Defense will use Windows 8 "to empower productivity from any location, and any supported device, while taking advantage of enhanced security."
Comment: Maybe General Petraeus was ousted because he just wasn't psychopathic enough?