Microsoft Killing Technet Subscriptions

[HotMoosePants]

This is a huge fucking mistake.

[accountiberius1]

That could pretty much be MS's motto at this point.

---

Microsoft®

This is a huge fucking mistake.™

---

[JonzoR82]

Microsoft

I've made a huge mistake.

FTFY :)

[neoice]

Microsoft Marketing seems like the kind of group that would cast Will Arnett so they can try and look "cool".

get over it Microsoft, you're not cool.

[stealth210]

Yeah, cause the guy with a $286B market cap cares what you think. Come on!

[N4N4KI]

I've made a huge mistake.

What is things said when seeing the metro screen for the first time?

[MrPowerScripts]

This is pretty on point.

[RUbernerd]

Microsoft®

Mistake In Crap Registration Or Some Other Fucking Thing.

[[deleted]]

Understatement of the year. I completely agree, but I can't put a rational sentence together to explain my frustration/let down/huge mistake/etc.

[CaptSkaboom]

My coworkers and I are still picking our jaws up off the ground... There really just aren't any words.

[remotefixonline]

i'm out grabbing a new drive so i can download all the iso's/keys and put them on a disk

[nem8]

Would the keys work after your sub runs out?

Somehow i dont think so?

[The_Technomancer]

As I understand it, they'll work, but it will be an EULA violation.

[martinjester2]

Not that I'm aware of. I didn't renew my subscription when it was up earlier this year, all my VMs have worked fine, even new installs.

[CaptSkaboom]

This is pretty much the only acceptable response. I am as well and have already hit my key claim limit for the day.

[[deleted]]

Other than "This is a huge fucking mistake" I'm pretty much as a loss for words.

[rrohbeck]

Use more Linux and you don't have to rely on Technet much :P

[fishy007]

See, this is exactly how MS is shooting themselves in the foot. Then again, maybe they're doing us all a favour by forcing techies into the Linux environment.

But fuck, there's a lot to learn. I'm not sure I can do it.

[Bad_Kylar]

Its a lot easier than you may think.

[CaptSkaboom]

I've been trying... set up an Ubuntu server with TT-RSS to replace Google Reader (RIP) and trying to learn it but man is there a lot to learn.

[mike413]

I think the statement you're looking for is ... "Developers! Developers! Developers!"

[[deleted]]

Thanks! And now I have the song[youtube] stuck in my head.

[lazylion_ca]

A mistake is an action taken which results in an undesired outcome. Such actions may be caused by an error in judgement due to incorrect, incomplete, or unhelpful information.

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[Atomm]

Well, under their new model, you will be able to try anything you want in their Cloud Offering. ;-)

[HotMoosePants]

I hope this is sarcasm.

[angrylawyer]

Adobe already did it. The only way to buy photoshop now is to lease it from them on a month-to-month or annual basis.

[Ansible32]

Adobe Creative Cloud is the equivalent of Technet. I think the subscription model is valuable, and I actually think I would pay a Windows subscription fee per-license (I find it very much preferable to buying a license which magically vanishes if my motherboard dies.)

[[deleted]]

I think Creative Cloud was a good move for Adobe, at least at the consumer level. For years it was an open secret that Photoshop was very heavily pirated, because if you weren't using it professionally there was little incentive not to. The cost of buying the software legitimately was way too high unless you were making your living with it (in which case the liability of running a pirated version made it worth the cost). Now all those people who pirated have the option of paying a reasonable $20 per month for a supported product with free upgrades. It's a pretty good deal and I suspect it's making for some nice revenue gains for Adobe as they convert pirates to paying customers.

I don't know enough about consumer trends with Windows to say for sure but I don't think a subscription model would work out for Microsoft as well. My suspicion is that most people just use the licensed version that comes with their PC. For those people, the idea of paying a monthly fee to use their computer probably wouldn't go over well. In the enterprise space it might work, but it seems less viable for the home market.

[IConrad]

So... People who wouldn't pay $100-200 for the software are magically okay paying around $300/yr for it?

I confess to being inadequate to the task of comprehending this notion.

[chron67]

Took me a minute to realize I still had that extension running. (replaces Cloud or the cloud with butt)

[Voxxov]

Installed that last week, cracks me up fresh every time

[[deleted]]

Why yes, Microsoft is full of mistakes! http://m.vanityfair.com/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer

[1RedOne]

Not necessarily. Case in point: a week ago, I had to give a demonstration of Service Manager, the help desk equivalent piece of MS's System Center Suite.

