Microsoft retiring TechNet Subscriptions

[Argi]

I fully agree, for people like us that maintain a lab this will crush us or force us to piracy unless they give another option.

 

MSDN subscription?

[Dashel]

ARG!

[Tomoko]

Unfortunately the activation expire when your sub expires.  So activate it prior to your sub expiring and you will be good to go.

 

My own experience shows that not to be the case. 

[Argi]

So exactly what is your alternative Microsoft?!  Or is this a hint that now you are a 'services' company, that on premise solutions (and the training/testing needed to support them) are obsolete?

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/buy.aspx

 

And before you complain that it's more expensive, I'd argue that TechNet was just way-way-way underpriced for what you got.  And it was abused to hell because of it.

[webdev511]

Man, this is a bummer.

 

I sure hope they open up the evaluation window a bit on some of the software. 180 days only seems short if you actually start using an environment.

 

I suppose this is one way to get people to learn PowerShell scripting. If people have to reinstall & provision servers every 6 months you can bet they'll figure out how to do so with scripting. It's not a pure replacement, but folks that are really using TechNet will either find a way to make the eval licenses work, or suck it up and go MSDN.

 

I wonder how many more July 1 announcements we'll be seeing?

[Chris123NT]

MSDN subscription?

I don't see an MSDN sub that includes exchange server, and that's one of the products that I need to be familiar with for my consulting.

[Dashel]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/buy.aspx

 

And before you complain that it's more expensive, I'd argue that TechNet was just way-way-way underpriced for what you got.  And it was abused to hell because of it.

Not only is it more expensive, it doesn't fit their needs, since it only gives you server and not the actual applications they would want for testing.  There is a reason why developers and operations were separate.  I'm sorry but their 'free' evals just don't cut it.  This is the hint of a service company moving in that direction. They want developers to stay but administrators are now their competition.

 

Yet another reason to be praying for real corporate options because MS's management is completely ****ed.

[Argi]

I don't see an MSDN sub that includes exchange server, and that's one of the products that I need to be familiar with for my consulting.

 

It's included with Premium and Ultimate.  If you clicked the link you'd see the comparison table.

[Emil Valsson]

According to this article they say:

 

Product keys downloaded as part of a TechNet subscription won?t expire, although license rights for products downloaded as part of a current subscription will cease when the subscription ends.

 

Can existing keys still be activated after they kill Technet?

[Roger H. Veteran]

According to this article they say:

 

 

Can existing keys still be activated after they kill Technet?

That's what I was basically asking since I sometimes screw up stuff and instead of trying to fix it i'll just reinstall (sometimes I do purposely screw up stuff to learn how to fix it). So the above kinda answers my question in the sense that stuff will still work, they wont just randomly become activated (I think that's what that means).

[HawkMan]

Lets face it, they're retiring it because most users use it in break of the license. Not for labs and testing. and the restrictions they added earlier did not help the matter. 

[BGM]

i got this email too, didn't even realise i had a TechNet subscription... :D

[game_over]

From the FAQ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blah blah blah, they just repeat the same stuff over and over, same as in the e-mail, it's like half of the form-generic answers the Microsoft forum mods/helpers give you.

 

 

Ahh Microsoft forums... The worst place on the internet.

[Dashel]

It's included with Premium and Ultimate.  If you clicked the link you'd see the comparison table.

 

I'm familiar but that isn't the point, that was but one comparison to the OS level product.  Admins don't need a copy of VS and a premium $6000 sub clearly created for developers, buying lots of things they don't need, while not having the tools they do.

[briangw]

Well this sucks. I just got mine earlier this year to test out Server 2012, Windows 8, and SharePoint 2013. Hopefully, I'll move onto a MSDN license like our Developers have.

[SirEvan]

well that sucks.  MSDN is way too expensive.  Looks like I'll be renewing my Dreamspark account through ACM.

[BGM]

i got this email too, didn't even realise i had a TechNet subscription... :D

 

heh, turns out i don't... it's actually an MSDN sub i hardly ever use from work.... coooooooooooooooooooool!

[REM2000]

this has got to be the worst news ive heard in a long time (in regards to my job/career). I relied on this service to get a one up on the latest and greatest as well as test setups and software, im really disappointed with this, ive been a member for donkey's years and it's really helped my career with Microsoft tech. 

[Circaflex]

luckily I just reupped mine so im good for another year, shame though

[HawkMan]

this has got to be the worst news ive heard in a long time (in regards to my job/career). I relied on this service to get a one up on the latest and greatest as well as test setups and software, im really disappointed with this, ive been a member for donkey's years and it's really helped my career with Microsoft tech. 

 

 

You can thank all the people that abused it, even more so those that resold license keys. 

 

however if your career so much relied on it, MSDN is probably more the service you need. 

[AStaUK]

Just got the same email through, I was really hoping it was a spam/phishing email, I used my Technet heavily for testing/learning Microsoft products and in a few cases used it to prove concepts for company purchase.  Looking at the MSDN pricing I'm not likely to get that backed by my company and I couldn't afford to shell out that sort of money myself even at the renewal costs.

 

Have to see how things pan out when my TechNet comes up for renewal.

[Emil Valsson]

Closing down Technet is not going to stop piracy. They probably made good amounts of money out of this. This is just another ######up by Microsoft after the Xbox failure.

[HawkMan]

Closing down Technet is not going to stop piracy. They probably made good amounts of money out of this. This is just another ****up by Microsoft after the Xbox failure.

 

Piracy no. But it will stop people from selling technet licensing and making money illegally. Now the people who thought they bought legal licenses will have to buy actual legal licenses. 

[majortom1981]

Closing down Technet is not going to stop piracy. They probably made good amounts of money out of this. This is just another ****up by Microsoft after the Xbox failure.

How is This bad?  Most people have access to the licenses for real cheap anyway. Non profits can go through techsoup.org, students and schools have academic pricing and dreamspark. IT people have MSDN and volume licensing , and local and state government have contract pricing.

[Chris123NT]

It's included with Premium and Ultimate.  If you clicked the link you'd see the comparison table.

I don't make enough money to pay for that level of MSDN just to have exchange.  I have no need for Visual Studio, I'm not a developer.