A: As of matter of fact, now there is! Previously, customers had no way of transferring licenses between on-premise and hosted environments. However, as of July 1, 2011, on-premise licenses can easily be transferred directly to a hosting provider, or to the cloud (for example to an Amazon Web Services instance). This is known as License Mobility through Microsoft Software Assurance.

License Mobility through Microsoft Software Assurance gives Microsoft Volume Licensing customers with active Microsoft Software Assurance the flexibility to deploy Windows server applications where they please. With the Software Assurance benefit, customers do not need to purchase new licenses, and there are no associated mobility fees. This license mobility...