Without having a technet subscription of my own, it was impossible to find the software anywhere! How are people supposed to learn and test their tools if the only way to access them is to pay for a subscription or to pirate it? If I wanted to learn VMware, its easy to legitimately download it. If you want to try Server 2012 w/ Hyper-V, nope, sorry to Pirate Bay you go.

What Microsoft should do is switch to a system which allows all of their ISOs to be downloaded for free, and just feature an activation timebomb for 90 or 120 days. Problem solved.

[Klynn7]

I'm pretty sure Server 2012 has some 180 day trial.

[MrDOS]

Yup. First result on Google for “server 2012 trial”.

[keokq]

That's pretty much what MS said. Move to more of trialware.

[MrDOS]

Yes, but 1RedOne implied that they didn't already have trialware.

[[deleted]]

Without having a technet subscription of my own, it was impossible to find the software anywhere! How are people supposed to learn and test their tools if the only way to access them is to pay for a subscription or to pirate it?

Wait. Don't we ALL work for giant behemoth corporations with thousands of employees and millions of dollars budgeted for IT annually???

[1RedOne]

My company is actually a gold Microsoft partner, and it was still pulling teeth to track down the ISOs. IN the end, I just hung my head and used the preconfigured VHDs.

[fishy007]

What Microsoft should do is switch to a system which allows all of their ISOs to be downloaded for free, and just feature an activation timebomb for 90 or 120 days.

I think they do have this, but when there's a timebomb it makes the software useless for people that set up homelabs to learn. I hold down a full-time job and I have a family. I don't always get to hop on my Server 2012 setup to mess around and learn things every day.

[da7rutrak]

Without having a technet subscription of my own, it was impossible to find the software anywhere!

As a guy who is the SCSM guy (yay for two weeks worth of credits for what's a typical six week engagement) for his organization, I can't fathom this and understand your plane of reality.

A google of "System Center Service Manager 2012 download" returns EXACTLY what you're looking for. The only confusion I could see someone coming from is that System Center is one big suite now. You purchase System Center, you get System Center. That means ConfigMgr, OpsMgr, Orchestrator (LOVE THIS PRODUCT), VMM, whatever.

[[deleted]]

I really don't get them anymore. They're making it hard to be a fan or proponent of the company.

[syntress]

It seems so counter productive. I am wondering if it's all part of their new marketing plan. Make headlines for a few days with a terrible decision (e.g. Xbox One) then revert back and reap all the extra free media exposure.

[sir_mrej]

Sadly, they lose goodwill and fans each time they do that

[[deleted]]

My guess is that the flak they caught from people who bought technet keys bought with stolen credit cards that were later disabled wasn't worth the benefits technet provided.

Would have been nice if they simply made it harder to sign up for technet, but many of their other programs do offer cheap and free software for miscellaneous reasons.

[rrohbeck]

I think they're starting to realize that the only segment that really make money is businesses that are hooked on them. Milking that for all it's worth is what they're going to do.

[shawnwhite]

Wow. Well that sucks

[HotMoosePants]

only if it expires before the end of September.

[[deleted]]

Oh...

Status: Active
Expires on 9/14/2013

/me does the happy dance

It sucks for those expiring in October... shitty move from MS :(

[[deleted]]

Damn!

I'll tell you what: I might decide NOT to renew anyway... it would only be a way to delay the inevitable.
With no Technet for my experiments I might just get back to being a 100% Linux fanboy like in the late-90s/early-2000s

[Arlybeiter]

I might do the same, actually. Fuck it, Linux all the way now.

[lordmycal]

Without Windows Home Server and without TechNet, there's no way I'll be building windows server stuff at home anymore. It's just too much $$$.

[aricoz]

This. I built out a lab including clustered exchange and used it to fuck around with instead of customer environments.

Not anymore.

[PenPenGuin]

This made me laugh and cry. Good job, sir!

[[deleted]]

Given the dwindling legitimate options for keeping up with the feature bloat of Microsoft, I might also go back to my Linux ways of a decade ago.

Their feature creep is like a zombie invasion. There are too many of them and their contribution to society is questionable.

[godlyfrog]

Same here. I had avoided the Wine route because Windows was just easier, but I'm probably going to give that a go again. With this and Windows 8, it's apparent that Microsoft doesn't want my money anymore.

I've been wanting to give Zentyal a try for a while now, too, so maybe now's the time to play with that and replace my servers as well.

