In fairness, R2 is a seriously major update to Server 2008.
If Microsoft wasn't currently locked into branding everything "server" with a year, they could easily justify releasing it as an entirely new edition under a different name. Calling it server 2008-R2 does make it seem like an interim update. But from my perspective, it seems more like it's an
entirely new product rather than a simple SP fix to 2k8. (I'm still getting my head around it on our test system - which was never the case for me after an SP update.)
And Microsoft
did state right up front that R2 would not be a free upgrade unless you purchased an SA plan...
True, the new pricing formula didn't make me too happy. But (for once) I can understand where Microsoft is coming from with this type of product. So I really can't fault them for doing it.
(And I can't believe
I just said that about Microsoft.
)