There appears to be a new MSDN option - MSDN Platforms - includes OSes and servers (but not Office). Available as volume licensing only (but I thought buying a single MSDN license qualified for Open - not sure about that). It's still more expensive than TechNet Pro (and doesn't include Office), but might be attractive to SysAdmins (and due to cost / no Office - might not be as exploitable as Technet Pro)
Cheers Ken From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Charles Sullivan Sent: Friday, 4 April 2014 2:34 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] Start Menu returns Ken pointed out the big price difference that the pirates would have to pay for MSDN over Technet, which I hadn't considered. I guess only time will tell whether they are willing to shell out the bucks for MSDN, then just sell the software at a higher price. "Sorry folks, my wholesale price has dramatically increased. The only way I can keep selling you software at a great price is if I double it." Charlie Sullivan Sr. Windows Systems Administrator From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Charles Sullivan Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 11:19 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] Start Menu returns So, why is an MSDN subscription any different? Have the MS bean counters determined that angering developers and losing the revenue from the expensive MSDN subscriptions will cost more than the revenue lost from the pirating of MSDN media? Charlie Sullivan Sr. Windows Systems Administrator From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ken Schaefer Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 6:07 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] Start Menu returns They won't bring back Technet because it was being abused (where do you think all those $10 copies of Windows and Office where being sold via?). Those dodgy websites would buy up thousands of Technet subscriptions, and then sell the MAK enabled products for next to nothing. Microsoft first tried restricting the keys (remember when you could get 500 activations out of a single Technet MAK key, and it went down to 10?) As for the Start Menu - surely there must have been people in Microsoft with 24"+ screens, and running a metro app taking up the whole screen was just stupid. I'm guessing this was supposed to be there all along, but never made the first cut of the code. It's like Vista all over again - takes a couple of years to get everything smoothed out. Cheers Ken From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James Rankin Sent: Thursday, 3 April 2014 7:27 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [NTSysADM] Start Menu returns So the Start Menu is coming back to Windows 8! Is this a new direction from MS, actually listening to what certain subsets of users want? If it is, then I'm impressed. I doubt very much they will bring TechNet back to us also though....I think that interferes too much with what they're hoping to do with Cloud OS. My 2 cents.