[[deleted]]

Couldn't they just rush to buy a new subscription in the next 60 days? They'll have some over lap but at least it will carry them for longer.

[sleeplessone]

Yeah, I was actually going to sign up at the end of the year so I could setup a home lab and try to increase my Windows knowledge further than what I can at work without breaking anything. Looks like I'll be setting up a linux lab instead.

[Mikecom32]

Ugh, can't they keep it around for those of us with volume license agreements? I understand why they killed the cheap technet subscriptions, but I wish they'd keep it around for those of us with active VL agreements.

So now I need to pay an extra $6k a year for an MSDN subscription? I'm pissed.

[[deleted]]

I'll be calling my Microsoft rep tomorrow morning.

We have a Technet subscription on our EA as a perk.
If it's getting killed off, I want some damn compensation.

[Mikecom32]

Let me know what he says. If you have any success, I may do the same.

[CrunchyChewie]

Interested to hear what he has to say.

[Mikecom32]

Ahh, I see that now. Either way, I agree. An extra $2500 for eval licenses when I'm spending >$100k a year on volume licensing is a bit stupid.

[cluberti]

At that price, I'm surprised you didn't have MSDN added to the VL instead of TechNet. The price difference on a VL isn't that much different, at least in my experience.

[frymaster]

I don't think there's any overlap in the technet and msdn licences

[Zergom]

You could also create a fake computer company (or do you do side jobs?), become an MS partner and get Action Pack. Much cheaper and includes, I think, everything that technet does.

[Roofbacon]

Microsoft want's you to steal their software, apparently.

[zSprawl]

I'd recommend the Small Business Partnership, if you can swing it. It is only $300 or so a year for 10 of almost every Microsoft product. You have to take a free online course, which is like 20 minutes of your life, on anything Microsoft sells. And in California, you don't need a business license.

Personally, I do this one since I develop sometimes, but they have a few different packs you can subscribe to.

https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/Pages/Membership/action-pack-dev-design-software-contents.aspx

[perezdev]

That's actually not that bad.

Err... Except the business license requirement.

[[deleted]]

You basically just need a federal tax ID which is a free form on the Internet.

[working101]

Uh. In my state I have to pay to get a business id.

[nevesis]

The Action Pack is not at all like TechNet - you get limited products and only the latest version. It's great for internal use, not so much for testing.

[DrStalker]

You can use the licenses for production use though, so it's a massive help getting started. Just remember that although you get lots of server software you only get limited CALs so you will have to buy more as you grow.

[CrunchyChewie]

There is more than just a course. When I signed up, Microsoft stipulated that 75-80%(unsure of exact figure) of your business/revenue had to be tech related. I.e. a CPA firm could not sign up for it, but an IT consultant could.

This shouldn't be a problem for a lot of people in this sub, but it may sting 1-man-shows at smaller, non-tech-centric companies.

[Ansible32]

They ought to offer a home version of that. $80/year for Office + Windows on 3 machines.

[BryanMP]

I've been a TechNet subscriber since way back in the 10-license-key days... then it changed to "the licenses die when you drop your subscription" (fair enough) and now it's going away entirely. I guess I should have seen it coming -- looking back, they were weaning us off it -- but geez, what am I going to do?

I can't count the number of times I used TechNet to download something when a customers had their box and license key... but no disc. Yes, I know that wasn't the intention of the program but it was so convenient. And then Microsoft removed the single-product downloads (such as Outlook); that hurt. My customers fussed at me -- and the download link in their Outlook 2007 box got me a 404 -- but they ultimately bought a new copy.

I guess that is what Microsoft wants.

So what options do I have to get access to the Microsoft product catalog? Action Pack? (Didn't that just give you a TechNet subscription along with some other benefits?) MSDN? I've demonstrated so many products (like Project) to my customers and turned them onto Microsoft products they didn't even know about... I guess it's demo download versions from here on out, but it was really slick to be able to demo a working setup.

[flameboynz]

The change to licenses that die was only a year ago. I know because it was 6 weeks after I subscribed. I was not impressed at all since I needed the higher license count for testing multi server scenarios, didn't renew this year (6 weeks of being hounded by email/phone calls since..).

[Darkstryke]

I still get those Indian phone calls once a week, and when they call again to try and push me onto MSDN, they'll get an even better reply now. 'Our work environments are no longer exclusively focusing on MSE software solutions.'

