Windows Server 2012 Web Licensing

Before Windows Server 2012, there was an actual Windows Web Server 2008 edition. For years, many people mistakenly thought you had to license web users when running a Windows web server. However, there was never any cost for licensing web users when running Windows Server. The previous special edition was simply provided at a discounted rate with more security and scalability, specifically for web sites.

As explained in Directions on Microsoft, no client licenses are needed to host a website. According to W3Techs, legacy web hosts often use Apache on approximately 54% of web servers. Still yet, the fastest growing web server is Microsoft Internet Information Server.

This trend is due to new technologies like bootstrap and critical Open Source security vulnerabilities like Heartbleed. With the misconception about additional costs removed, developers are now scrambling to Windows. Customers want a better experience with responsive web design on portable devices. Following recent privacy concerns, everyone wants better security over the highly publicized exploits that are beginning to plague Unix/Linux platforms.