No more SBS from Microsoft

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gjm

489 posts

Ultimate Geek

Topic # 105539 6-Jul-2012 07:08
Just reading that Microsoft have now canned any future releases of Small Business Server. Bit of a shame really as I thought it was quite a good product but I guess with so much cloudification going on it was inevitable. I run a SBS 2011 virtual instance at home for all my email and files but am sure that will keep ticking over for a while. Great thing about VM is you just buy new hardware and dont have to migrate anything tricky :) http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-goes-public-with-windows-server-2012-versions-licensing-7000000341/

89 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 651661 6-Jul-2012 08:36
We use / offer SBS for a number of our clients who this fitted perfectly for. bit of a shame really.

624 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Reply # 651672 6-Jul-2012 09:21
This is interesting... I guess the Server Essentials product is designed to replace SBS, though the 25 user limitation is a real pain. I'm not fussed about the lack of integrated Exchange - there's very few reasons why small businesses should be running their own mail servers today. Also, removing the Enterprise edition of Server is annoying as it was a really cost-effective way to set up a Hyper-V environment (the Enterprise edition let's you run four virtualised servers for free). Stuart Maxwell Choice Mobile (2degrees Authorised Dealer) Choice Technology (Managed IT Services)

624 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Reply # 651686 6-Jul-2012 09:42
I found a good write-up on the licensing changes: http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=13042 Including this section which relates to my complaint about removing the Enterprise edition: If you use to buy Enterprise for clustering, then use Standard instead. You just saved $1,476 per node! If you bought Enterprise to have virtualisation rights for 4 VMs on a host, then buy 2 Standards for that host … hey! 2008 R2 Enterprise cost $2,358 and 2 copies of WS2012 Standard costs $1,764. You just saved $594 per host! Stuart Maxwell Choice Mobile (2degrees Authorised Dealer) Choice Technology (Managed IT Services)

BDFL
43682 posts

Uber Geek

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Geekzone

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Reply # 651696 6-Jul-2012 09:43
Also gone is Windows Home Server... Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure, my tweets, Web Performance Optimization) Geekzone Price comparison \| Amazon Kindle order page \| How to get the best out of Geekzone \| New Zealand IT Jobs \| Geekzone News \| Jinglebugs

624 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Reply # 651702 6-Jul-2012 09:47
freitasm: Also gone is Windows Home Server... Hardly surprising... WHS was a great product and the disk pool feature was perfect for a home NAS, but you could tell that MS were only barely interested in keeping it around. Stuart Maxwell Choice Mobile (2degrees Authorised Dealer) Choice Technology (Managed IT Services)

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Reply # 651762 6-Jul-2012 11:17
Windows Server 2012 Essentials has exactly same features as WHS btw. Also Windows 8 PRO has a lot of similar features that WHS including the storage pool feature. Microsoft\|Outlook\|Skydrive\|Windows Live Admin Center\|Skype\|Office Web Apps\|Office 365\| Windows Phone\|Windows 8\|Xbox\|Hyper-V\|Office2013\|Bing\|Security Essentials\|Server 2012

1 post

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 653820 11-Jul-2012 02:02
There are plenty of good alternatives. Igaware Small Business Server for one.