Since we don’t live in a dream world, price is always an issue. Many people say SharePoint Services is Free and MOSS (SharePoint Server) is expensive. This is not entirely true.
SharePoint Services is not Free! It is a no charge feature of Windows Server 2k3. Yes semantics, but you DO NEED LICENSES AND CALS for your W2k3 server. Now most large organizations already have the CALS they need, but many small organizations may not have a Windows Server at all, and therefore, they cannot implement SharePoint for free. If this is their first server application, that cost could be substantial. Also, if you are deploying SharePoint to the Internet, you also need appropriate licensing for an Internet facing Windows Server, and consider your Active Directory CALS, and optionally, SQL Server CALS or Processor licenses. See, it is not free.
But of course, SharePoint Server (MOSS) starts with all of that licensing as a base. Then on top of that, you need a server license for SharePoint Server. In Fact, you need a license for each server deployed on the farm (so if you have a Web Front End and a Central Admin/Indexing server that’s 2 server licenses). For the basic SharePoint Server Functionality, you need a CAL (Client Access License) for EVERY USER that accesses the functionality (So someone that does not log on to a Site that uses SharePoint Server Features, can still legally store documents in a SharePoint Services Site without a CAL for SharePoint Server, as long as they have the appropriate Windows Server CAL). To add enterprise functionality, you add Enterprise User CALS (there is no Enterprise Server License). Note that I said ADD. You need both Standard and Enterprise to be licensed correctly.
BTW: Forms server is more of a CAL concept than a product. It is SharePoint Server "Forms Services" functionality, at the price of a SharePoint Server License. Your savings come from a reduced price CAL, less than Standard + Enterprise CAL price. The same is true for SharePoint Server for Search. When you multiply it by the number of users accessing the functionality, the savings can be substantial.
