Microsoft has pushed SQL Server costs so high for SPLA users that I don't know of anybody using it for anything other than legacy products. Why would you when you can use a perfectly good enterprise product like PostgreSQL at near zero cost ?
Same is happening to Windows Server and I don't think it's part of a push to Azure - have you seen what Azure costs for heavy workloads ? It's certainly not a cheap alternative.
I think Microsoft are seeing their license revenue decline and are trying to jack the prices up to fill the void. The best option would be to reduce the cost - we would use more of it if it was cheaper but Microsoft don't see the World like that.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
