Do you have a method to use Hyper-V Server 2012 that doesn't require any of the costs I mentioned? Or ESXi? Or Xen?

Can you post details for us please?

The article discusses the price to acquire the hypervisor (i.e. "free") but fails to recognize the larger truth: "Free" is always a gimmick. The only two things in the entire world that are actually free are air and love. Everything else is an add-on or bait for an add-on.