Windows Server 2008 Pricing and Packaging Set by Microsoft

Published: November 14, 2007

by Alex Woodie

The Windows news arrived fast and furious at TechEd Europe this week, as Microsoft made a flurry of announcements around its upcoming product launches. Leading things off were the pricing and packaging for Windows Server 2008, formerly "Longhorn," which is due to ship early next year. Microsoft will sell eight versions of Windows Server 2008, including five that will contain Microsoft's new virtualization software, which the company renamed Hyper-V.

Microsoft used the TechEd show in Barcelona, Spain, as a platform for several announcements of upcoming products. Central among these was Hyper-V, the new Windows hypervisor layer slated to ship 180 days after Windows Server 2008. Complete coverage of Hyper-V announcements can be found here.

As far as Windows Server 2008 goes, there will be some changes compared to previous releases of the product, in terms of naming conventions, supported features, and pricing, although pricing remains very comparable to Windows Server 2003 levels (and CAL prices have inched up 1 percent). Here's a quick rundown on the different Windows Server 2008 editions and their prices:

• Windows Server 2008 Standard, $999 with five Client Access Licenses(CALs)
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise, $3,999 with 25 CALs
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter, $2,999 per processor
• Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems, $2,999 per processor
• Windows Web Server 2008, $469
• Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V, $971 with five CALs
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V, $3,971 with 25 CALs
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V, $2,971 per processor

A few things pop out. For starters, you'll notice there are three versions of Windows Server 2008 that don't include Hyper-V, and they're $28 less than the version that does include the virtualization software (which, not coincidentally, is the price you'll pay to obtain Hyper-V separately, as Hyper-V Server, when it ships late next year). Why did Microsoft do this? Hard to say, but it certainly wasn't to save companies $28.

You'll also notice some changes to Itanium support in Windows Server editions. Previously, support for Intel's powerful 64-bit Itanium processors was offered through the Enterprise and Datacenter editions. Now, Microsoft is selling an entirely separate edition of Windows Server 2008. "But why aren't there separate editions with and without Hyper-V?" you ask. Because Hyper-V only works on X64 processors.

Microsoft also changed the name of the Windows edition dedicated to HTTP server workloads. Instead of Windows Server 2003 Web Edition, we now have Windows Web Server 2008, which supports more processors and memory and should be a more capable Web server. Microsoft says that because this operating system is targeted specifically for Web servers, it does not include the Hyper-V hypervisor layer. (So, technically, it should be called Windows Web Server 2008 without Hyper-V.)

It also changed the name of Windows Computer Cluster Server 2003 with the new Windows Server 2008 family of products to Windows HPC Server 2008. You can find more coverage of that product here.

There's good news for Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition users, as customers will gain more favorable terms for running their operating system in virtualized environments. In previous releases, users had to choose between running their Windows Server 2003 instance in either a physical or a virtual environment; they couldn't choose both. With Windows Server 2008, they can now choose both as part of Microsoft's new "1+1" policy, which entitles customers to run one virtual instance and one physical instance of the operating system at the same time. Virtualization terms remain the same for Windows Server Enterprise and Datacenter editions, where users are entitled to run their operating system in four partitions (Enterprise) or an unlimited number of partitions (Datacenter).

Language support has also been improved with Windows Server 2008. With the addition of the Chinese Traditional, or Hong Kong dialect, Windows Server 2008 will support a total of 19 languages. And instead of the Multilingual User Interface (MUI), Windows Server 2008 users will be able to download language packs for free.

Microsoft will formally launch Windows Server 2008 at a gala event on February 27, along with new releases of SQL Server and Visual Studio. However, it's unlikely that Windows Server 2008 will be generally available at that time, as the software giant still expects to hit the release to manufacturing (RTM) stage by the end of the first quarter of 2008.

RELATED STORIES

Microsoft to Adapt Server Licensing for Virtualized Environments

Microsoft Revs Betas of Longhorn, Viridian, Vista SP1

Microsoft Delays Windows Server 2008

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