THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"

Microsoft to raise Windows Small Business Server price 80 percent | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1395
 Microsoft Watch - Server - SBS 2008 Takes a Price Hike:
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/server/sbs_2008_takes_a_price_hike.html

The important thing is not what "I" think or what do "they" think but what do you think about it?

I personally have a little bit of mixed emotions.  There's a part of me that wonders if this will keep out the folks that buy SBS just because it's the cheaper Server OS and end up not setting up the server the way it should be (which is a good thing).  I'm getting a bit tired of folks in the newsgroup wanting to run SBS in a workgroup becaue they want a cheap peer server.  If it keeps those folks at bay, more power to it.

I'm not sold that every small business wants Exchange and Sharepoint in the cloud.  When it comes to our 'stuff' we want our 'stuff' close by. 

If this means that SBS will be more consultant installed and less installed by the younger son of your best friend who dabbles in IT, that's probably a good thing too.

But there is still a few things that just feel a bit unsettled.

SCE.  I don't want it back.  It's a pig of a software.  But given that it was discussed to be in the product for a year if I were in charge of the Universe I would have thrown it in as a benefit for a Var/Vap Premium install or something.  IBM includes SCE in some of their hardware skus. But just because how long it was talked about, I would have thrown it in on the premium with certain strings... maybe to MS partners only or something, but that one I would have resolved a little bit better, or not talked about it quite so much.  Don't get me wrong I still would rather have mere "hooks" in the system that some sort of partner/cloud monitoring would hook into, but it just feels a bit like someone went back on their word.  That's the part that feels weird.  I would not be a good marketing person.

This is where there is a difference between Apple and Microsoft.  Apple says too little.  Microsoft says too much.  One has to keep reminding oneself during these beta times that until the product RTMs, anything the marketing folks put out in any sort of powerpoint is subject to change.  (Case in point the recent WHS pull of a proposed backup of the server showcases this as well).  Until the fat lady sings, don't count on the stuff in the slide deck making it to the final build. 

Client backup.  Honestly I can't remember for sure if that ever in black and white was promised.  As far as I can recall it was more of a 'gee it would be nice if you stole that from Home Server' item.  It's still doable in fact by throwing in a Home server regardless.  But the loss of that one doesn't phase me one way or another.  In my network, it's not "the" key feature that would sell me to be honest.

ISA out.  I don't want ISA back.  I don't want it on the DC anymore.  I don't think ISA is the right product anymore for the small business marketplace.  But it is a concern that no longer can the SBS product come to the marketplace touting it's "built in secure from the get go" stance.  Yes, I know that most folks put an external firewall now, and yes I'm looking forward to getting a solution more specifically geared toward my needs, but one cannot dismiss the fact that this is a step back in the marketing spin.  It's a good thing in my book as it means that SBS in my mind is now more flexible and as I said in the Win2k8 Security Resource kit, now more able to be flexible on the choice of that edge device.  We do need to get SBS from being on the edge like it was, so in the bigger picture, ISA shouldn't be on top of the DC anymore.

Antivirus.  This one bugs me a little bit.  Like Joe Wilcox said, originally it was touted that you'd get a year free.  Now the offer is the standard trial versions.  Free trial versions do not have a value to me.  I can get them regardless.  Add to that the issue of the words again where the marketing folks have said one thing and then plans get changed.  Regardless, the proof of the pudding will be the ability to buy the Forefront and deploy it in a reasonable manner. Microsoft needs to ensure that the manner in which the channel can buy these add ons is easy and doesn't get bogged down.

Pricing of standard.  Several folks have said why not make it $999?  It's the mental $1,000 mark.

But all of this 'unsettled' is tempered by the fact that I have software assurance and as we always say when it's close to a new OS, SA makes sense.  When it's not, and you are betting on a product release schedule that slips, 2 year SA doesn't.  I feel for the consultants that sold their customers on two year SA's and are watching the months go by or have gone by already and it's too late.  It's one of the reasons I do three year SA these days as it gives me a better fighting chance to catch the upgrades.

What unsettles me is the the same sort of push that I'm seeing in various places.  Anyone too little and too small feels like they are being pushed to a hosted model.  I'm not saying that some small businesses wouldn't want that, but not all businesses do want that.  One size fits all never does.  For anyone who says "most small businesses can use hosted Exchange and Sharepoint" are putting a blinder to comfort level of the client and privacy and regulation concerns.  Folks that opine that "Why should small businesses need local Exchange and SharePoint" are putting blinders on regarding the needs of the clients.  Not everyone wants off premises.

Many/some thought the pricing of SBS 2003 was honestly too low.  Having it fit in slightly above plain Windows Server actually makes more sense.