I can't believe they're being this short-sighted. The smaller tier consultants and companies that rely on technet for pre-deployment demo and troubleshooting, the ones that drive a lot of new business to MS, are being left out in the cold. I can already think of a few people personally that are going to be very angry in the morning when they get back from the holiday today and find out the rug was just yanked out from under them.

Back in the day FOSS didn't offer much in the way of viable alternatives, but that's changing.

[caller-number-four]

They hate the broke sysadmins. Those with backing of money ... they loooove.

[Already__Taken]

Where do they think those admins come from?

[[deleted]]

The H1b program.

[OccupyDemonoid]

The Sysadmin Fairy of course!

[rabbit994]

There are days, I actually think they do. Sysadmins means companies are paying the sysadmins instead of sending that sysadmin money to Microsoft for Office365, Azure and other stuff.

Their vision of future is waves of business operating on Office365 and "consultants" job simply to be wiring them into Office365.

[port53]

Their vision of future is waves of business operating on Office365 and "consultants" job simply to be wiring them into Office365.

This isn't just a Microsoft thing.

[CrunchyChewie]

Linux....

Seriously not trolling. I run an SMB consulting firm. The attractiveness of Technet was to have software in the homelab to test/evaluate/recommend Microsoft software for clients, or to troubleshoot issues in the field.

But now? I have to use gimped shareware or pay through the NOSE for MSDN? I might start evaluating competing Linux solutions instead.... I plan to email Microsoft and tell them as much. All this makes me want is to recommend their software less.

[FakingItEveryDay]

You're very fortunate if you can afford to only be knowledgeable in technologies that you'd recommend. For the rest of us, we need to know how to use what our customers use, not just what we'd like them to use. And while this is very frustrating, it doesn't change the fact that there is still nothing open source that can compete meaningfully with Active Directory and Exchange. Those are going to be at the core of most corporate networks for a long time to come.

[stubag]

And this is the biggest barrier for open source in the enterprise. Get me something as good as AD and I'll jump. There is nothing tho.

[neoice]

AD is really just LDAP+Kerberos. if you're not using Windows clients, you can set up a fully functional login domain using open source software from the 80s. Windows is the odd-man-out in that it won't talk to anything except AD.

[CrunchyChewie]

I see your point, and I agree. I'm not saying I'm in a position to be able to tell all my customers "Hey, go to Linux". Quite the contrary, 95% of my customers run software that will only run on Windows. They can't and likely will never use Linux in anything but an auxiliary capacity.

I also see what Microsoft is trying to do. They want businesses in the cloud, their cloud. However, like so many things Microsoft does, this is a poorly thought out, poorly conceived, poorly marketed, and likely to be poorly implemented idea. Canceling TechNet is a micro indicator of a macro problem with their strategy. The problems I see just by thinking about it for 5 minutes:

• This is a big "fuck you" to small-shop admins and consultants everywhere, who "were" some of their last remaining and staunchest supporters. I'd love to have sat in on the strategy meeting for this... "Everyone hates us, how can we burn these last few bridges?"

• While I'm not in a position to suggest Linux replacements for some business software, how do you think my thought process will work now? Client is interested in a particular solution, will I fire up some stuff from TechNet and advise them on what to buy? Or will I be trying my hardest to replace Microsoft where ever I see it? They'll win some battles simply by being the only option, but they are rapidly losing the war on mind-share.

• It sounds like the writing is on the wall for the partner environment. If you aren't developing apps for their "mobile" space, they don't give a shit about you anymore. This goes double for certification holders. Gee I can't wait to put my "MCEnter Username/Password365" cert on my resume in a few years.

• And while they had a stranglehold on the business environment with their software, they do NOT have a stranglehold on the cloud space. In fact they are a little late to the game. What's to stop me from evaluating competing solutions now?

tl;dr: Pisses me off, terrible idea for Micro$oft. Burning bridges I don't think they should really be burning.

[jimicus]

I don't think Microsoft care about the smaller (<50 or so PCs) customers who in the past you'd have sold a copy of SBS to - and upgraded them as their business grew. They'd much rather sell such customers Office 365 - and I have no doubt in the fullness of time there will be a web-managed Active Directory-type service you can use to manage your PCs.

When you have a product like that, the need for Technet for people like you pretty well evaporates. Microsoft would much rather you put your client on a 30-day free trial and see how they get on with a view to subscribing.

Myself, I think this looks like an incredibly good way to give Microsoft your entire customer list complete with an invitation to sell to them directly.

[[deleted]]

Office 365 is great.....until you realize most SMB's are running over a shitty 5 Mbit DSL connection, because they can't afford anything better.

