Microsoft Adopts Virtual Licenses

* * Beatles-Beatles is one of many to let us know that Microsoft has changed how they handle licensing for Windows Server and related products with regards to virtual machine environments. The new regiment will allow per-processor licensing to be handled based on the number of virtual processors rather than the number of physical processors in the computer.

Comments

Well...

[justsomebody]

Either is that greed talking or they feel that people cheat with terminal servers to avoid buying OS licenses.

How will this work for Windows?

[mike.newton]

So if I have a server with a dual-core processor, I have to pay twice the price for Windows? With SQL Server or something else, you can limit it to only run on one processor, but not Windows.

Re:How will this work for Windows?

[The Bungi]

I don't think any of our SQL Server boxes have dual processors

Most of our SQL boxes are *quad* Xeon rigs. We don't turn on hyperthreading (that would probably be dumb), but I wonder what would happen to our licenses if we did. If we paid for a 4-CPU license and I hop over to the BIOS to turn HT on... does that mean I'm violating the EULA because I'm running the thing on eight processors? What about the Server 2003 license?

Weird. I mean, if you're running a single physical Xeon or P4 box and you buy a single CPU license of whatever server product and then you turn on HT, are you in violation of the licensing agreement?

Tweak the BIOS, go to jail!

*head explodes*

I don't get it.

[Poromenos1]

Is this supposed to be cheaper? Unless people were running one virtual machine per dual-processor box, they will now be paying more. Isn't the purpose of virtualization to run multiple servers on one box, so one user can't access the other? Am I very confused?

Allow or require?

[nurb432]

And i assume a virtual cpu license is cheaper then a hard cpu license, since performace is less.

So now you get a dual core cpu ( soon you wont have a choice ), and you get screwed by Microsoft.

What is next, back to per cycle charges?

Or how about just change to a national 'per brain' charge? Once a person is born, they just start charging you since eventually you will use a computer of some sort.

Its all a f-ing scam. Should they be able to make a profit? Sure. But should they be allowed to screw you? No.

VMs in blades

[DeepDarkSky]

I think this kind of licensing is for situations where you run multiple VMs in blades.
My company recently setup a rack of 40 blades, each with 16GBs of RAM and all attached to SAN. Each blade is capable of running about 10 VMs. The same setup is duplicated at the redundant site, and a high-speed connection between the two locations, with about 92TBs of storage between them. Supposedly, the VMs can be moved around between any of the blade between the two locations, giving us the possibility of about 800 VMs...all within about 1 rack's worth of space.
Now, each blade does NOT have 10 processors, but is capable of running 10 VMs easily. And though I can't say I like Microsoft for wanting to charge for virtual processors, I can understand why they'd do it.

It's actually an old story

[Chemisor]

A beggar found shelter in a tavern and sat by a fireplace where a hunk of meat was roasting on a spit. Before eating his meager dinner, consisting of a piece of dry bread, he held it out toward the meat to catch some of the flavour. The tavern keeper saw him and demanded payment, causing the poor fellow considerable distress, since he had no money. A wise man who was eating at a nearby table saw the commotion and asked the keeper what the problem was. "This thief is stealing the flavour of my meat!" the keeper said. "If he wants it, he better pay for it or git out." "That's all right," said the wise man. He pulled out a coin, threw it down on the fireplace, picked it back up and replaced it in his pocket. "For the flavour of your meat, I have now paid you with the chime of my coin."

Lawn Mower Analogy

[serutan]

I only mow my lawn about every two weeks. My neighbor across the street mows his every week. Shouldn't he have to pay twice as much for a mower as I do?

If software companies are allowed to control "their property" in this way, I don't see why sellers of physical products won't eventually do the same thing. Instead of buying a product and owning it, you'll merely be buying a license to use it for a certain amount of time. Then the license will expire and you'll either have to renew it or throw the product away. Tell me how this is different from what software companies are already doing?

Active Directory? What are you smoking?

[leonbrooks]

Samba 3 already does most AD things more efficiently and flexibly than AD. Samba 4 will absolutely ace it.

Not sure what MS-Exchange features you're looking for, either. Semi-automatically misconfiguring the HELO string? Dinking with attachments (maybe bundling them all into a WINMAIL.DAT file)? Write access to the entire mail database for the lowliest user? Randomly hanging onto mail for half an hour or so? Name your favourite!