To provide flexibility to developers building specialized devices, Microsoft offers different embeddable OSs and platforms. An embedded OS offers device developers the potential to build any device and to differentiate that device from others in the same category, at the cost of increased development and time to market.

Recent licensing changes signal stronger Microsoft support for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) technology. VDI promises to reduce desktop management costs, improve flexibility for desktop access, and enhance security. However, realizing these benefits requires critical decisions about which users will use VDI, and what client hardware, server hardware, and virtualization architecture will be used to deliver it.

New versions of Office, SharePoint, Project, and Visio became available for volume customers in May 2010. The new versions make significant improvements for collaboration, and for business intelligence functions such as reporting and data analysis, among other areas. However, many new capabilities require coordinated upgrades of multiple products, which can complicate evaluating and deploying the new versions.

New features in Office 2010 improve document sharing with SharePoint 2010. However, organizations will have to upgrade current installations to the latest versions of Office and SharePoint to get all the new features.

As with all OS updates, new and updated features in Windows Server 2008 R2 require testing to ensure compatibility with existing applications that will be migrated to the new OS.

Exchange Server 2010, available now as a release candidate with general availability planned for Nov. 2009, adds new features to help organizations archive data such as e-mail and voice mail messages, calendar items, and contacts.

For past and future customers managing servers with one or two processors, the changes are mostly price-neutral. However, some customers licensing larger servers will see substantial price increases, mostly in the form of rising future Software Assurance (SA) payments.

Top priorities for FY'10 include containing costs, preserving cash, and stopping the revenue slide in the Windows client business through more aggressive pricing. Partners and customers may have a harder time finding product information and presales support as Microsoft scales back sales and marketing budgets.

The shift from perpetual licenses that require a one-time payment to subscription licenses that require an annual payment is a major goal for Microsoft because of the ongoing (and often larger) revenue that they generate. Like most services, Microsoft Online Services are purchased as annual subscriptions that license services, users of those services, and sometimes devices that use services.