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Is Technet subscriptions worth it in your opinion?

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Velox

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So I'm about to buy a technet standard subscription and was just wondering what your opinion of it is. I'm always reformatting and tweaking, etc and think it'd be perfect for me. I'm also toying with server management right now to, so it just makes sense for me. What are your thoughts on it?

And I was looking around the Technet site, but no where does it say exactly what you get in the subscription software wise. I know the basics Windows OS, Server OS, etc. But is Office in there? It would be nice to not have to use OpenOffice or some other in place of Office.

If I bought it now, it'll keep me updated with Windows 8 if it is released while my account is still active correct?

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Nick H. Supervisor

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Let's face it, on the surface Technet sounds amazing. But you need to remember what it was created for. It's not a "buy this subscription and be a member of the Microsoft team." It's more like, "hey, test out whatever you want in order to make the wise decision to get your company using our products."

Then again, I'm working at 07:30 on a Saturday. I might be a bit more pessimistic than usual.

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S_Herbie

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For a home user, if you want MS Office and the latest version of Windows it's definitely the most cost effective way to "buy" it.

Office 2010 Pro has an RRP of ?430

Windows 7 Ultimate has an RRP of ?200

If you buy a standard technet subscription for about ?135 you are saving almost ?500 and you have legal, licensed software.

You can still use the software after your sub has expired, or just renew it for ?100 and get the next release each year.

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ahhell

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If I bought it now, it'll keep me updated with Windows 8 if it is released while my account is still active correct?

Yes. Since you have a year, you'll most likely get Server 8 (almost all versions) and possibly Office 15 as well (depending on release date).

If you are thinking of setting up your own test environment at home or something, then it is without a doubt an awesome value.

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jakem1

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For a home user, if you want MS Office and the latest version of Windows it's definitely the most cost effective way to "buy" it.

Office 2010 Pro has an RRP of ?430

Windows 7 Ultimate has an RRP of ?200

If you buy a standard technet subscription for about ?135 you are saving almost ?500 and you have legal, licensed software.

You can still use the software after your sub has expired, or just renew it for ?100 and get the next release each year.

That's not strictly true. Although Technet gives you full licenses to a range of software the licenses are only valid when used in a trial environment. Technet subscriptions are not valid in production environments including when used at home. Of course, there's very little risk that Microsoft will ever investigate your use of the subscription so this limitation is mostly theoretical.

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-Alex-

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100% definitely worth it! You basically get the whole back catalogue of software, plus everything released for a year after. Your keys remain valid forever! $199 is a steal!!

This is a definitive list of what you don't get with TechNet Standard:

Accelerators and Adapters Enterprise

Accelerators and Adapters Other

Accelerators and Adapters Standard

Accounting Professional

Application Compatibility

AX 4.0

Axapta 3.0

BizTalk Accelerator Service Pack

BizTalk Server 2002 Developer

BizTalk Server 2004 Enterprise

BizTalk Server 2004 Partner

BizTalk Server 2006 Accelerators and Adapters

BizTalk Server 2006 Developer

BizTalk Server 2006 Enterprise

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Accelerators and Adapters

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Branch

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Developer

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Enterprise

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Standard

BizTalk Server 2009 Branch

BizTalk Server 2009 Developer

BizTalk Server 2009 Enterprise

BizTalk Server 2009 RFID

BizTalk Server 2010 Branch

BizTalk Server 2010 Developer

BizTalk Server 2010 Enterprise

BizTalk Server 2010 RFID

BizTalk Server 2010 Standard

Bookshelf Symbol 7

Commerce Server 2002 Developer

Commerce Server 2002 Enterprise

Commerce Server 2002 Feature Pack

Content Management Server 2001

Content Management Server 2002 Developer

CRC 3.05

CRM 3.0

CRM 3.0 Professional

CRM 3.0 Small Business

CRM 4.0 Enterprise, Professional and Workgroup

Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP

Duet Enterprise SharePoint and Netweaver Components

Dynamics AX 2009

Dynamics AX 2009 License

Dynamics AX 2012

Dynamics AX 2012 License

Dynamics CRM 2011 Language Pack

Dynamics CRM 2011 Server

Dynamics CRM 2011 Workgroup Server

Dynamics GP 2010

Dynamics GP 2010 SDK

Dynamics NAV 2009

Dynamics NAV 2009 R2

Dynamics NAV 4.0 License File

Dynamics NAV 5.0

Dynamics Point of Sale 2009

Exchange 2003 Enterprise

Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise

Exchange Server 2010 Enterprise

Financials 8.0

Financials 9.0

Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 Enterprise

FRx

GP 10.0

GP 10.0 SDK

GP 7.5

GP 8.0

GP 9.0

Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007

IIS

ILMerge

ISA 2004 Enterprise

ISA 2006 Enterprise

Navision 4.0 with Service Pack 2

Office Accounting 2007 SDK

Point of Sale 1.0

ProClarity

ProClarity SDK and DDKs

Project 2003 Professional

Project 2007 Professional

Project Professional 2010

SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise

SharePoint Server 2007 for Search Enterprise

SharePoint Server 2007 Language Pack Enterprise

SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise

Small Business Manager 7.5

Speech Server 2004 Enterprise

SQL Server 2000 Enterprise

SQL Server 2000 Enterprise-64 bit

SQL Server 2005 Compact

SQL Server 2005 Enterprise

SQL Server 2005 Everywhere

SQL Server 2005 Workgroup

SQL Server 2008 Enterprise

SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise

SQL Server 2008 R2 Workgroup

SQL Server 2008 Workgroup

SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Core Edition

SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition

SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack

Systems Management Server 2003 R2 Enterprise

Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise

Visio 2003 Professional

Visio 2007 Professional

Windows 7 Enterprise

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise

Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise

Windows Server 2003 Standard

Windows Server 2008 HPC

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter

Windows Server 2008 R2 Web

Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC

Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium-based Systems

Windows Server 2008 Web Server

Windows Storage Server 2008 Embedded Standard, Enterprise, and Workgroup

Windows Thin PC

Windows Vista Enterprise

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Noir Angel

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As far as I'm aware even if you use your machine for development you can legitimately use it under those terms. It's interesting though that if Microsoft don't intend Technet products to be used for real that they allow them to work just like full retail products.

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+Warwagon MVC

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I dunno. it use to be worth it when they would give you 10 keys per product. Now i'm not so sure. Which is to bad, because now this is probably $350 or how ever much it costs of my money Microsoft is not getting. Then again I will probably buy 1 licenses of windows 8.

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Noir Angel

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I dunno. it use to be worth it when they would give you 10 keys per product. Now i'm not so sure. Which is to bad, because now this is probably $350 or how ever much it costs of my money Microsoft is not getting. Then again I will probably buy 1 licenses of windows 8.

Isn't it now 5 per product? At 10 activations on differing hardware per key that's still more keys than any average person is ever going to need.

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+Warwagon MVC

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Isn't it now 5 per product? At 10 activations on differing hardware per key that's still more keys than any average person is ever going to need.

I think they changed it to 2 keys per product.

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Noir Angel

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I think they changed it to 2 keys per product.

In that case then I guess it would depend on the user. I only have one PC so it would still be alright for me but I see your point it is a lot more restrictive than it used to be.

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S_Herbie

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That's not strictly true. Although Technet gives you full licenses to a range of software the licenses are only valid when used in a trial environment. Technet subscriptions are not valid in production environments including when used at home. Of course, there's very little risk that Microsoft will ever investigate your use of the subscription so this limitation is mostly theoretical.

The counter to that is that my home PC is a trial / test environment...

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articuno1au

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They did indeed update the key usage.

The limitation was added to avoid sharing the keys off of a single subscription. From an average users point of view, that's 20 installs for $135 (or whatever) which is more than most people do in their lives. Some techies (i.e. me) might run into a little trouble with that though :p

2 keys with limited activations. My understanding is that this activation usage cannot be reset (but I am not certain on this).

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tiddlie

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Depends if you are genuinely testing software or not. If you are buying it just to get access to the CD keys to use for standard use, then you may as well save your $199 and go on The Pirate Bay - it's effectively the same thing (except you feel better because you've paid MS something)

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Kami-

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Depends if you are genuinely testing software or not. If you are buying it just to get access to the CD keys to use for standard use, then you may as well save your $199 and go on The Pirate Bay - it's effectively the same thing (except you feel better because you've paid MS something)

Also, you avoid nasty STDs...

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S_Herbie

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They did indeed update the key usage.

The limitation was added to avoid sharing the keys off of a single subscription. From an average users point of view, that's 20 installs for $135 (or whatever) which is more than most people do in their lives. Some techies (i.e. me) might run into a little trouble with that though :p

2 keys with limited activations. My understanding is that this activation usage cannot be reset (but I am not certain on this).

Isn't it 2 keys per version though?

For Windows 7 you could install Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate or even Starter.

Assuming that you just go for HP and Ult you still have 40 installs...

For Office 2010 you have Standard and Pro+ (Enterprise isn't available on Standard Technet) and some of the Apps are available as standalone (e.g. Access, Outlook, Project, Visio) so it should cover everything you need until the next version comes out.

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Brandon H Supervisor

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So if you buy a technet subscription, you basically get a free windows 8 key to use the OS?

so you'd pay $130 (or whatever technet costs) to get windows 8 now instead of $40 in 2 months?

with MS changing up their pricing scheme, I'd say technet isn't all that worth it anymore

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