Windows Server 2012 Editions & Licensing

Today, we announced which Windows Server 2012 editions will be available and the pricing for each – at least US pricing at for now.  I was going to do a big blog post on it, but someone else already put together a great one, so why re-invent the wheel.  In short, there are 4 editions on Windows Server 2012 (Foundation, Essentials, Standard & Datacenter) as show in this diagram:

One really important thing to remember is that the features of Windows Server 2012 Standard & Windows Server 2012 Datacenter will be the same – the main difference is the number of virtual instances of Windows Server 2012 provided when you purchase the product – two for Standard; unlimited for Datacenter.

Please check out the really great blog post from Aidan Finn for more details on the pricing and editions announced today.