If I hadn't already bought a couple of copies of W7, I would consider this, but the only thing that I now would buy is Office 2010. Since I would have to buy it new, this would save me quite a bit, but it is still more than I'm willing to pay for it.
Mine is coming due the first week of June, I've been told that the closer you let it get to expiring MS will offer you deals to renew, I'm waiting to see what they offer but I will renew no matter what.
Well, 14 days from renewal and MS called me yesterday as a reminder (don't recall that happening in prior years). I asked why the PROMO code in my letter was only good for New Subscriptions and the CSR was surprised there was a PROMO code in my letter. Nonetheless, she couldn't answer why it was only for new subscriptions. I asked whether there was any truth to rumors that I might be contacted again before my expiration with a better offer and was quickly informed "no."
I guess I'll wait another week to see if she was correct.
Tom
Every Prom Code I've seen is for NEW accounts. I don't recall if there was one in the letter I got or not, mine expires June 7th. No calls yet.
With the promos Ive seen, a new account and a renewal are within a few dollars of each other. Much like the telecommunication companies, they seem to cater to getting new accounts rather than encouraging "already got you" accounts to stick with them.
Such is life in modern day marketing.
Well, to be fair, the cost of a new subscription is $350 and the cost of a renewal is $250...so they already give a discount to existing customers.
For what you get with a Technet subscription compared to retail prices, it's a huge bargain and really a no-brainer. And I really think that people who subscribe to technet should have to renew or have their license keys revoked. Like I said, it's a huge amount of software, for practically nothing.
Well, I think the intention from Microsoft is that Technet subscribers would need to renew each year to keep up with their various IT endeavors. I don't think the point of the program is to sell a 1 year subscription so everybody can get multiple copies of the latest OS and the latest office version and then let it expire. Clearly, they will sell it like this and take the money...but it's not the intention of the program.
For $250 a year...it's a steal. I mean 1 retail copy of Windows 7 Professional Full Version is $299. And 1 retail copy of Office 2010 professional edition is going to be $499. Just going legit on these 2 pieces of software would pay for more than 3 years of Technet. Not to mention all the license keys you can get for Vista, XP, all other flavors of Windows 7 and the server based OS products. And 3+ years down the road, there will possibly be another desktop OS that replaces Windows 7 and you will get license keys for that as well.
I honestly think that if you buy Technet to obtain licenses for your software, you should also continue to renew that subscription if you plan to keep using the software. Like I showed above, the cost is extremely advantageous and pays for itself easily if you use a handful of Microsoft desktops or office installs.
Revoking product keys after 1 year is hardly practical though. Not to mention that TechNet subscriptions would decline dramatically. Not eveyone considers $350.00 "practically nothing" as you have suggested. Especially in todays economy.
I only say it's "practically nothing" because if you were having to actually buy the retail Microsoft software like everybody else is doing, you wouldn't get much software at all for $350.... $350 won't buy you 1 copy of Windows 7 Professional and 1 copy of Office. Plus with Technet you get 2 free support incidents...which I believe are $250 a pop if you are a normal retail customer. I've always been shocked that Technet is as "cheap" as what it is for what you get. Considering that you get hundreds of licenses with a technet subscription, it seems rather absurd that it's only a few dollars more than 1 single copy of Windows 7 at Best Buy, NewEgg or OfficeMax.
Technet subscriptions are really intended for IT professionals and for testing purposes. And these IT professionals really need the software continuously on an ongoing basis. The theory is that the software easily provides more than $350 or $250 (yearly renewal rate), worth of benefit on a yearly basis.
However, the majority of people here buying Technet are doing so to allow them to run multiple computers in their house, all equipped with whatever Microsoft OS they want and which ever copy of Office they want to use. Not to mention, the ability to run the server based products like Server 2003 and Server 2008.
Many aren't really utilizing Technet for it's intended purpose. For example, I cannot use a technet subscription at work to install software on lab computers for departmental testing. And I cannot put Technet software onto desktop computers for employees to use. For development purposes at work, I have to have an MSDN account and for production use for employees or servers, we have to maintain a volume licensing agreement with Microsoft.
Whilst I can understand the logic behind that, it would still have to be an emphatic no from me on revoking licenses.
Just to play advocatus diaboli, it is still better for MS to receive a 'one off' payment for a single years sub as opposed to receiving nothing at all and having all the software pirated instead.
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