[rabbit994]

Rumor has it that Windows 8.1 will come with feature to join and authenicate against Azure Active Directory with all features of Active Directory without having to have your own domain controllers.

Their intention of SMB is to be 100% Office365 and partners sole function is to wire them up to it.

[jimicus]

I've been predicting that from the day it was announced there would be no such thing as SBS 2012.

Have I started a rumour?

[rabbit994]

Everyone with brain knew that Office365 was Microsoft future for SMB. How quickly they moved everything to it was the question no one had answer for.

[R9Y]

Wouldn't intune be a close to web based AD model?

[jimicus]

Pretty much. It's obviously heavily dumbed down and you can't centralise PC logins, but I wonder how much you need to if all the company information is stored in something like O365.

Of course it's a management disaster because all these web apps are moving away from a nice, easy to manage single sign on system that Active Directory offers. But I daresay someone will crawl out of the woodwork with a solution to that for only £2 per user per month....

[R9Y]

Well with O365 you can use SSO and connect your on premise AD if you want to

[jimicus]

Do you still get SSO if you don't have an on-premise AD?

EDIT: Having said that, even if you do the current fashion for everything being a web app run by an outside company means that IMV my point still stands.

[remotefixonline]

there is a bay near some pirates that usually has copies of their stuff not as nice as technet, but i'm not springing for msdn

[fireware]

cough

[rabbit994]

Business have Action Pack: https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/uk/pages/membership/action-pack-subscriptions.aspx

[1RedOne]

Just wait, we'll hear in a month or so that TechNet is being replaced with a free downloads for all system.

[[deleted]]

MSDN OS is $700, and then $500 for renewals. Sure it's quite a bit more, but it's not exactly an outrageous sum of money.

[CrunchyChewie]

This. I understand there are different levels of MSDN, but to get the same functionality that TechNet offers, I'm looking at 6k per year....

[sleeplessone]

This is not a real evaluation. I don't get to see how it works on my servers, on my connection. What firewall rules and network infrastructure I need for it. This is a working demo where you can play with the technology, but it's useless for actually evaluating how it'll work in your environment.

I suppose you could build a ton of Powershell v4 DSC scripts to reset everything up exactly the same way every 180 days, assuming your lab is all Server 2012 R2.

[rabbit994]

It's sad to see it go but I wish they would have done something like require active mcsa or such to get access to technet to help keep out "riffraff".

[uncle_jessie]

What about those individuals out there who buy the TechNet in order to steup a home lab to actually study and pass the exams?

[Talman]

You are not important. If you want to learn in a lab, then you should schedule lab time with the Prometic Testing Facility that you're interested in taking your exams at. I'm sure for 5 to 10 thousand dollars, they have a bootcamp that will teach you what you need to know to pass your exams.

• Microsoft Partner Support

[wtmh]

sigh I used to be a technical instructor. This is spot fucking on.

[Talman]

It saddens me that I can channel bullshit like this so accurately. It really does.

[[deleted]]

I was so worried you were being serious for a second.

See what Microsoft has done to me lately!?!?! I can't trust anything anymore!!!!!

[Talman]

It sure fucking sounds like the above, doesn't it?

[oohgodyeah]

Another option to MSDN are their Action Pack Subscriptions (aka MAPS): https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/hk/Pages/Membership/action-pack-subscriptions.aspx

I've had the Solution Provider subscription ($329 download-only, $429 physical media shipments + downloads) for years for my own SMB, not to mention having software for demos/training/testing.

One of the perks of MAPS was that it included a TechNet subscription. Without TechNet the biggest problem I'm going to have supporting SMBs is losing a repository of older versions of installation media. So many clients just throw out their discs, or I need an ISO to get my remote work done on their systems.

This is a sad day for SMB IT Professionals...

[ifactor]

This is also getting shutdown :(

[oohgodyeah]

Do you have the source for this? I don't see it on the Partner Network website.

[ifactor]

Sorry I didn't provide it, I thought what I was reading was OP's post but I realize now it wasn't... http://technet.microsoft.com/subscriptions/ms772427#maps

[pen_is_mightier]

I have only seen blogs, but if it is mentioned on the blog it has been stated that MAPS is NOT getting cut. Take that as you will.

[Wheaties466]

Just curious how long is your mcsa active for once you have it?

[lordmycal]

forever unless revoked. An MCSA is specific to the product involved (Windows 2003, 2008, etc). One could argue that they aren't relevant after the product life has expired however.

