TechNet Service To Be Discontinued

[ViRGE]

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-to-shut-down-technet-subscription-service-7000017541/

Well, damn.:| The OS collection alone was invaluable, especially when you needed to pull out an old OS for compatibility testing.

I blame the pirates who were abusing the heck out of Win7 keys to hock them on eBay.

 

[MontyAC]

Too bad. Guess MS got wised.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Microsoft is punishing us all instead of going after the problem and banning keys that were sold. At any rate, the low level MSDN subscription still contains the server and client operating systems for more ($699 buy; $499 renewal). Unfortunately, if you want all the server software, the corresponding MSDN sub is ridiculously expensive (starts at $6K).

 

[lopri]

Technet sub is probably Microsoft's (only, IMO) one redeeming product that saves it from their atrocious products/services in recent history, and they're getting rid of it?

 

[bruceb]

There is another thread about this in Software For Windows. And I agree, Microsoft should fix the problem. Kill all the keys that were bootlegged. The customers who actually own the keys will call in, MS can check their account to see if they are who they say and then issue new keys for their software. Not a big deal and most corporate or other customers using Technet would not be put out or mind doing what needs to be done to get software piracy under control.

 

[terpsy]

FSCK Microsoft. I had kept my Technet sub for years, and I had to let it go in 2009 when I got laid off. After 60 days, they disabled the keys I had for 4 years prior. When I called them, they said it was a mistake on their part and that they were sorry. they couldn't turn them back on, nor could they issue replacement ones. I had to obtain licenses for the 5 machines (dekstops and laptops) that the software was still installed on.

Bitter, damn straight. I didn't sell my keys or give them away. I used them in my environment as I was supposed to.

I kept paying for my sub, but never received new keys each year, and then they FSCKED me.

 

[Subyman]

They should have changed their policies instead of shuttering it. I believe they allowed 1500 activations per account. Lower that to 5-10 before having to call and that would have shut down larger scale pirating operations.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Technet was the major reason I was actually happy to move all my systems to Vista (and even was willing to sing praises to Vista after becoming so familiar with it), and now Technet is the reason I actually even bother with Windows 8.

With no more Technet, Microsoft is going to lose out on a lot of annual money from me as I'll now likely only maintain one Windows system on my gaming rig any more, and in the meantime I'll just live off of old Windows keys and slowly ween them off to Linux, if I even need those rigs anymore now that alternative computers (smartphones/tablets/consoles/etc) are ever encroaching on functions traditionally reserved for the PC

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-to-shut-down-technet-subscription-service-7000017541/

Well, damn.:| The OS collection alone was invaluable, especially when you needed to pull out an old OS for compatibility testing.

I blame the pirates who were abusing the heck out of Win7 keys to hock them on eBay.

it'll be rather ironic when they lose quite a few customers to piracy because of this move

It'll also be interesting to see how far people dig their claws into Win 7 and then see how long they can hang on ala XP

 

[corkyg]

Perhaps it is just as well. My subscription runs until Feb 2014 - and by then I will have all the ISO files I need. As M$ moves to Win 8+ and Office by annual subscription, I can't see pursuing it. Maybe time to switch to Mac.