SQL Server license prices rise ten percent as version 2022 debuts

Microsoft last week made SQL Server 2022 generally available, and this week started to advise partners of price hikes for the database. The price hikes were detailed on the software behemoth's Partner Center announcements page, which detailed a jump from $1,325.15 to $1,583.88 for a two core, one year, SQL Server Standard …

[steviebuk]

It needs to happen & now

For someone who liked Microsoft back in the day (mainly cause of their history in computing) they really, really need to be hit with an anti trust again. They were hit with the one we most probably all know about due to their push of IE on to everyone. Succeeding in killing Netscape because of their shady tactics.

Now they are doing it again. They did it with the push to Windows 10 with the pop-up. They are now doing it with Edge. Search for any other browser in Edge and it tells you Edge is better. Try to change default browser it makes you have to change each extension one at a time and tells you are you sure Edge is better

Now this. There is no reason to put the price up of SQL other than greed. Then to discover they are making it cheaper on Azure. Its clearly an attempt to push everyone to Azure so they can eventually, try and scrap the standalone OS. Its clear they'd like to push to Azure Windows where you'll have to pay a subscription fee every year.

I know they were starting it before but with Sat Nav incharge they've become even more greedy cunts.

Thank god for Linux.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dreck like this article

And not one word on the story that less than 3,000 of the 10,000,000 documents Wikileaks has are available as the Wikileaks Website is becoming nonfunctional. What is The Register coming to?

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikileaks-website-assange-hacked-documents/

[Lorribot]

Re: It needs to happen & now

There are many alternatives, take your pick and bet the company on it, MS by no means has any kind of monopoly on DB software and as for licence agreements you should read Oracle, one DB, licence every VMware host in your whole Enterprise just in case you move it, SQL is quite nice by comparison, and there is a lot free ones as well.

Personally I don't moan about Rolls Royce prices as i can't afford them, so I buy something that fits my budget and doesn't have Google or Apple built in tracking and listening to me wherever I go, but that is my choice.

Speaking of forcing a browser on users are you complete unaware of Google's tactics o break Microsoft's hold on the Browser and Phone OS market by using MS's own tactics against them and a few extra like bundling in as default install with just about every bit of software it could and making sure only its browser worked with its websites and services?

All the large Tech companies need a dose of anti-trust as they are all too big and too controlling, killing competition.

[StrangerHereMyself]

Re: It needs to happen & now

I don't agree. Companies can hike their prices all they want. It's competition that will lighten their stance and force them to either lower prices or to raise them more slowly.

People should vote with their feet, not depend on regulators to step in.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: It needs to happen & now

I had absolutely NO trouble replacing Edge with Chrome. I call "bullshit."

[Anonymous Coward]

Word soup

I read, or attempted to read the "Azure Arc Pricing" guide.

F-me, I'm well past my time for the carousel; it's just word soup to me...

[jeff_w87]

Re: Word soup

That's pretty much any of their licensing guides. No idea why it takes 42 pages (2019 SQL Server Licensing Guide) to explain (I use that word loosely as by the time I get through the document I'm more confused than when I started) how to properly license SQL Server. At this point I really push people who are looking for a database option to the open source alternatives if applicable to their use case. It's time to try and wean ourselves off the Microsoft product line where feasible as their prices and data collection practices are getting untenable.

[AMBxx]

Re: Word soup

I've worked with SQL Server for 20+ years. In the last 3 years, I've started working more with Postgres. If I were in sales again, I'd struggle to explain the benefits of MS SQL, never mind the licensing.

[werdsmith]

Re: Word soup

Exactly the same here @AMBxx. Developing the role of Postgres in preference to SQL Server wherever possible. A few years back we eased Oracle out, now the same process is being applied to SQL Server.

For the same reason, software licences are only worth the money if they offer value to the business. Pushing up prices squeezes that value margin.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Word soup

Anon, because I'm about to speak heresy:

I think the main reason why companies really saw the appeal to MS SQL was the GUI for it (SSMS actually is not terrible and doesn't have a learning cliff associated with doing Admin things on it, like user permissions and configuring agent jobs), the 'one stop' aspect for support, the fact that it wasn't oracle, and had editions ranging from 'free to use until your database gets too big' the standard edition, and the enterprise edition for those elephantine monstrosities of data piles or features that are, well, enterprise grade.

