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"sorry our product is Linux-only, you have to install a Linux server"

Why not? If they have no IT staff anything you use is probably alien to them.

Also, couldn't you use the lice se savings as an argument to increase your support package?

Sounds like poor business sense to me.

I put out Linux based solutions all the time and because of the various savings elsewhere im able to offer better support (due to substantially more cash remaining in their company IT budget).

In the rare event that I put out something Windows based, I only offer basic support because theres usually peanuts left in the budget for me to provide anything more.

Ergo, businesses have a tendency to pick my Linux based stuff due to it being cheaper and better supported.

Microsoft knows this which is why they're branching out. They've eroded engineer earnings for a long time with their extreme licensing model and now they're feeling us bite back.

Businesses won't buy products that IT guys refuse to support. Support is the backbone of any tech setup.

Those of us that build things cross platform know how to price things in our favour and we know which languages and technologies to use to make our products portable. Microsoft is simply trying to catch up as usual.

The only instance in which I use MS products is if the client won't budge which is becoming very rare.

On the server side, as long as what you build is accessible from the laptops / PCs the client wants to use and is backed up properly they don't care. Its YOU they expect to understand it not them. Thats what they pay you for.