> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Shachar Shemesh > Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 09:40 > Cc: linux-il list > Subject: OT: MS pricing policy (was: Microsoft propaganda) >
> If I'm reading this table correctly, if I need a server that serves 25 > stations, I can buy a Windows 2003 Server with 25 users CAL (Client > Access License) for $3,999, or buy a 5 CAL server for $999 and add 20 > more CALs for $799, paying only $1798. That's less than half the price! > What am I missing? $3,999 is the price of W2K3 Enterprise Edition, while $999 is the price of Standard Edition. Same idea as RHEL ES vs. AS. For product overview and differences between the versions: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/overview/default.mspx#EVC Though CALs are bundled with OS, it is the same CAL for accessing Enterprise or Standard Edition. To simplify: Environment with 5 W2K3 servers (2 Standard, 3 Enterprise) and 100 users yields: - 2 x $999 for Standard Edition servers - 3 x $3,999 for Enterprise Edition servers - 5 x $799 for 5 20-pack CALs for end users > > > I'm sure that MS's pricing isn't that skewed, and the version that costs > $4K does give something that the $1.8K doesn't, but that does goes to > show one of the aspects of proprietary software that isn't always > discussed. Navigating companies' pricing table can be a tiresome and > error-prone endevor. Sounds familiar: http://www.in.redhat.com/software/rhel/purchase/ ? AS (x86): $1,499-$2,499 ES (x86): $349-$799 WS (x86): $179-$299 > > > What's worse (assuming there really is a difference here), if I did go > ahead and made that mistake, and the BSA came knocking, I would have > been certain that I've done nothing wrong. Give it some time and you will see BSA knocking to check the licenses of your RH or Suse servers.
