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Free Technet Subscriptions

ND40oz said:
Yup, got my login to ITAC as well, that doesn't work now either. Oh well, I have MSDN anyway.
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You'll be fine after they fix things up then. They aren't revoking things for people who were legitimately entitled to this promotion.
 
Dan_D said:
Did your subscription get canned?
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Yes it did. But that as per the technet subscription policy it just means I cannot download or generate new keys just as if I let my subscription lapse. For keys which I am using or have previously retrieved I was under the impression that those would still be valid after your subscription was over. Even if those keys were generated per a MS error in their sign up site, I was technically subscribed to the service for a day. If they want to blacklist the keys it is their choice, but I would find it unprofessional of them to not at least email the people who subscribed successfully to tell them that it was an error and to please remove and not use the software that was downloaded at the time.
 
LurkerLito said:
Yes it did. But that as per the technet subscription policy it just means I cannot download or generate new keys just as if I let my subscription lapse. For keys which I am using or have previously retrieved I was under the impression that those would still be valid after your subscription was over. Even if those keys were generated per a MS error in their sign up site, I was technically subscribed to the service for a day. If they want to blacklist the keys it is their choice, but I would find it unprofessional of them to not at least email the people who subscribed successfully to tell them that it was an error and to please remove and not use the software that was downloaded at the time.
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I don't think that's how it works.

"The Microsoft TechNet Consumer Service Pilot program was intended for use only by those invited through the ITAC program, in which you had to fill out a survey and be accepted as a member of ITAC before being sent an invitation to the TechNet Pilot program.

All of the subscriptions that are listed under the TechNet Consumer Service Pilot have been taken offline and placed "under examination". Any subscriptions created by legitimate ITAC members with valid contact information will continue to have a valid subscription. For those who are not a member of ITAC and signed up directly with the web address will have their subscriptions revoked and any claimed product keys will be placed on a blacklist with Microsoft Genuine Advantage and Product Activation to prevent against software piracy."

Seems pretty clear to me that any keys obtained through this program are now invalid.
 
LurkerLito said:
...at least email the people who subscribed successfully to tell them that it was an error and to please remove and not use the software that was downloaded at the time.
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Agreed. I'm not looking forward to spending $280 on a new subscription, but I know it'll still be cheaper than updating my 4 PCs to Windows 7.


But I'd at least like to get an email from Microsoft saying "sorry, there's been a problem". Maybe an incentive like a working $100 off coupon would be nice too. I mean, they've had that kind of coupon floating around online for a while, although it appears to have expired a week ago.


I'm going to wait for a coupon if I can...until Win7 goes RTM I'm in no hurry. I didn't need the copies of software I downloaded, as I already have enough licenses. I wanted new media (which will work with my old keys) and Win7 when it comes out.
 
I've been needing to bite the bullet and buy a TechNet subscription for some time now. I just hadn't done it, and when it looked like I was getting this for free I was extremely pleased. Well when it stopped working, I decided that I needed it, and free or not, I was going to have it.

It really is worth the money, though I realize that not everyone can afford to buy one of these every year. For me its a tax write off anyway, so there is some help on that front.
 
One is an IT resource for IT Professionals, the other is for developers to create programs for Microsoft products(like working on programs for Windows, with Microsoft) or so I'm presuming form the Microsoft Development Network.
 
Well, looks like mine is gone.:(
I might try to log back in a see if anything is different Monday - after the "maintenance". If it's still gone, I'm screwed. I don't have $350. My work just went to 4 day work weeks effective today (hence I'm here at home screwing off).
 
batteriesnotincluded said:
Agreed. I'm not looking forward to spending $280 on a new subscription, but I know it'll still be cheaper than updating my 4 PCs to Windows 7.


But I'd at least like to get an email from Microsoft saying "sorry, there's been a problem". Maybe an incentive like a working $100 off coupon would be nice too. I mean, they've had that kind of coupon floating around online for a while, although it appears to have expired a week ago.


I'm going to wait for a coupon if I can...until Win7 goes RTM I'm in no hurry. I didn't need the copies of software I downloaded, as I already have enough licenses. I wanted new media (which will work with my old keys) and Win7 when it comes out.
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while i agree with you. Technically they don't owe us anything. If they offered a discount as a goodwill gesture that would be cool and I would love that. But it's not like they owe us anything really.

