Technet Plus changed and Reduced number of Keys to 5

[24c]

What colour?

Do you have anything in Windows 7 Professional Blue?

 

[pparks1]

Do they not blacklist your keys after canceling your subscription?

I would assume that those angry enough to cancel their subscriptions out of spite towards Microsoft would also be abstaining from using their software as well and are flocking to alternatives at this minute.

Oh put a sock in it :devil:

So are you saying that even though you are outraged at the MS business practices and feel they are handing this horribly...you still want to use their products?

 

[Dark Nova Gamer]

I would assume that those angry enough to cancel their subscriptions out of spite towards Microsoft would also be abstaining from using their software as well and are flocking to alternatives at this minute.

Oh put a sock in it :devil:

So are you saying that even though you are outraged at the MS business practices and feel they are handing this horribly...you still want to use their products?

What the person(s) that run TechNet and make these decisions decide to do are most likely not the same person(s) that actually develop any of the products. So just because someone cancels their TechNet Subscription does not mean they would stop using Microsoft products all together. Not everyone is willing to switch to Mac OS X or Linux/Unix.

 

[echrada]

Oh put a sock in it :devil:

So are you saying that even though you are outraged at the MS business practices and feel they are handing this horribly...you still want to use their products?

What the person(s) that run TechNet and make these decisions decide to do are most likely not the same person(s) that actually develop any of the products. So just because someone who cancels their TechNet Subscription does not mean they would stop using Microsoft products all together. Not everyone is willing to switch to Mac OS X or Linux/Unix.

You've got it, thanks!

 

[echrada]

I would assume that those angry enough to cancel their subscriptions out of spite towards Microsoft would also be abstaining from using their software as well and are flocking to alternatives at this minute.

Oh put a sock in it :devil:

So are you saying that even though you are outraged at the MS business practices and feel they are handing this horribly...you still want to use their products?

And you are truly an obnoxious little fella!

 

[pparks1]

And you are truly an obnoxious little fella!

I try my best. I just like it when a consumer stands up for their rights and takes a stance. I'm just always interested to see how far they will take it.

In all fairness though, since MS gave you all of your money back...did you discontinue the use of all of the technet software and surrender the keys? Obviously I wouldn't see anything wrong with using the MS software obtained from other channels

 

[echrada]

What do you think I am - a thief? Of course I surrendered all the keys.

 

[pparks1]

What do you think I am - a thief? Of course I surrendered all the keys.

That's not my point...but isn't it going to be far more expensive to purchase the software via retail channels than it was from Technet? if so, I don't see why you would cancel the technet subscription. I can see being unhappy, but this would mean you are unhappy and less financially well off. I'm just confused.

 

[echrada]

As I said if you bothered to really read my posts, I have an expired sub with plenty of keys left. Does that satisfy your curiosity?

 

[pparks1]

As I said if you bothered to really read my posts, I have an expired sub with plenty of keys left. Does that satisfy your curiosity?

Sorry, I couldn't remember what was said 16 pages ago. My bad, I did find that you mentioned this on page 3.

 

[Dark Nova Gamer]

Play nice now people.

echrada, what is your plan for when Windows 8 comes around?

 

[echrada]

I firmly believe that time will tell!

 

[hpark21]

Got my email from them.

Dear Steven.

Thank you for your email.
The reduction of the keys provided on the Technet Download portal has been implemented by Microsoft from September 15, 2010 as additional security measures across subscription programs. Consequently the new policy in place enables access to a maximum of 5 keys for the Retail product for your Technet Professional subscription.
We did not take away any keys. Just the amount of keys available “ad hoc” via the portal has been reduced, all previously claimed keys are still available.
The reduction is due to an updated antipiracy policy. More information will be made available for all customers soon.

Please keep in mind that subscription keys are for testing and evaluation only.
If you have to de-/re-install test software frequently, you are welcome to do your installations without activation (= no key required). The majority of products will work for 30 or more days without any activation / key requirement at all.
If you have got further queries please feel free to contact us again. We wish you a good day.

Kind regards
Anette Löchte


Microsoft TechNet Program
mailto: [email protected]

For future contacts please use our webforms at https://microsoft.eu.subservices.com/technet/emailcontact.aspx or for information about your subscription visit http://eu.technet.microsoft.com

Had to sign up to post this..

I got an e-mail from them when I requested 3 additional keys for 2 products that I maxed out at 5 and 6 keys. They flat out said "No, you can not have more keys" to that effect.

This is after their phone support told me "No problem, just request the keys via e-mail".

So, there, dispite what they "SAY", no more keys will be given to you.

However, they DID say there is possibility of "Resetting" the already activated keys so that the activation # will show as being 0. I do not know what the implication for that is for already activated boxes.

IF I was selling the keys, I would have already harvested all 10 right off the getgo so I won't be affected by this sneaky change in terms of contract. I would think only people who suffer from this seemingly draconian response to the pirates seems to be the people who has been harvesting the keys as they are needed.

