Microsoft is giving Hosting & Development software away free to small business.

[whooyeah]

If you are a small business you may be eligable for free full versins of software from Microsoft including Windows Server 2008/2010, SQL server 2008, expression studio.

http://www.microsoft.com/WEB/websitespark/default.aspx

I got a free version of windows server 2008 on a VPS at expeed.com.au for $39 a month. With the operating system and SQL server installed I still have about 10gigs of space on the server from memory for sites.

I then got the websitespark version of DOTNETPANEL to manage it which was also free.

There was a large learning curve in setting everything up (I'm a developer but I have little experience with servers).
If anyone needs any help I'm happy to lend a hand.

[mexham]

Look good. Thanks for sharing. But don't forget the small print, not totally free - *A one-time $100 Program Offering Fee is due upon exit or at the end of the 3 year term.

[JohnSheppard]

It's not really fine print lol....its actually in big writing in the headline. "at no upfront cost!*"

Microsoft always give stuff away for free. They know that the cost of software/IT is in the labour and knowledge base. I.e. Your computer guy's wage is always going to cost more than any software you buy. If they can get you knowledgeable in their software it then becomes cheaper for you to buy it than to retrain in competitor software.

[PerfectNotes-Kathy]

Also beware of being reliant on Microsoft's support - that is NOT free, in any way - extremely far from it.
So you probably want someone with an IT background available to help you out as well.

Kathy

[Dave@Perfectnotes]

I came across a server once which said "I have been up for 1086 days 11 hours and 45 minutes and boy am I tired" True story.

We knocked down a wall during renovations years ago at a job I had and found a closet with a 486 in it. No monitor or keyboard. It was still running. It had an uptime of over 3 years.

Neither of these machines was running windows.

Meh. Microsoft on a server would have to be running something you just could not get on another platform to be worth using. If I could talk you out of it I would. The reason MS is so ubiquitous in schools is that MS skills is all they want you to have. Pay $800 for office when open office is free. Because you know nothing but Office. Its sort of a scam. But on the other hand without Windoze I would be out of a job. So my advice is run screaming. Or ring me when it breaks.