Microsoft gutting Technet Agreement

I run 3 test systems for beta testing and software for clients and have had a Technet sub since before Vista came out more than 5 years ago and then it was ten keys per which I have all 10 keys plus an Enterprise key because i started with a Volume Lic sub so I hope If i can afford subs in the future they should lower the price since they do not give as many keys etc. I have put over $800.00 into MS in the past 5 years.
 
I use mine for testing and learning also.

Its $150 a year, its worth it. I'm not complaining. I have 3 VM's and a server that I use to educate and train from.

I don't sell their products, I don't ask for more than the keys they give me, because it serves my purpose.

People that sell Technet keys are dicks, and deserve to have their licenses revoked. Simple as that. Its intention was always that, to help developers, and IT people have a platform to further their skills and yes in the end help champion MS products for MS.
 
damicatz said:
Of all of the people I know that use Technet, none of them use it for testing. They use it as a way to get access to Microsoft software for their own use at a reasonable price.
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Thats why I got Technet, to test and learn. None of the software I've downloaded from my technet sub is used on a non-VM/test box system. :)
 
Info from MS I got a call from CS MS today to help me renew my sub but I had already did so so she said sorry is there anything else I can help you with today. So I asked about the change in user agreement and she said I was alright with my keys because i renewed before the new user agreement went into effect and any keys I ask for from this point on in this sub year will not be considered a working key if I do not renew my sub at the end of 2013 but any key I have retrieved prior to this sub renewal will be mine to use as per original agreement. Hope I explained it correctly am in a lot of back pain after going to Doctor's today.
 
doghucat said:
So I asked about the change in user agreement and she said I was alright with my keys because i renewed before the new user agreement went into effect and any keys I ask for from this point on in this sub year will not be considered a working key if I do not renew my sub at the end of 2013 but any key I have retrieved prior to this sub renewal will be mine to use as per original agreement.
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I ran out of breath trying to read that run-on and I wasn't even speaking out loud. :eek:
 
doghucat said:
Info from MS I got a call from CS MS today to help me renew my sub but I had already did so so she said sorry is there anything else I can help you with today. So I asked about the change in user agreement and she said I was alright with my keys because i renewed before the new user agreement went into effect and any keys I ask for from this point on in this sub year will not be considered a working key if I do not renew my sub at the end of 2013 but any key I have retrieved prior to this sub renewal will be mine to use as per original agreement. Hope I explained it correctly am in a lot of back pain after going to Doctor's today.
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That implies that keys you get now (and you renewed before the new agreement is in effect) will expire as per the new agreement - but the way I read their explanation it shouldn't apply to you at all until you renew again (under the new agreement). So that's different.
 
I'll have no problem renewing my subscription, TechNET has been a great help for me as I pursue my MCITP.
 
l3thal6 said:
I'll have no problem renewing my subscription, TechNET has been a great help for me as I pursue my MCITP.
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*gasp* you use it for its intended purpose?

You mean you don't resell the keys as part of your Fleabay sales?

Shocking sir:p
 
If we all followed the rules and there were not the people selling keys on Ebay it might not of come to a user agreement change well I will keep this one short.
 
doghucat said:
If we all followed the rules and there were not the people selling keys on Ebay it might not of come to a user agreement change well I will keep this one short.
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Agreed. Like most good things in life, all it takes is a small percent of greedy, short-sighted ass hats to ruin it for everybody.
 
maw said:
To be honest I think it's a *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* sort of agreement. MS says it's for testing purposes only, subscribers say they are going to use it only for "testing" software. Once that "understanding" is established, MS willingly looks the other way, and users quietly do what they do.
If everyone exercises restraint, it's a win-win. You the subscriber gets to "test" software indefinitely for a very reasonable price, while MS knows they'll ultimately benefit when you make software purchasing decisions for your workplace, because that's where the real money is for MS.

It's when people start to blatantly abuse it that MS has to act, they cannot just quietly stand by while people are selling or giving away their license keys and openly bragging about it.
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I've always felt this way about TN. Not sure exactly when I sub'd but I know it's at least 5 years now, that's over $1000 that I've paid MS for access to their software library and probably over $600 more than they would have got if I just bought the legit keys I really NEEDED (win for them). In return for less than $20/mo I get access to tens of thousands of dollars worth of license keys that I'd otherwise be unable to legitimately learn with (win for me). Now I'm learning how to use MS server software instead of being forced to only use free/open source software (win for MS), which lets me be more rounded professionally (win for me).

So really the "gentleman’s agreement" TN model is really win-win-win-win.

I know I've said it before and I've heard others say it as well that if you're just using TN to get some windows and office keys you're "doing it wrong", but it's more than that, if that's all you're doing you're selling yourself short. Heck even doing a "one and done" TN sub to get all the windows and office keys you can only really saves you like a hundred bucks over buying the windows and office 3packs (with the new 3 key rule at least). Anyone who reads these forums and doesn't at least throw a few of the server products in a VM and try them out is doing themselves a serious disservice.

I will keep my TN subscription because:

Domain: Roaming profiles, group policies, RADIUS logins for switches/wifi via NPS servers.
Exchange: Love having my mail delivered directly to me, not passing go, not collecting $200, and most certainly not being datamined by google, MS, yahoo, or whoever to serve me ads.
WSUS: As often as I either break, reinstall, or setup a new VM for testing having updates download at gbit speeds is really really nice.
DPM: Backups servers as well as clients, actually uses less RAM than WHS2011 does.
File Servers: DFS/Replication for HA and near instantanious backup.
TMG: I know pfsense and untangle are popular round these parts but I really like the easy exchange publishing, malware scanning, and URL filtering.
All the things I haven't done yet but would like to such as the System Center suite and Lync.

I figure as long as I keep installing new stuff and breaking old stuff it still counts as a lab (esp since none of it makes any money directly just costs it!)
 
Another thing is, Technet keys are not intended to be used on machines in the 'working environment', it's for testing purposes only. Basically, if the machine your Technet key is on gets shut down and your business shuts down as well, you have been violating the terms of use.

So this change should affect no one as long as you have been following the license.
 
This change brings them back to their previous stance with Technet. What you used to get was eval cds for all of the software. Everything use to time bomb after 180 days IIRC. I'm guessing it was changed because it was a hassle to have your install expire no matter what. Now you basically have 365 day eval copies of software that you can renew for another 365 days.

@Dragon: I totally agree with everything you stated.
 
bigdogchris said:
Another thing is, Technet keys are not intended to be used on machines in the 'working environment', it's for testing purposes only. Basically, if the machine your Technet key is on gets shut down and your business shuts down as well, you have been violating the terms of use.

So this change should affect no one as long as you have been following the license.
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Gee wiz Einstein, tell us something we don't already know. :rolleyes:
 
Deadjasper said:
I agree. But it's Microsoft's place to deal with the problem, not the wannbe cops of [H]ard Forum.
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in other words you have been horridly cheating the system and are one of the reasons they have neutered it yet again :p

the the os keys for testing I would rather not reinstally annually. I have a server 08 box sitting up that has been used to all kinds of random garbage, but most of that happens inside hyper-v
 
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