(credit: Wikipedia)

With the imminent release of Windows Server 2016, due to be launched some time in September with its new per-core licensing, Microsoft is making a concerted effort to win over VMware users and get them to switch to Hyper-V.

Accordingly, the company is running a time-limited promotion: switch from VMware to Hyper-V and the company will give you “free” licenses to Windows Server Datacenter. The catch is that you’ll need to buy a Software Assurance subscription too, so it’s not really free. But it should save some of the costs of migrating.

To help persuade companies to switch, Microsoft has offered a TCO calculator to show off the big savings (Microsoft hopes) that can be had from making the switch.