Microsoft's volume licensing websites have been offline for over a week while the software giant has been tweaking its service.

Redmond's eOpen licence and volume licensing service sites have been "down for maintenance" since 7 December.

Microsoft apologised to customers affected by the scheduled outage and said it hoped to bring the service back online tomorrow (16 December).

"The Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center is undergoing maintenance as part of a series of enhancements to improve the licensing management experience for partners and customers," it said.

The vendor advised frustrated customers to pick up the telephone and contact its call centres to activate their products in the meantime.

However, some have complained that the phone lines have been busy.

Microsoft acknowledged this. It said: "Customers may encounter longer than normal response times due to high volume based on the site maintenance. We appreciate your patience as we service partner or customer inquiries."

Punters are also currently unable to download various media from Microsoft's volume licensing websites. The company said it was offering to "ship physical media at no cost to our customers as necessary."

As for work that's underway at Redmond Towers, the firm appears to be cutting and shutting its eOpen licence site by folding it into what should be a revamped volume licensing service available from tomorrow, assuming MS delivers on time, that is. ®