Licensing has always been a pain for it, especially after the age of virtualization really came into play; having to licensing all the cores on a host when the SQL server is using at most four is egregious and Oracle-esque. (especially when the host has 28 physical cores!)

Can someone point me as a reasonably well built GUI for Postgres that's not entirely CLI?

[Berny Stapleton]

Re: Word soup

HeidiSQL?

[spireite]

Re: Word soup

DBeaver any use??

[VoiceOfTruth]

Re: Word soup

-> Can someone point me as a reasonably well built GUI for Postgres that's not entirely CLI?

You have basically hit the nail on the head. I have no doubt that Postgresql is a feature-rich and reliable database. What is needed is a really good GUI for people who like GUIs. I've looked at them over the years, and some people recommend pgAdmin. I won't disparage them for their effort. It's OK in comparison to what I say about the database itself which is "it's really great".

[werdsmith]

Re: Word soup

Go to wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/postgresql_clients and fill yer boots.

SSMS is very good, though it needs sub folders for organising dozens of DBs or Agent jobs. Being slowly replaced by ADS, Azure Data Studio. SSMS is not the only good thing about SQL server, there are many. But Microsoft trying to assume a place beyond its real status now. As a not azure shop we will be soon a not SQL server shop because it’s forcing a choice.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Word soup

People who need a GUI to work with a database have NO business working with databases.

[43300]

Re: Word soup

And the other thing you need to bear in mind with Microsoft licensing terms is that just because something applied last week doesn't mean that it's still the same this week...

[RichardB]

Re: Word soup

I rather thought it depended on the last point in time your license period ticked over into a new set of terms.

Eg if the last version release your SA covered before finance pulled the rug was 2008 then those are your license terms.

[JulieM]

In other news

MariaDB is still £0, for as big a database and as many users as your hardware can support.

[StrangerHereMyself]

Entice

This will only entice more SMB's to swich over to PostgreSQL, which is more than sufficient for the job. Most web applications only do CRUD anyway through JSON API's.

[Jason Hindle]

Re: Entice

It’s cheaper for some than for others. Depends on how many lines of stored procedure code are at stake, not to mention any other code that isn’t database independent. Customers in banking and finance, with lots of old code, and lots of money, are a thing.

SQL Server started as a fork of Sybase. Sybase got bought out by SAP, who haven’t moved the product since 2014. You might be surprised how much Sybase can charge per core these days.

[StrangerHereMyself]

Re: Entice

Porting stored procedures is a one-time cost center resulting in huge savings afterwards. It wouldn't surprise me if the cost for doing so is recuperated in a single year if you have multiple SQL Server instances running.

[spireite]

Re: Entice

Isn't Postgres more 'natively' better for handling JSON data types? (as an aside)

[Jason Hindle]

Re: Entice

“ Isn't Postgres more 'natively' better for handling JSON data types? (as an aside)”

It does, but bear in mind selecting, inserting and updating can get quite complex.

[Anonymous Coward]

Shock! Horror!

A story about Micro$oft licencing going UP!

[deadlockvictim]

It's always about Azure

With Microsoft, it's always about Azure.

SQL Server is still too attractive to a great many companies and they aren't choosing the rental model that is Azure that Microsoft would like.

Companies don't swap databases lightly. There is a lot of knowledge in coders, DBAs, business analysts and the like and the move to another RDBMS involves a lot of work, possibly poorer performing databases.

In our case, senior management chose SQL Server for us. It will take a lot of internal pressure and price hikes for them to tell us to start the years' long move to PostgreSQL and I don't see it coming soon.

So, in short, Microsoft are raising prices because they can.

Use SQL Server if you must, otherwise Azure is waiting for you.

[Potemkine!]

I guess it's mainly because MS wage slaves will get a 10% rise too, right?

== Bring us Dabbsy back! ==