Why would Microsoft want to discontinue Small Business Server?

This is a very interesting question. Although SBS is not as easy to set up and manage as Microsoft would have you believe. It is never the less a good solid platform for small and start-up businesses. It provides everything a small business needs, and is very cost effective. Maybe it is too cost effective. Whatever the reason, it will upset a large number of users as they will be forced to migrate to the ‘full’ versions.

It also poses another question? As an IT consultant and supplier, what do I recommend to my clients? I can only assume that Microsoft want to push us towards the cloud. There numerous arguments both for and against this.

In my particular case, the majority of my clients are based in rural areas. While converted barns etc. make for wonderful places to work from, Internet provision is poor to say the least. Moving to a hosted solution for these is risky, especially when you are lucky to see 2mb on your Internet connection. Maybe it is time to take a long hard look at Linux.

No, this seems to be a big mistake by Microsoft. We have until the middle of 2013 before the product is removed, while OEM providers have until December 2013. Hopefully Microsoft will see sense and reverse the decision.

What do you think of this decision?