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MS Drops Licensing Restrictions from Web Server 2008

Posted by Soulskill on from the retrograde-innovation dept.

Channel Guy writes "According to a report from CRN, Microsoft plans to allow users of the Web Server SKU in Windows Server 2008 to 'run any type of database software with no limit on the number of users, provided they deploy it as an Internet-facing front-end server.' The previous limit was 50 users. Microsoft's partners expect the changes to go a long way toward making Windows Web Server 2008 more competitive with the LAMP stack, against which Microsoft has been making headway in recent months."

5 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. hmmmm by ILuvRamen · · Score: 0, Troll

    But Redhat is free and has basically no restrictions on anything and isn't some greed centered craphole OS. Ooooh burn, what are they gonna do now?

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  2. How nice of them, so thoughtful... by flyingfsck · · Score: 0, Troll

    one could almost imagine that they are thinking about what their customers really want. Some people may actually want a useful web server with a MySQL, Oracle or BerkeleyDB database instead of MS Jet. This is so nice, I can almost recommend them to my clients.

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  3. Re:Microsoft and the Command Line ... by pembo13 · · Score: 0, Troll

    All Americans suck because they hate my freedom.

    When can I expect my +5 Insightful?

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  4. Re:Still have to pay for the OS by zootm · · Score: 0, Troll

    Still, though, the point remains. Unless the free alternative is just as easy to use for the task as the Windows one, the cost of Windows actually has to be really quite high before it starts to be cheaper to pay for the additional staff time to support the free solution. This is pretty much exactly how Microsoft can justify charging as much as they do. Of course, on top of this, there's the fact that many companies will choose paid support for the free solutions, which further mitigates the cost disparity.

    Don't get me wrong, I think that the free solution can very often be the right one. But it's incredibly easy to forget just how much a person's time can cost relative to licensing fees.

  5. Re:Still have to pay for the OS by cheater512 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Wait. You get support with Microsoft products? :P

    IIS still doesnt have a decent mod_rewrite equivalent or stuff like that.
    Its a old style web server where it fetches the file you requested with dynamic support stuck on with duct tape.
    Modern web servers can do that and so much more.

    I agree. I'd have to be paid to use their products.