Duncan,
I may have an affordable (????) solution to your problem.
I recently purchased a one-year
Technet Subscription from Microsoft which gave
me access to all of their desktop operating
systems (including W2K, WinXP, Vista, and W7),
the server operating systems (Server 2003 and
Server 2008) and the MS Office Suites (including Office 2003, 2007, and 2010).
Both the Technet Standard Subscription
($199/year) and the Technet Professional
Subscription ($349/year) offer access to Windows
Server 2003 R2 Standard-Retail.
There are differences between the Standard and
Professional level subscriptions which are detailed here:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/7/8/C78DB720-88CB-455E-AA0E-A087CB332A23/TechNet_Product_List.xlsx
As for the "legality" of using Technet acquired
software on your home machines, the Microsoft FAQ
page ( https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/ms772427.aspx) says:
Q. Can I use evaluation software received in my
TechNet Subscription on my devices in my home?
A. TechNet Subscription license terms grant one
user the right to install the program software on
any devices, including those located at his or
her home, but the user must fully comply with all
the license terms no matter where the device is
located. In other words, one user may install
and use the evaluation software, only to evaluate
it. You may not use it in a live operating
environment, a staging or production environment,
or with data that has not been sufficiently
backed up. You may not use the evaluation
software for software development or in an application development environment.
Q. What are the testing scenarios I can use TechNet Subscriptions software?
A. Please be aware that subscribing to TechNet
does not grant user rights to test as part of a
software application development effort. The
following testing scenarios can be used during the software evaluation process.
Software test scenarios allowed with TechNet Subscriptions
TechNet Subscription software may be tested to determine the following:
Install/Uninstall Time and process required for
full, partial or upgrade software
install/uninstall processes and system integration.
Recovery Capacity for software to recover from
crashes, hardware failures, or other catastrophic problems.
Security Defining softwares ability to protect
against unauthorized internal or external access.
Compatibility Gauging software performance in
existing or new hardware, software, operating system or network environments.
Comparison Evaluating software to determine
product strengths and weaknesses as compared to
previous versions or similar products.
Usability Assessing satisfaction among end
users, observing end user utilization and
understanding user interaction scenarios.
Performance Ensuring software will perform as expected to requirements.
Stability Estimating individual softwares
ability to perform consistently, relative to system demands.
Environment Determining software settings while
software is being evaluated by end users in existing infrastructure.
"Affordability" is in the eye of the beholder.
Considering that I got full access to a range of
desktop and server operating systems and all the
Office suites, the Technet subscription was worth
it for me since I wanted to upgrade to W7 and upgrade to Office 2010.
You'll have to decide if the price and the
software versions meet your requirements.
Other people an the list may know of lower cost options.
-Mike
At 02:37 PM 12/14/2010, DSinc wrote:
I have an old server. It is a dual P3-1K Intel
m/b w/2GB of ram. It also has a U160 scsi 5-disk
RAID5 (3 active, 2 hot spares) array coupled to
an Adaptec 3200S controller. This old soldier
runs 24/7 and continues on very well and runs my LAN's A/V and WINServer needs.
The problem is that the current OS is Windows
2000 Server. Zero MS updates since 06/2010! It
is past time to move forward now.
Can I / Should I try and upgrade this machine to
Windows XP Pro (which I have/own!)??
(the machine is fully backed up ATM; believe I may loose very little DATA)
?-I suspect I will loose any/all "server"
functionality? Sadly, I do NOT know how to analyze this probability ATM. ???
?-I believe I will end up (post
conversion/upgrade) with just another XP client on my LAN?
Have sought qualified, used Windows Server 2003
OS offers for the past 2 years. The offers I see
all look suspect to me, or, overly priced!
Opinions welcome............. :)
Best of the Season,
Duncan
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