Microsoft will likely be making modifications to its Windows Server pricing in January 2011 which will affect businesses that are within the industrial hosting enterprise.As of January 1,
Windows 7 Pro, Microsoft will be chopping the cost of several of its Windows Server SKUs — Server 2008 R2 Web, Standard and Enterprise — by 21 percent for those who purchase Windows Server via a Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA). At the same time,
Office 2007, Microsoft will likely be raising the price of one SKU — Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter — by 30 percent, come January 1. The modifications affect only those licensing via the SPLA and not any other volume-licensing agreement,
Office 2010 Product Key, according to the enterprise.Microsoft is attributing the cost change to a desire to “better align SPLA prices with subscription prices.”Business officials also are positioning the 30 percent price increase on Datacenter, which includes unlimited virtualization rights, as a price decrease. Since the Datacenter SKU was launched, “server capacity in terms of cores has doubled, significantly increasing the performance value,” according to officials.More from an MSDN blog post explaining the changes:“Why is the price of Windows Server 2008 DataCenter (WS DC) for SPLA providers heading up? Truth be told,
Office 2007 Key, it’s heading down. That’s not PR spin or some hocus-pocus math factoring Moore’s Law. The current cost for SPLA on WS DC is a limited promotional price. The original announced cost was almost double. MSFT deferred the implementation of the full cost in 2009 and again in 2010. As we have moved closer to January 1, 2011,
Microsoft Office 2010, feedback on the implementation of the full price was as consistent as it was intense. That feedback compelled us to look at the non-promotional WS DC cost again.“After a lot of math, a lot of feedback, and more math, we made a decision to lower the January 1st cost on DC. Specifically, instead of retiring the promotional cost and doubling the cost, we have landed on a much more modest increase of 30% which we think will be welcome news to our service provider partners when considering the original plan.”Any service companies have any feedback — positive or not — on Microsoft;s planned pricing adjustments?