Yet another reason why its not worth upgrading
So what happens let say (hypothetically) that the server is ticking over and some of the cores are parked. Do you get a refund?
I was tasked to set up a 6 office linked system with a SQL hub. It was recommended that SQL 2012 was used (had just been released at the time) but earlier versions would be fine (basically the tools helped the developers) but the costs were just ridiculous, something like £7000. In the end I was able to source SQL 2005 Processor edition for £1000 and it worked fine for the customers needs.
MS are killing their brand with bad software and price hikes