 

[pparks1]

I really hope that when windows 8 comes out, they make a public beta and RC1 release like they did with Windows 7 that lasts for nearly 1 year. That was a great way to get the masses test and figure out if the new release was for them.

With regards to activation, I also had them tell me for my company that if I hit my MAK key limit to call and they would likely just increase the # of activations or reset to zero.

 

[wirednuts]

IF I was selling the keys, I would have already harvested all 10 right off the getgo so I won't be affected by this sneaky change in terms of contract. I would think only people who suffer from this seemingly draconian response to the pirates seems to be the people who has been harvesting the keys as they are needed.

This is 100% spot-on nail on head. i didnt harvest all of my keys, just what i needed. which means i dont have any win7 ultimate keys left, and even though i can just start using the same key on different machines it is not what i thought i paid for. and its obvious to me that if i would have just hoarded as many as i could, i would have been better off now.

 

[WindowsStar]

I just don't see the concern over "only" having 20 activations.
1). Seriously, how many computers are you guys "testing" on at home?
2). Don't you have some imaging software...so you can load to a machine and capture an image and then just later redeploy that image already activated.
3). Do you really even have to activate at all? I don't with my MSDN keys. With 30 days and 3 rearms..I get 120 days. I'm never testing anything for more than 4 months straight.

To me, people are getting really worked up over a policy change which I think in the end, won't amount to a problem for hardly anybody.

Edit: As far as I know, you don't get new keys when you renew or a new year starts.

Ans #1 - I agree if you are a home user, however I am a corp user and sometimes we are testing in many different agencies, buildings and around the world. So being restricted to 5 has already changed our R&D model.
Ans #2 - Imaging and then using on different hardware prompts the newly imaged machine to re-activate (Windows 7 and Office 2010). It is smart and knows.
Ans #3 - Yes many times we use the 120 days, but sometimes we need longer than that. There may be many issues that cannot be resolved in that short of a time, hardware, vendors, special software, re-working existing software, other servers that have to be replaced or updated before you can do real testing.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Corrine]

This may have been posted earlier in this thread. If not, here's an article by The Register: Microsoft secretly yanks TechNet product keys

 

[BCXtreme]

Next thing you know, they'll be taking Technet away completely and just selling $99 "developer" copies of Windows, where a dev "only" has to pay $99 for each key. And who's going to get burned by it? I'll give you a hint: it won't be the pirates.

 

[jimbo45]

Next thing you know, they'll be taking Technet away completely and just selling $99 "developer" copies of Windows, where a dev "only" has to pay $99 for each key. And who's going to get burned by it? I'll give you a hint: it won't be the pirates.

"Shhhhh -- You aren't supposed to RELEASE that yet -- this is due for implementation on Jan 1 2011 as we have to sucker all our EXISTING suscribers first".

Actually I think their way of "Anti Piracy" is going the WRONG way -- reducing to just TWO keys for the STANDARD subscription should see some of the more well known places significantly increase their activity.

It's been proved OVER and OVER again -- in fact Ad Nauseam that the more expensive and difficult to obtain you make a product the more the Pirates work at it -- Music industry a great case in point until some people saw sense at selling tracks at 50 - 99 cents a track.

I really wonder who works at these giant corporations -- even your local friendly Gorilla in the Zoo could work this one will just cause a MASSIVE increase in Piracy -- and with W7 really stable these days you could use it for YEARS without needing updates -- so no detection of "This softwre is Not genuine" type problems.

Incidentally one of the MOST Pirated pieces of Software is PHOTOSHOP due mainly to its HUGE price.

I paid for mine via legal upgrade but when a brand new copy can cost more than your ENTIRE PC
you can see how a whole industry gets spawned.

There has to be a SENSIBLE compromise between REWARD for intellectual property (W7, Photoshop or whatever) and the price charged to customers.

However we are veering away from the central issue of MS sneaking in a change without informing their customers.

This WILL spawn Piracy big time -- just wait and see.



Cheers
jimbo

 

[24c]

However we are veering away from the central issue of MS sneaking in a change without informing their customers.
Cheers
jimbo

I think all here agree that MS might have handled this situation better.

MAYBE, the reason they didn't notify anyone was to prevent a run on the keys that had not been claimed. Many have mentioned they did get all the keys they were entitled to. Less keys obtained, less keys MS has to worry about. Just a possible explanation. Kind of like the Police Department not announcing they'll be at xxx St. on Monday looking for drug dealers, yyy St. on Tuesday, and on Friday they'll be watching the house on the corner of ddd St. and ggg St. for illegal consumption of Famous Amos chocolate cookies.

Just cuz we don't know MS plan, doesn't mean there isn't one.

IMO, you'll never stamp out piracy, there are bad people in this world who do bad things on a constant basis, regardless of the circumstances.