get a new business
so MS can use their software to host the services that you offer??
how is this any different from if I set up a hosted service providing email and such?
from what I've seen most hosted services are a rip off anyway
e.g 1&1 offer 1 exchange mail box for £5.99 per month (£7 after VAT) it's the same price in dollars actually on the .com site!
there is no way it costs this amount to host mail boxes...
perhaps you should look at your business and pricing structure and ammend where needed to make the pricess more fair.
competative industry my arse, it's all about who's willing to run the most streamlined business and provide the best deal to staff...
by my fag packet calculations
1 mail box = £5 per month.
you might pay £5000 a year to upgrade infrastructure and software
and your 1 admin to rn your 1 server might cost £25,000 a year.
total costs are £30,000 a year so you only need 500 customers to make your one server pay off. and pay your admin.
now how about you have 2 servers.
total costs = £35,000 a year
now you only need 584 customers,
why not just restructure your priceing scheme? there are saving that can be made.
plus if you actually offered customers a fair deal, you'd find that you'd sell the service a hell of a lot more as well.
(fag packet calculations are notoriously innaccurate and neglect hosting costs, administrative staff etc. but also i suspect exchange email hosting isn't your only business).
either way the message is clear, either adapt your business and pricing structure or die (as a business).