I installed Windows Server 2003 on a VM and had to call MS to activate it. The guy asked me why I would install that old a version. I replied, “Because I own it”.
Another reason (one I encounter regularly at my job): "Our QA testers have to test our products against your older OSes because that's what some of our customers are still running."
Windows Server licenses don't grow on trees, ya know... and MSDN only goes so far...
I installed XP onto a VM for regression testing only to find that I couldn’t get the licensing to clear. Apparently the KMS license is saturated. I argued with a drone @ MS that we had retired thousands of XP boxes so there should be plenty of “water in the pool”. MS said no and I would have to purchase additional licenses - for an OS that was essentially dead.
I only need the VM for a two weeks and the license timer runs for 30 days. Guess which way I went ;’)
Just FYI, 2003 support sunsets on 14 July of this year. That means no more support, extended or otherwise, and no more updates. 2003 will be as vulnerable as XP at that time. You might want to consider upgrading.