Microsoft to shut down TechNet subscription service

[Brink]

Good night, TechNet.

In a letter to subscribers today, Microsoft announced that it plans to retire its venerable TechNet subscriptions service. New subscriptions will no longer be available after August 31, 2013, and the subscription service will shut down as current subscribers' contracts end.

Read more at: Microsoft to shut down TechNet subscription service | ZDNet



Microsoft email to subscribers:

Microsoft is retiring the TechNet Subscription service.​

As IT trends and business dynamics have evolved, so has Microsoft’s set of offerings for IT professionals who are looking to learn, evaluate and deploy Microsoft technologies and services. In recent years, we have seen a usage shift from paid to free evaluation experiences and resources. As a result, Microsoft has decided to retire the TechNet Subscriptions service and will discontinue sales on August 31, 2013.

Additional Information:
More background on Microsoft’s decision to retire the TechNet Subscription service and the implications for current subscribers is available on the TechNet Subscriptions Retirement FAQ page.


Subscribers with active accounts may continue to access program benefits until their current subscription period concludes.

We are committed to helping customers through this transition phase and will remain focused on providing IT professionals with free access to a broad set of TechNet assets that support the needs of IT professionals around the world.


Improved Free Offerings for IT Professionals Include:

• TechNet Evaluation Center: Free evaluation software with no feature limits, available for 30-180 days. Includes rich evaluation resources and TechNet Virtual Labs, which enable you to evaluate software without the need to install bits locally.
• Microsoft Virtual Academy: Free online learning site, with over 200 expert-led technical training courses across more than 15 Microsoft technologies with more added weekly.
• TechNet Forums: Free online forums where IT professionals can ask technical questions and receive rapid responses from members of the community.

Please note, MSDN Subscriptions provide a paid set of offerings that are also available for those who require access to evaluation software beyond what the above free offerings provide.

Thank you for your understanding as we increase focus on growing and investing in our free offerings to better meet the needs of the IT professional community.

Do not reply to this e-mail. This message was sent to you using an automated system. This e-mail alias is not monitored for replies.

- TechNet Subscription Team


Microsoft respects your privacy. Review our online Privacy Statement.

Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA, USA 98052

 

[z3r010]

Yeah I've just got the email

As IT trends and business dynamics have evolved, so has Microsoft’s set of offerings for IT professionals who are looking to learn, evaluate and deploy Microsoft technologies and services. In recent years, we have seen a usage shift from paid to free evaluation experiences and resources. As a result, Microsoft has decided to retire the TechNet Subscriptions service and will discontinue sales on August 31, 2013.
Subscribers with active accounts may continue to access program benefits until their current subscription period concludes.[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
We are committed to helping customers through this transition phase and will remain focused on providing IT professionals with free access to a broad set of TechNet assets that support the needs of IT professionals around the world.

Improved Free Offerings for IT Professionals Include:[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]TechNet Evaluation Center: Free evaluation software with no feature limits, available for 30-180 days. Includes rich evaluation resources and TechNet Virtual Labs, which enable you to evaluate software without the need to install bits locally. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Microsoft Virtual Academy: Free online learning site, with over 200 expert-led technical training courses across more than 15 Microsoft technologies with more added weekly. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]TechNet Forums: Free online forums where IT professionals can ask technical questions and receive rapid responses from members of the community. [/FONT]

Please note, MSDN Subscriptions provide a paid set of offerings that are also available for those who require access to evaluation software beyond what the above free offerings provide.

Thank you for your understanding as we increase focus on growing and investing in our free offerings to better meet the needs of the IT professional community.
[FONT=&quot]- TechNet Subscription Team[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]
Microsoft respects your privacy. Review our online Privacy Statement.

If you would prefer not to receive future promotional email messages from Microsoft Corporation, please click here to unsubscribe. These settings will not affect any newsletters you've requested or any mandatory service communications that are considered part of certain Microsoft services. To set your contact preferences for Microsoft newsletters, see the communications preferences section of the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
[FONT=&quot]Microsoft Corporation[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA, USA 98052[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[Brink]

At least we still have MSDN for now. R.I.P. TechNet subscriptions.

 

[z3r010]

MSDN is far too expensive.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

Just had the email myself too.


MSDN for most people is as Z3r010 FAR TOO expensive -- however you've still got ONE YEAR left and a lot can happen in one year.

Current subscribers -- I suggest you grab what you want before Aug 2014 -- especially older OS'es (XP for example) , Office products and servers.



Cheers
jimbo

 

[Layback Bear]

I have no subscriptions to TechNet or MSDN but I'm sure those who abused it are the cause that all will loose it.
Software pirates can cause MSDN to go the same way TechNet has gone.

 

[essenbe]

I just got the email too. I'm not sure of all the implications of the software already downloaded. Guess I'll find out soon enough. I was ready to renew, but for me, I see very little reason to do so.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

I have no subscriptions to TechNet or MSDN but I'm sure those who abused it are the cause that all will loose it.
Software pirates can cause MSDN to go the same way TechNet has gone.

