Versions and Editions

Often volume licensing customers may substitute one version or edition of a product for another, in some cases for free and in other circumstances for an additional fee.

On the horizontal axis are product versions (major releases of software) with the most recent versions farthest to the right. On the vertical axis are editions (variations of a product) with more capable editions pictured higher on the axis. When customers purchase a license for an on-premises product, they purchase a specific version and edition.

Pictured are four different combinations of version and edition, using Windows Server as an example.

A customer with a Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition (top left) who wants to use Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter (top right) instead can do so provided the original license is covered by Software Assurance (SA) at the point when version 2012 R2 shipped. (SA is an add-on subscription for licenses that provides rights to new product versions and other benefits for an annual fee, usually 25% or 29% of the underlying original license price.) Almost all on-premises licenses can be purchased through volume licensing programs with SA.