Is TechNet a Big Deal?
Based on the feedback we have received it appears that TechNet has been an essential resource for many.
Ed:
For me this means no more test lab at home.
I can justify the cost of TechNet for a test lab, but I cannot justify the cost of MSDN. I can justify the time needed to build a domain that lasts until it is upgraded to the next version of Windows, but I cannot justify the time needed to rebuild it every few months.
I now have a new problem – my home environment becomes unlicensed when my TechNet subscription ends. I cannot justify the cost of Windows for my old machine (purchased in 2007) as the hardware could fail at any time, so this will either go to Linux or landfill. If Linux does the job on my old machine, I am not sure I can justify the cost of Windows for my new machine, so maybe I have already purchased my last copy of Windows.
Mark:
Ben, you seem to think that TechNet is still what it was back in 1991. It’s not a KB or BOL any more, but non-expiring, non-evaluation versions of servers and server products, and the Office suite.
It allowed sys admins to get exposure to products to gain access for skills development, as they perhaps prepped for an exam. People who made a career with Microsoft software had a relatively inexpensive but compliant method of setting up evaluation and learning systems. There was no need to reinitialize every six months. It didn’t include Visual Studio for development work, which is in the much more expensive MSDN product.
So what is going away? A whole lot, and many people are upset to the point of declaring that they’ve bought their last copy of a Windows OS.
It appears that the different components of TechNet are significant to many. A TechNet subscription at even the lowest level provides access to most of the server and office software base for the purposes of testing and evaluation. It is not intended for daily business purposes. MSDN also includes this feature, at a much higher cost; including development tools such as Visual Studio.
Additionally, a TechNet subscription provided support calls on the Microsoft products. The call support was good for the duration of the Subscription, although the number of calls were limited to the level of the subscription.
TechNet also provides the online knowledge base. This is not going away. So, what is really going away and what are the options available to you.
- The support calls transition to on demand calls or some other program providing supporting services
- Long Term Evaluation Software
Shorter term evaluation software is available. However, what this now means is that we have to either use the demo sites provided my Microsoft or re-create recurring demo systems. We will no longer be able to use TechNet licenses to support our test or development environments unless we upgrade to MSDN subscriptions to support those tools.
Frankly, this is a trend Microsoft has been following since the release of SQL Server 2008R2. Features are constantly being dropped from the standard product lines and moved into the more expensive counterparts. What we lost in TechNet is available (plus more) in MSDN. However, do we really need everything found in MSDN?
This is starting to feel less like “Who Moved My Cheese?” and more like “How Old is this Cheese, it Stinks?”
Do you think Oracle is adroit enough to catch up to the power of Dot Net in their Java stack? Will there be another OS reasonably priced for the masses? That’s enough questions for me. I’m going to move on to something new. But you can share your thoughts by commenting below, or sending an email to btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben
$$SWYNK$$
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