Why blaming piracy?
It's not like people cannot buy a disk, rip it, crack its stuff and then upload it via torrent. And even assuming that it's the case, this is closing the doors after the horses ran away, pointless.

Besides, even the evaluation versions from Technet evaluation center can be cracked.

A more believable thing is that they are shutting down stuff they believe people are using to get legal copies of Windows 7 and XP to try to convince people to get to 8.

 

[Ex_Brit]

MSDN is too expensive for me I'm afraid. Will licenses continue beyond your subscription expiry date or will everything die? I'm good until 4/12/2014 according to their website.

 

[Layback Bear]

Why blaming piracy?

Because piracy is stealing. The more people steal the more things get shut down for honest people.
Companies will continue to try and stop stealing of their products. Some method work and some don't. Some are to late to help. Companies will just keep trying to stop billions of dollars of products from being stole. Whether one kicks in the door or uses a torrent or some good looking web site it's still stealing.

 

[Ex_Brit]

I just Googled 'Windows 8 Pro key' & was immediately presented with at least a dozen sites all with lots of hacked keys. Microsoft have a lot to contend with when it comes to theft.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Because piracy is stealing. The more people steal the more things get shut down for honest people.

Not necessarily. What matters for a company is loss of profits.
Piracy isn't necessarily lost profit, as we are in the digital world, a "product" can be copied over and over with little cost for the producing company (not being physical, that is).
A remarkably large userbase using pirated stuff does not have the money (or access to the licence) to buy genuine.
So even without access to pirated stuff that's not "one less customer" for the company.

While for an operating system it's less the case (you cannot simply "do without", but you try to stay for the longest you can with the older ones you already have), I also have the suspect that MS isn't shutting down technet because it is short on cash due to excessive piracy. It always endured significant piracy since day 1, as any successful software/music/movie.

Also, if we are talking about loss of profit, I'm ready to bet that Windows 8 (and its reception ala "ooh look it's Vista pre-SP1 all over again") is the real one to blame here.

Companies will just keep trying to stop billions of dollars of products from being stole.

As noted, Technet isn't a source for pirated stuff. And even shutting it down does not really change things as stuff is all out in the wild.

----
I'll ask a question, the iso files that we link to in the tutorials about reinstalling windows 7 aren't from Technet? Will they work after technet gets shut down?
----

 

[Indianatone]

If you read the current license terms you can only use the software whilst you are subscribing. They changed that a few years ago. I had been a subscriber for several years and then could no longer work so could not renew my subscription due to finances and at the time my licence agreement states I can continue to use and evaluate the software indefinitely. My subscription expired in the June and the rules were changed in the August. As to piracy I have personally reported plenty of Asian based sites selling Enterprise keys for $90 for 7 and 8. So that may be to blame but I don't think so. More like spiteful, we are they guys who recommend stuff to families and friends and in a lot of cases employers. Linux Mint is looking better and better everyday. So if any of you do not renew and have current subscriptions be advised your keys could be turned off. Would they do that? Would they dare? Or should they let sleeping dogs lie to appease the geek community they have crapped on from a great height ?

 

[Kari]

Geeks, did I understand this correctly: My subscription runs out early 2014. If I renew it before 31st of August 2013, can I use it until early 2015?

 

[z3r010]

That's how I see it and I intend to renew in the new few days (Mine expires October 13).

 

[Kari]

Confusing. Decided to renew it now, got this far and decided to wait:

​

They stop selling new subscriptions but how about those old ones set to be automatically renewed? As I understand that message, I can only renew by "upgrading" my subscription to TechNet Professional with Media (Retail), the only upgrade option to my Professional subscription.

I think I mail TechNet support with my questions...

 

[essenbe]

Kari, I may be wrong, but I think you can go into your account and stop the automatic renewal. Then maybe you could upgrade.

 

[Kari]

You might be right.

How do you get this sentence from the message in my previous post: "If you would like to upgrade to another subscription level, then continue placing your order and we will cancel the automatic renewal for your current subscription."?

Or the activation part in this: "IT professionals who would like to purchase a new TechNet Subscription or renew an existing subscription may do so through August 31, 2013. Subscribers may activate purchased subscriptions through September 30, 2013." (from TechNet Subscriptions)

Confusing...

 

[essenbe]

Kari, I would only be guessing, but your subscription is valid until after the September date and has automatic renewal. I assume it may be that your subscription is not set to expire before the cut off date. But, it would be worth a try.

Mine expires Monday. I'm just debating whether I want to give M$ more of my money just to put off the eventual. I certainly need it worse than they do. What really aggravated me is they called me last week to renew and really put on the hard sell, but never bothered to tell me they were stopping Technet. Rather unscrupulous in my opinion.

 

[HammerHead]

No More Technet

I am wondering if the keys I have will continue to work. I can't see renewing knowing that ultimately they shut down.
I get the eerie feeling that my proclamation about moving to Linux is going to occur sooner than I anticipated. But never the less I can't see tying my self to some one that is going to dictate to me what my computer experience is going to be like.