One of the biggest blockers, in my personal opinion, to Azure IaaS adoption in the SME space is understanding how to price solutions. I don’t get questions about technology, features, cost, trust or any of that; instead, I get questions such as “how much will this cost me?”. Microsoft does not help themselves with a very complex pricing model – please don’t try to bring up AWS – Microsoft doesn’t sell AWS so I don’t get why they are relevant!
So I’ve started producing some videos for my employers. This one focuses on pricing solutions based on Azure virtual machines.
Your statement regarding not needing CALs for Windows Server is incorrect. Windows Server does not follow the same model as SQL Server in this respect. The VM is indeed licensed on a per CPU basis, but every client user or device still requires a CAL that is equal or greater version than the server license version. Therefore in this scenario, assuming the company only has Windows Server 2003 CALs, they would need to purchase new Windows Server 2012 R2 CALs for their users/device before making this environment live.
You are incorrect – distribution partners have informed otherwise. You better check with your FTE colleagues.