Microsoft offering free OS for ‘cold’ servers

“In what could be a sign of things to come, Microsoft is offering a small sweetener to its Software Assurance licensing programme.

From last week, the company began allowing servers used for disaster recovery to carry copies of its Windows server software at no extra cost. A key condition is that the server must be used only for disaster recovery. Microsoft defines such servers as “cold servers” - ones turned off until a disaster arises.

The cold server provision will be applicable for the remaining term of any two- or three-year Software Assurance contract and is not perpetual. “