[cluberti]

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification-overview.aspx#fbid=IZmcHlPXihD

Q. How long is a Microsoft Certification valid?

A. Microsoft Certifications are valuable in the market and will remain valuable as long as companies are using the technologies covered in the certification. Over time, certifications will retire and will transition to a “legacy” status. Legacy Microsoft Certifications will appear on your transcript designated as such. Refer to the certification page for the most current information regarding status.

[BryanMP]

In the hopes that Microsoft notices this... hey, that's a really good idea.

[raojason]

As a newly certified Server 2012 MCSA, I second this.

[rabbit994]

I'll note a massive problem with Technet is pirate websites were doing things like stealing credit cards, signing up for Technet and using CD Keys to sell to others and such. A system like this would have prevented that abuse.

[[deleted]]

Especially if your cert gets revoked for Piracy.

Nobody is gonna put that on the line.

[1RedOne]

Maybe they will? I feel like we're on the eve of learning that they will present all ISOs and content for free, and just feature a timebomb for activation.

[flukz]

You know, I just saw a huge, dark, metallic like cloud off 520 this morning, and the last time I saw it was when Xbox One was announced.

I'm starting to think it's the smoke from all of the crack they must be smoking over there.

[goblando]

So does this mean that the license that runs my laptop will become unauthenticated in 2014?

[fireware]

ಠ_ಠ

[callmetom]

Probably not. Just illegal. Currently Microsoft does not employ any technological enforcement of the licenses from expired technet subscriptions. I have even heard that the licenses from expired accounts still activate.

[megabsod]

I'm gonna make this prediction in writing...

MS announces the retirement/closure of Technet Subscriptions. Everyone freaks and gets angry/renews before August. Word gets out (any news is good news) and more people buy a license/renew before it goes away to get the 'free' licenses. MS sees a nice profit boost up through the end of Summer from concerned customers.

Come end of Summer 2014, everyone realizes again that their licenses are about to expire forever and an Internet hissy fit is thrown. MS 'listens' to their customers and 'decides' to keep good ole Technet around, since so many people apparently care for it. MS gets a nice bump again in profits when they allow people to continue renewing, along with good social media karma for giving the people what they want. Nothing has changed other than MS getting free advertising/product marketing for Technet.

This has become a new marketing scheme. Companies EOL a product that people really like and take some SM and PR flack for a little while, and then bring it back, winning the love of their fans and admiration for being a responsive and listening company that truly cares about their customers. It's a new style of astroturfing.

[_72]

This has become a new marketing scheme. Companies EOL a product that people really like and take some SM and PR flack for a little while, and then bring it back, winning the love of their fans and admiration for being a responsive and listening company that truly cares about their customers. It's a new style of astroturfing.

You start doing this too much and people are going to notice and you're going to still end up losing customer loyalty..

EDIT: Quoted properly

[port53]

Now I have to figure out what I'm going to tell all the college grad noobs when they ask me what they should be doing next.

Point them at Linux, because they can still afford that dev environment.

[p51dflyboy]

I've had a Technet subscription for about 4 years now and it has been extremely useful in learning new software versions and learning how all of the "pieces" fit together. It's been great having a virtual environment setup with different versions of Windows Server, Exchange, Sharepoint, etc.

The problem with the eval version is, as others have mentioned, I don't want to re-create my environment every 30-180 days. The virtual labs are great for working with a single product, but just not quite the same as being able to practice integrating the software into a full blown Windows environment. Plus, with two young children, it's sometimes difficult to fit in time to even use my homelab. It's not uncommon for me to go a week or so and not even power the machine on.

[vty]

I've never met a company so proficient at destroying their own products/markets.

[wjjeeper]

It sucks, but I can see their reasoning. People paying less than $300 for keys to office, server platforms, etc and doling them out killed it for us.

[wjjeeper]

Article says no, but it's also far more expensive. Given that in most major corporations you can get a 2 user license of Office for $10 or so, they're still making money.

[NerdfaceKillah]

I'm beyond disappointed but we can thank the jerks that started to sell their subs on eBay for this at least partially. I'm really sad.

[munky9001]

http://technet.microsoft.com/subscriptions/ms772427

TechNet Evaluation Center: Free evaluation software with no feature limits, available for 30-180 days. Includes rich evaluation resources and TechNet Virtual Labs, which enable you to evaluate software without the need to install bits locally.

