A conversation with a reseller makes it appear that it's more about which P&L gets to recognize revenue.  Under the current program, SPLA, deals go through a central organization outside of Microsoft Business Solutions. The test puts the dollars into the hands of MBS. "We sell both. "It's all the same to the customers," he said. However the money is divided, it's clear from companies such as Intuit, which provides subscriptions for desktop versions of QuickBooks, and Blackbaud, which offers the same for its desktop applications, that subscription plans for desktop software are increasingly popular with endusers. And anyone in business understands; regardless of whether the products are cloud or desktop, it's the time-honored lease versus buy and the pluses and minuses of that approach are known. I would be very surprised if Microsoft's test remains only a test. The company is certainly enthused about subscription as one of the benefits of moving to the cloud. "The number of customers accessing our software through subscription as a service is only going to increase," Macdonald said.