MS SQL Server 2008 or MS SQL Server 2012 Standard? What to choose?

Question

SQL Server

Good evening, dear connoisseurs!
Enlighten the engineer, who shouldered the share of the system administrator, in the subject of SQL servers, since I am faced with installing them for the first time. My task is to raise SQL Server for specific applications that a couple of people in the office will work with. I plan to install on Win 2008 Server R2. Tell me, which version of SQL Server to choose and how much do they generally cost? Googling this topic, I got even more confused about prices, kernels, licensing options and other wilds :) In general, is SQL Server 2008 still being sold or is it all, is it unrealistic to buy?

Answer 1

buy 2014, it allows you to downgrade to 2012/2008R2.
it remains to understand what is more profitable to license (here the number of users and the hardware on which you will run will influence).

Answer 2

If only a few people will use it, then the free Express Edition will suffice.

Answer 3

no, they don't sell it, and 12 don't sell it, plus 2008 support has expired anyway. 2014 can do everything that 2008 and 2012 have. If there are several people and a small amount of data, then install the Express version, free, max 1 processor, 10 GB per database max.