Like Dan this at the very least showed me the internals of the technet program, something I had always taken an interest in joining until i saw the price (last year i didn't realize how much of a deal the 99 dollar sub was)... Seeing what all you get for it made me also realize that it would be to my benefit to subscribe even if it costs. It simply makes sense, with 7 active pcs in my house + a server (3 pc's and 3 laptops) it's a no brainer to have this subbed for a windows 7 release. Also in this economy it is to my benefit to have the ability to set up a business network in a lab environment to trash and then repair and simply learn the ins and outs of deployment and administration.

That being said I'm ordering after work today.
 
my sub is down too. i had the survey done and 2010 exp and all. im a bummed about this, but not surprised. honestly i think ms should grant the early signups that did the survey, but that goes back to the fact that i dont think they can really tell who did and didnt (unless they go by email address). also, we all knew something seemed fishy when we were first signing up, it seemed too good to be true and it was.

in any case, i too have suspicion on if they actually will blacklist keys...

edit- i also noticed how many people are ordering subs now. in microsoft's perspective, this whole thing really could have been a ploy to get people to buy technet... because that's what this hot deal is doing.
 
spacetrader said:
my sub is down too. i had the survey done and 2010 exp and all. im a bummed about this, but not surprised. honestly i think ms should grant the early signups that did the survey, but that goes back to the fact that i dont think they can really tell who did and didnt (unless they go by email address).

in any case, i too have suspicion on if they actually will blacklist keys...
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I'm quite sure they have a list of people they invited to this legitimately.
 
Dan_D said:
I don't think that's how it works.

"The Microsoft TechNet Consumer Service Pilot program was intended for use only by those invited through the ITAC program, in which you had to fill out a survey and be accepted as a member of ITAC before being sent an invitation to the TechNet Pilot program.

All of the subscriptions that are listed under the TechNet Consumer Service Pilot have been taken offline and placed "under examination". Any subscriptions created by legitimate ITAC members with valid contact information will continue to have a valid subscription. For those who are not a member of ITAC and signed up directly with the web address will have their subscriptions revoked and any claimed product keys will be placed on a blacklist with Microsoft Genuine Advantage and Product Activation to prevent against software piracy."

Seems pretty clear to me that any keys obtained through this program are now invalid.
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*EDIT* I'll play nice with mods.

The revoking of keys is not final yet.
 
Last edited:
I'm not asking for a $100 new user thing like they had last year, but even something as simple as allowing a renewal of our 2 day accounts (at $250) would have been nice.


Many of us (or at least some of us) signed up with the expectation it'd be like the Windows Feedback Program, and didn't know that it was exclusive to certain people in the UK until after we'd signed up and filled out the questionnaire thing. I filled it out in good faith, as MS had sent out 2 Vista Ultimates for the WFP.

I understand why they're doing what they're doing, I can accept it was a mistake, I can even accept that all the bandwidth I chewed up was for not (although I still have the ISOs, and pre-existing licenses).

I'm not asking for anything they haven't done before. They've got active 15% and 20% coupons, and there's expired 40% and $100 off coupons (of which, the $100 expired May 31st, 2008). A simple reactivation of the $100 off would get many buyers who wanted it as a tool.

I'm going to get a Technet subscription, at 20% off. It'll have paid for itself with 1 Win7 download, and like I said, I'll need at least 3 for myself, and I know my wife will want it too, as she's been bugging me to install the RC on her laptop.
 
Manaknight said:
while i agree with you. Technically they don't owe us anything. If they offered a discount as a goodwill gesture that would be cool and I would love that. But it's not like they owe us anything really.
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I think they do owe us one thing and that is an email to the people who subscribed just to tell them there was a screw up. It won't cost them a thing no need to send a coupon or whatever (though I am sure giving one would increase their subscriptions), but at least act like a business and tell the people who signed up there was a problem. Just having to go to a forum like this or find out via someone's blog that the deal was revoked is unprofessional. Hell there is no mention of there being a problem when I logged into technet. The only indication there is something wrong is there are no subscriptions to manage and you can't download or generate keys.
 
Stanley Pain said:
I hope you leave the doors in your house open. I'll just stroll on in and help my self to some of your things, maybe drink a beer or two out of your fridge. Hey the door was open.

Why would they possibly honour this? Give me a compelling reason.
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You just did yourself...I don't leave doors open for that very same reason but your analogy is flawed as I did not say come and get free food at home but only for people with Invitation and then left the door open and nobody to check the Invitation before allowing access. ;)
 
RangerXML said:
*EDIT* I'll play nice with mods.

