Microsoft has posted the licensing for SQL Server 2012.  It has simplified licensing: SQL Server 2012 will offer two licensing options – one that is based on computing power (“core based”), and one that is based on users or devices (“Server + Client Access License (CAL)”).  Note that the licensing previously was per socket.  The explosion of multi-core processors is behind that change.  Per-core licensing also simplifies virtualization licensing, since a physical core equals a virtual core.

It also has a new edition called Business Intelligence, and no longer has the Datacenter edition or Workgroup Edition.  So the three editions are: Standard, Business Intelligence, and Enterprise (actually four editions if you count the free Express edition).  Here are the differences:

And here is the retail pricing for new purchases:

More info:

SQL SERVER 2012 LICENSING OVERVIEW

SQL Server 2012 Licensing Changes

SQL Server 2012 High Availability and Editions: Basic vs. Advanced

SQL Server 2012 Licensing and Hardware Considerations

Editorial: Microsoft SQL Server 2012’s Editions and Licensing

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Licensing Showdown—Core versus Server + CAL

SQL Server 2012 Editions

SQL Server 2012–Understanding the Pricing Changes

A cautionary tale about grandfathering CAL licenses in SQL Server 2012 Enterprise