I've recently been told of a situation at a small business where the IT company they hired to purchase and setup their computer systems had installed Windows Server 2008 Foundation edition. This was done in December of 2011. However, I've heard that this specific version of Windows is no longer for sale, and in fact was not available for sale at that time. Furthermore, their IT company had quoted them for Windows Server 2008 and 20 Device CALs, knowing that there would be 20 workstations connected to the domain (as these workstations were also part of the quote). However, I'm told the Foundation edition does not require CALs. They have since had a falling out with this IT company and are considering a legal dispute. I would like to help them out, so what I want to know is: - Is Windows Server 2008 Foundation no longer available for purchase? If not, when did it stop being sold? Is there a link to an official page that indicates this? I ask because I want to know whether this IT company has done something illegal by selling a Microsoft product made for new OEM systems that was not meant to be for sale at the time (December 2011). - Is there a link to an official Microsoft web page or downloadable document that describes the licensing terms and features of this version of Windows Server. - Apparently Exchange was used on the machine provided. How is that possible if the Foundation edition does not bundle Exchange? The other thing to consider is that an OEM version of this OS was installed, yet no product license sticker was present on the sever machine the IT company provided them, nor was any installation media or licensing documentation provided for this or the CALs. So, apart from telling all this to a lawyer, what should one do in a situation like this? Any and all help is appreciated.

Hello, I would recommend asking a Microsoft Licensing expert in your country for these details. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Designing and Providing Volume Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Trainer

Hello, "Is Windows Server 2008 Foundation no longer available for purchase?" As listed in http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/2008-r2-foundation.aspx it is still available as Windows server 2008 R2 but available. But it is OEM so only to buy with hardware from the mentioned vendors. "Apparently Exchange was used on the machine provided. How is that possible if the Foundation edition does not bundle Exchange?" AFAIK there is, was and is NOT planned to have Exchange as bundle into the Windows Server Foundation edition. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd459190(v=ws.10) That belongs to the SBS version from Windows Server. With Windows server foundation edition you are limited to 15 user accounts in Active Directory, so the 20 machine CAL is nice but no more then 15 persons are allowed to work. For licensing please contact Microsoft support directly but as you use OEM version it may also belong to the hardware vendor as they are responsible for support.Best regards Meinolf Weber MVP, MCP, MCTS Microsoft MVP - Directory Services My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/ Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

Windows 2008 R2 Foundation is still available on Microsoft's web site, http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/2008-r2-foundation.aspx, but it seems to be availble through select OEMs only, like Dell and HP. If you have a generic, custom server, then it may not be legal. Also, according to the microsoft 2008 R2 licensing datasheet, for 2008 R2 Foundaton, you only need the server license, but it is only good for a maximum of 15 user accounts. Please review the Microsoft Small Business Server Licensing Guide. As far as your Exchange question goes, I've never installed Exchange on 08 Foundaton, but the restrictions don't make sense for Exchange (the 15 user limit). If you join Foundation to a domain with more than 15 users, it will shut down... if you do not join it to the root domain, it will shut down, if your domain has a trust with another domain that has more than 15 users, it will shut down. Exchange 2010 may install on Foundation, but it is not a supported combination/

A few things to note: - The OS installed on the server machine is the Foundation edition of Windows Server 2008. - It came pre-installed on a generic, custom server that was built by an independent IT company. - It is the only server OS used on the domain. - This version of the OS does not require CALs for workstations on its domain to be connected to it (similar to Windows Server SBS 2011 Essentials currently available from Microsoft, which is I think what replaced 2008 R2 Foundation). I'm questioning whether this should not have been sold as part of a new server in December 2011. - The server machine had no product licence sticker on it. - They were charged for 20 Device CALs, which were not needed for this OS (and extendedly useless since the OS only allows 15 connections), and they never received the CAL paper licences.

- Here is the lifecycle chart for 2008 server which shows the EOS and EOES for Foundation, http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=12925 and according to this HP page, they stopped selling Foundation after MS announced end of sale, http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/software/microsoft/os/windows2008f/index.html - Wondering if what should have been sold as part of a new server, SBS2011? Probably if it was out at the time, but who knows. This is purely subjective and if the OS what was legally installed at time of purchase was still supported (Foundation is supported until 7/2013), and the OS performed the task it was sold to do, then, what is the complaint. - The Foundation OS was only available to OEMs, you should have received an OEM card or sticker for this system. - They should not have been charged for CALs if Foundation is the ONLY server in the network. The legal team really should be calling Microsoft about all of this, they should be able to get answers quicker from them.