The revoking of keys is not final yet.
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All it takes is simple logic to reason this out. You got a TechNet subscription via a promotion in error. (You don't qualify for the promotion either because you didn't complete the survey, never signed up for ITAC, or you don't live in the UK where this promotion was valid or whatever.) Once Microsoft has corrected the error and revoked your TechNet subscription you have no license agreement to use the software legally.

If you read the licensing agreement for TechNet, and if you are familiar with software licensing in general, you'd realize that software licensing agreements are fluid and can be changed at any time. Microsoft can invalidate the software licenses as they choose.
 
Dan_D said:
All it takes is simple logic to reason this out. You got a TechNet subscription via a promotion in error. (You don't qualify for the promotion either because you didn't complete the survey, never signed up for ITAC, or you don't live in the UK where this promotion was valid or whatever.) Once Microsoft has corrected the error and revoked your TechNet subscription you have no license agreement to use the software legally.

If you read the licensing agreement for TechNet, and if you are familiar with software licensing in general, you'd realize that software licensing agreements are fluid and can be changed at any time. Microsoft can invalidate the software licenses as they choose.
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I'm just saying whats in the blogs from the people in the back and forth on this is that they might not, maybe they can't tell if a person may have had a valid Technet or MSDN accounts (strange enough, the keys from both accounts are linked) in the past and they can't kill the new keys without risking the old keys and thus face possible legal and financial problems.
 
There has been no word as to whether the bad keys will be blacklisted. First MS said yes, then they changed their tune. Just have to wait and see. I do hope they make a statement as to which way they're going to go.
 
Dan_D said:
I don't think that's how it works.

"The Microsoft TechNet Consumer Service Pilot program was intended for use only by those invited through the ITAC program, in which you had to fill out a survey and be accepted as a member of ITAC before being sent an invitation to the TechNet Pilot program.

All of the subscriptions that are listed under the TechNet Consumer Service Pilot have been taken offline and placed "under examination". Any subscriptions created by legitimate ITAC members with valid contact information will continue to have a valid subscription. For those who are not a member of ITAC and signed up directly with the web address will have their subscriptions revoked and any claimed product keys will be placed on a blacklist with Microsoft Genuine Advantage and Product Activation to prevent against software piracy."

Seems pretty clear to me that any keys obtained through this program are now invalid.
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There was an up date to this:eek:
 
Oh well, if my keys get revoked then they get revoked. It would have been nice to keep them but oh well. I will buy in the fall when Windows 7 comes out though and hope the next version of whs comes out at some point within that year.
 
I'm happy with the ISOs I got, to bad they didn't have XP OEM ISOs only retail.
 
Good for everyone with Home Premium $50 upgrade and Business $99 upgrade, but Ultimate has yet to be mentioned and everyone with Ultimate feels pretty shafted with the Ultimate Exclusives and now Business Upgrade already being $99 (betting they are going to have better security with Win7 about doing clean installs and making sure you already have a Vista/XP license).

Windows 7 looks and feels like Vista Service Pack 3 Plus, I know, there have been kernel changes, but Service Pack 1 integrated the Server 2008 kernel to make it work better.

But this is a debate for another topic.
 
RangerXML said:
Good for everyone with Home Premium $50 upgrade and Business $99 upgrade, but Ultimate has yet to be mentioned and everyone with Ultimate feels pretty shafted with the Ultimate Exclusives and now Business Upgrade already being $99 (betting they are going to have better security with Win7 about doing clean installs and making sure you already have a Vista/XP license).

Windows 7 looks and feels like Vista Service Pack 3 Plus, I know, there have been kernel changes, but Service Pack 1 integrated the Server 2008 kernel to make it work better.

But this is a debate for another topic.
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in general, don't you EVER dare to keep the actual value of win7 realistic. in fact, don't speak of win7 in any type of negative light what-so-ever, because it not only makes vista look like an amateur os, it also took a great engineering feat to create the PERFECT os in just two years flat. to go from the shit vista os to the perfect win7 is just amazing. to everyone. so eat it.
 
Well, my account's down. I saw it coming, and I have my keys saved, but I'm unsure of how long they're going to last. I'll find out soon, I suppose. I'm using Windows XP Pro on my laptop right now.
 
You guys do realize that using the keys and software you downloaded after your TechNet subscriptions were revoked is probably illegal?
 
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