Windows 7: Help with Technet subscription

Can anyone help?

been looking at buying a Technet subscription and not sure if this deal is any good.
There is a number of microsoft partners online offering subscriptions at really good prices, the trouble is some of these are listed as "Technet Subscription 2006" They are packaged units sent out in the post.

Now my thinking is the package they send you is the 2006 package but you would still have online access from day one for a year as if a normal M$ sign up.

Is this correct?

Some urgent help would be good as have to pay for this by morning and as i can get subscription in UK for £171 seems like a good price.

Buy the online subscription, using the coupon for $100 off (it now changes to a 25% off, not as much of a savings, but close) and get it for the download. Don't buy packages from anyone else - buy it from M$ directly. Trust me on this - the number of OS, products, and keys you get alone are more than worth it....

Keep in mind however that technet keys and software are intended for evaluation purpose only. They are not meant to be used on day-to-day machines in your home, office or otherwise. Lots of people seem to feel that technet is a legal way to get as many installs of all of those software packages that you want...and that is simply not the point of this program.

Listen to John, He is right it is better to get it from Microsoft then some other place, just trust us on this one.

It specifically states *not for use in production* - I take that to mean not for use in a business environment. That *does* include SOHO situations, but still - evaluation or not, it is legal for people to use those builds on their home machines.

No, I think this is incorrect. I've spoken with Microsoft in the past about this and their defined use of "production at home" was a day to day workstation. I was free to use the Technet software to evaluate a particular version of the OS..but if I wanted to install it permanently and use it as my daily OS, I was told "by Microsoft", that a full license would be required to be purchased.

Here is the link to the Technet FAQ:
TechNet Plus Blog | IT Professional Community | Newsgroup Support

And specifically for home use it says,
It's very clear to me, "it's eval software used to evaluate it".

To use it in any other advantage is to take advantage of the program and violate the license agreement.

I understand the risks for buying outside of Microsoft and have indeed had subscriptions before including MSDN subscriptions but this is some time ago now and not signed up for a few years.

I ask about this as there is a couple of companies in the UK that are listed as Microsoft Partner/re-sellers and are quite well known. They are offering various deals with many being 2006 subscription packages. I just wondered what you are actually getting with these deals and what i lose out on.
Also one other question, if I was to buy the same package from a US based company selling same product for $190, what are the implecations of using a US based subscription in the UK?

Thanks again for the info and advice, just seems like great offers, and don't want to miss up a possible steal.

regards,

Alan

P.S. also been looking at a Bizspack subscription. Looks interesting and probably qualify. I have applied anyway. lol

I see that as my ability to evaluate it - and by constantly installing and uninstalling applications, games, and drivers, checking for and reporting compatibility as I do here every day, I think that more than qualifies.

I'll be happy to call M$ if you think I am not following the rules...

Please do call them and ask them about it. Tell them that instead of buying 2 copies of Windows 7 and installing them on 2 workstations at home that you instead plan to buy 1 subscription to Technet and use that software instead because it's cheaper and you get all of this other software that you can use as well.

Please let us know exactly what they tell you.

What you are doing is not evaluating software. Evaluating software is trying it out for 30 days and seeing whether it meets your needs and then purchasing the required licenses if you plan to continue using it going forward.

Even MSDN, which has a much less restrictive license term than TechNet (you can use a MSDN license on any sort of system, as long as it's for devel/design/testing/demonstration), spells out the restrictions on home use pretty clearly:

Basically, what johngalt is suggesting falls into this dual-use category: you may be "evaluating" the system, but you are also using it for other tasks, and if you continue to do so, then you will need an additional license for that.

Of course, MSFT never enforces this, so a lot of (most?) people use TechNet or MSDN like this. But technically they would all be violation of the license.