Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Here's MS' price list for Retail Server 2008 packages
The other choices are OEM licenses (which also include 5 CALs) and Volume licenses, which require the purchase of at least five licenses minimum upon your first purchase.
I see. I guess what I'm trying to achieve is back in the day when you walked into a store, and could grab a copy of Windows 2000 Pro off the shelf. What you installed was a "clean OS" - no wizards, no gunk, no fisher-price interfaces loading up.
In the XP family, the only way to achieve all of that still (and bypass having to "sanitize" an XP install) is to install Server 2003, follow a quick 9 step guide on turning off a few things, and turning on a few others. Takes 5mins tops on a decent box, and you have a very good workstation OS.
Having looked up the guide for Windows Server 2008 (
http://www.win2008workstation.com), I wanted to try this on a new box I'm putting together. It's just finding the right way to do this without spending a gazillion on an OS is the hard part. Part of which, I understand, is because I'm one of those fringe users MS's marketing folks really can't account for, since my intention is a workstation, not a true server.
As for why I don't just buy and install Vista, call it a personal preference, but I've felt that MS has a bad habit of doing everything wrong on their "consumer" releases, post 1999 (Millenium, XP, Vista) and gets it all right on their power-user/server versions (2000 Pro, 2003, and maybe 2008). There's also incremental improvements in the core code for servers that gears more towards stability than I feel exists in the consumer realm. Not that I can actually back that statement up with proof, but it's based on my years of working with several of their OSes.
I am, however, having some hopeful vibes about Windows 7, but that's still too far off to see if they manage to release, in my opinion, an awesome consumer OS for once.
There's a separate Server license. It gives you the right to run the Server and allows as many users/devices as are built into the Server license. CALS are for added users/devices beyond the built-in number of CALS.
Ah ha, I figured there had to be something like that. I take it this only comes with OEM hardware, correct? And that these server licenses are not sold separately?
See, I figure that with all the options server licensing models give you, it should be possible, some how, to legally buy the right components for a one-user setup. My particular case is somewhat esoteric and eccentric, but lets paint a "what-if" scenario at my office, where I need a setup for testing server-side stuff. See, we're always a step behind in technology (Windows Server 2003 and NetWare 6.5 is *new* stuff to my office mates), due to small budgets and me being the only IT guy on servers and desktops. 2008 and Vista isn't something we're going to look at for 2-3 more years tops. I can't go to my manager and say that, for testing purposes, I have to spend close to a grand for 5 licenses. I should be able to say I need to spend $200-$300 for a single user setup, from which I can run tests on things, before committing to a real volume purchase.
So lets just scratch buying direct from MS out of the equation. How about resellers? Do they sell the necessary components that can legally be assembled into a proper, "genuine" (I hate that word nowadays) copy of Server 2008 that I can use in a workstation mode?
FYI, I'm also testing installing the trial into a VMware instance, and seeing what the activation thingy can do for me. Maybe it'll let me do something like pick what I want to buy and kick me to a webpage... who knows.
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