TechNet reduces licences

Office WatchLast updated: 17 July 2018

TechNet is still a good deal for IT Professionals, but not as good as it once was.

Microsoft’s TechNet program has changed with less software available for the same price.

Technet is Microsoft’s program for IT Professionals to allow access to a range of software for testing and evaluation purposes. For relatively little money you can get several versions and multiple licenses of Windows, Office and other Microsoft programs.

Office-Watch.com has highlighted the TechNet option for many years including the money saving tips in Office 2010: the real startup guide.

The number of licenses available for Windows and Office has been 10 licenses for each copy of Technet. For example a Technet purchase gave you 10 copies of Office 2010 and Office 2007 and Office 2003 as well as 10 copies of Windows 7, Vista and XP plus many other programs. This was great for testing compatibility on either physical computers or virtual machines.

Sadly Microsoft has changed that liberal policy to something a lot more restrictive for new and past customers.

The ‘old’ system had the same number of licenses available at all levels of TechNet (the more expensive levels had more software titles available).

Now the cheaper TechNet subscriptions have fewer licenses available.

TechNet Standard – TWO licenses per product

TechNet Professional – FIVE licenses per product.

The lower limits are on the number of installations for each software title. For example TechNet Standard gives you two licenses for Office 2010 and Office 2007 and Windows 7 and Windows Vista plus many other products. The Professional edition gives you five of each.

This change affects both new and current TechNet purchasers. If you purchased under the old 10 licenses arrangement now you can’t get any more than two or five license keys. The fact that you bought a product offering more licenses is blissfully ignored by Microsoft in the apparent belief that they are not bound by their own public undertakings.

If you have already requested more than 2 or 5 keys then you’re lucky and those product keys are still valid.

Details of the changes under the misleading heading ‘Anti-Piracy’ in a FAQ.

The price of TechNet has NOT reduced despite the significant reductions in the products provided. The Standard edition is US$199 ($149 renewal) with the two license limit. The five license limit in the Professional option costs $349 ($249 renewal).

However it’s still a good deal for anyone needing to test or evaluate Microsoft software. It’s commonly used to setup a series of test machines (physical or virtual) with various combinations of Windows and Office across several versions.

As we’ve often noted, there are limits on how you use TechNet software (in short, test and evaluation purposes only) but there’s little Microsoft can do to enforce those rules.

The new limits mean that TechNet users need to be more careful about how they use their software licenses. For many short term tests it may be enough just to install but not activate the software because most products will permit use for a month or two before activation is essential.

Anti-Piracy

Microsoft is excusing this change and its abrupt implementation as an ‘anti-piracy’ measure. However, as is often the case, supposed piracy prevention is really an excuse for reducing the value to customers.

Technet software offerings have to go through the same Product Activation process as other Microsoft products. If a Product Key ‘escapes’ and is used elsewhere, the software won’t activate.

What’s more likely is that Microsoft realized that TechNet was too good a deal so they decided to scale back what customers get for their money.

It was too hard and expensive for Microsoft to retain the ten licenses for people who purchased under that offer and only change the license count for new customers. Far easier and cheaper to change the limit for everyone and ignore any protests.

We can only hope this high-handed approach to license terms isn’t copied to other Microsoft products.