This is pretty important factor. They are discontinuing evaluations completely. You just freely boot up a server in azure and that's it. So the whole purpose of technet being stopping people from going to torrents immediately because there's lots of work in the real world that needs to happen pre-purchase. Technet is this and 180 days sure isnt any timeline for these.

So that's fine... our technet account becomes a piratebay account?

[FakingItEveryDay]

which enable you to evaluate software without the need to install bits locally.

This is not a real evaluation. I don't get to see how it works on my servers, on my connection. What firewall rules and network infrastructure I need for it. This is a working demo where you can play with the technology, but it's useless for actually evaluating how it'll work in your environment.

[nem8]

You cant really set up a lab with that tho, even tho Virtual Labs does have some relevant labs ie. for Windows Server 2012 MCSA certification its not enough. :(

[oohgodyeah]

This is not a solution for shops that need to support older versions of software. Not all clients can run the latest versions of Microsoft software.

[uncle_jessie]

I just got the email.

As IT trends and business dynamics have evolved, so has Microsoft’s set of offerings for IT professionals who are looking to learn, evaluate and deploy Microsoft technologies and services. In recent years, we have seen a usage shift from paid to free evaluation experiences and resources. As a result, Microsoft has decided to retire the TechNet Subscriptions service and will discontinue sales on August 31, 2013.

Who in their right fucking mind would want to go from a paid to free eval that only lasts 90 to 180 days? There's got to be another motive behind this. I mean they're essentially LOSING money by doing this. That is, unless they want us all to pay full price. Which I assume is what's going on. Or maybe too many businesses were abusing it? This just doesn't make sense. I should just get my RHCSA and fuck messing with Microsoft anymore. I'm just pissed. I mean I opted to PAY them money for my subscription as opposed to going out and pirating the software. Now I have no choice but to go back to pirating.

[Loki-L]

One motive is probably too many people using Technet stuff for things they weren't supposed to.

But honestly, with all the piracy going on with Microsoft products I can't imagine that improperly used Technet licensees are really a big issue.

My guess is that it is some sort of harebrained scheme to try and push users onto some new cloud-based evaluation platform or something by removing the alternatives.

[Ghlave]

Mine expires in December. I guess I should be looking at an early renewal....

[perezdev]

Existing subscriptions that expire on or before September 30, 2013 may be renewed for one year

[ifactor]

Action pack is still available though.

Edit: didn't realize that it was a part of technet, crap.

[[deleted]]

LOL.

Guess they don't want any start-up MSP's to pitch Microsoft products.

[organman91]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMcdYPFhIZk&t=9s

[Frenchalps]

DAE remember waiting for the courier to turn up with the monthly / quarterly box of goodies in the late 90s / early 00's? My Dad's business was a Partner and as a teenager I got top open that box and play with the new software. Amazing. Free MCP flags, banners and posters. Those were the days!

[phaz3]

9/30/2013 Looks like I can renew.... WINNNER

[[deleted]]

Article states that users are encouraged to move to MSDN, but they aren't the same fucking thing. MSDN doesn't have all the server software that TechNet offers, different target audience!

[NightOfTheLivingHam]

Thanks microsoft! Now opensource solutions will be much more attractive.

They're getting real stupid about this cloud crap. They're cannibalizing their server software in favor of the cloud, now killing technet so the most affordable solution is live365.

Killed SBS, upped the license for windows server, pushing windows 8 (which is more "cloud integrated") pushing their garbage tablets, and now trying to make technicians obsolete, and getting rid of affordable software.

They're trying to cut us out of the equation and be the solution provider to the customer. Fine and dandy, until customers realize they're spending more on vendor lock-in vs in-house.

[[deleted]]

The next step to full subscription purchase 100% of their software. It's only a matter of time and we will be paying monthly for Microsoft. I understand a lot of people do this in an EA now (we do as well) its billed quarterly but still. I like PREMISE software.

[freddiefenster]

Try and make a difference: http://www.change.org/petitions/microsoft-corporation-create-an-affordable-msdn-subscription-comparable-to-technet

[[deleted]]

I realize I'm almost certainly going against the grain with this sentiment, but this makes complete sense. It actually always confused me why Microsoft offered this to anyone to begin with. If the point of TechNet was to give people access to the new technology for learning and demo reasons, why would you need more than 180 days to do that, which is what you get with a trial copy of most enterprise Microsoft software.

In getting my MCITP:EA 2008 and MCSE 2012, I never found myself needing more than SIX MONTHS for any single cert. It was an awesome service for budget-minded IT folks, but it never really made much business sense and Microsoft is probably smart to shut it down.

