Telstra sells "de-featured" Microsoft software

Telstra has revealed it will sell a series of "de-featured" Microsoft products in its T-Suite software-as-a-service store for customers that don't need to license the full versions.

The director of business development for T-Suite, Marcus Bartram, told iTnews the cut-down licences would cost between $3 and $5 per user per month.

A "fully-featured" licence of SharePoint online would cost $11.45 per month, but a read-only SharePoint client was only $3.45.

The cut down products were called ‘deskless worker'.

"We're looking at role-based productivity [with these tools]," Microsoft Australia's communications sector director Kevin Brough said.

"It's for customers that don't require the full functionality but, for example, just want remote workers to be able to receive alerts [from the main system]. This gives businesses that flexibility and is very cost effective."

The product meant that businesses were no longer required to buy expensive full licences for 'light' users of the software.

A licence for the business productivity online suite - which included Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting - cost $24.95 per user per month.

The services were available from Telstra and 115 Microsoft partners.