There is a word that will crop up more, now that Windows Server 2012 Essentials has been announced. This word is Transmog. What does it mean?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Transmogrify (verb) as “to change or alter greatly and often with grotesque or humorous effect.” The Oxford dictionary defines this word as “transform in a surprising or magical manner.”

This word may also crop up in various incorrectly spelt forms like Transmorg or Transmorgify.

The gist of this word when applied to Windows Server 2012 Essentials is the process of transitioning Server 2012 Essentials into Server 2012 Standard, and move past the 25 user limit. In a sense, this is the old Transition Pack for SBS 2003 (http://bit.ly/Mhttle) revived. Using the Tranmog process, a customer will be able to perform an in place upgrade of their Server 2012 Essentials into Server 2012 Standard, thus bypassing the 25 user limitation. The majority of Server 2012 Essentials function like Remote Web Access and Client Backups will continue to operate and be fully supported up to 75 users and 75 devices. Mind you, the transmogrification process will allow more than 75 users and devices, but support for the Essentials components will not be available on larger numbers of clients and devices.

While this feature/process has been announced, there is no pricing announced. One would imagine that the cost would be roughly the same or more than the cost to move from Windows Server 2012 Essentials to Windows Server 2012 Standard with 25 CALs. For more information on how do perform this process, see this post – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj247582