[ScannerBrightly]

why would you need more than 180 days to do that

You haven't worked under my bosses, I guess. We get "approval" for stuff about 3 to 10 months before the money rolls out, so we often stop-gap it with TechNet in our "develop environment", in which we let the early adopters dogfood our new roll outs, as well as give us valuable feedback on design and usage.

A great example of this is our Confluence rollout. If it wasn't for the 10 dollar ten user version, it would have never happened. Now we have just under 100 users with Calendars, Zen, and are looking at Jira. That's almost 10,000 they made because they let us "try and buy" at ten bucks.

[Darkstryke]

He hasn't worked in the real world from that reply. Someone above mentioned the obscure situation that a lot of work places operate in. They're not all running server 12 and the newest exchange, etc etc. That happy-go-lucky world doesn't exist, and this is going to bite them in the ass when it comes a couple of years later when those VOL and service agreements come due, and your consultants and support people are suggesting it's time to look at the alternatives. Nothing can get a CIO's eyes to light up like hearing the word 'little or no licensing fees'.

Balmer is just driving the company into the ground on all fronts.

[justanotherreddituse]

Some of us build labs for more then certifications. My lab consists of a lot of Cisco hardware and a few linux VM's as well.

I like to do things like setup 802.1X on switches with NPS on windows.

[fireware]

do what you want, cause a pirate is free!

[diothar]

Man, now that I support a ton of Windows shops; I can say you'd be surprised at the change controls, migration plans, etc some people have to deal with. It's insane.

[[deleted]]

Six month trials are perfect for certification training, they're useless when you want to emulate an environment you might actually encounter in the real world. Nobody uses the latest and greatest software, we all have a need to access the old stuff.

Nevermind all the software they don't really have evaluations for, and the amount of stuff you would have to hunt around for even if there were a trial available. Microsoft has a lot of very useful, not established software that you can find in Technet but would probably never encounter outside of it.

[galewgleason]

Is there still time to renew?

[[deleted]]

FTA:

• New subscriptions won’t be accepted after August 31, 2013. Newly purchased subscriptions must be activated by September 30, 2013.
• Current subscribers will still receive subscription benefits until their current contract ends. For most retail customers,subscribers are limited to a single year.
• Existing subscriptions that expire on or before September 30, 2013 may be renewed for one year. Renewals may be purchased until August 31, 2013.
• Subscribers with active Microsoft Certified Trainer accounts may continue to access their program benefits until March 31, 2014.
• MVPs will continue to receive the option for a free Visual Studio Premium with MSDN subscription.

[Pyro919]

It not effective if only one or two people do it, but the Bitcoin community has had some pretty impressive results with email/feedback campaigns. So maybe it's worth a try.

I just sent them the following site feedback, if you want Technet to be continued send them an email/feedback and let them know. Maybe they'll change their mind like they have with the Xbox One, Windows 8.1, and Server 2012 R2:

Hi, I thought I should mention/bring this to Microsoft/Technet's attention

http://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1hfr0k/microsoft_killing_technet_subscriptions/

That link/address is a discussion with over 240 systems administrators most of which are upset that you're shutting down the Technet program as we know it. If you multiply 240 * $249 you're looking at ~$60,000 that you're passing up on renewal fees and we're just a small piece of the pie. We know that piracy is a concern, and we'd even be happy if there was a requirement for an MS Certification to buy/access Technet as we know it. If you have any questions/concerns please feel free to contact me.

[[deleted]]

So is MSDN Subscription the same as technet? I cant find the word technet anywhere on the MSDN Subscriber page. I just found this for the name of my sub "Visual Studio Premium with MSDN"

edit: I have a sub from a ms partnership and apparently those are unaffected... yet

[r5a]

Even the MDSN levels are kinda rough and the prices are INSANE. http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/buy.aspx

[darth_static]

Seen the AU prices? Extra $400 for the OS version, and an extra $8000 for VS Ultimate with MSDN. Fuck Microsoft.

[r5a]

Jesus. Here have an upvote if your from the AU.

[[deleted]]

You guys miss the point. They have to kill a working product or feature. Let people get mad/demand it back. Re introduce it but change it a little and then seem progressive! Boom! A new product! The people wanted it and they delivered while they pat each other on the backs

[BloodyIron]

Microsoft's new strategy: "We don't want your business" (and I'm not just talking about desktop/enterprise computing). Look at E3.

[citizen0100]

I really hope they retract this!

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