It is cheaper per Seat, if you work it out, as I understand it, TechNet Plus gives you ONE licence which is for the registrant ONLY.
Whilst MAPS gives you TEN licences for INTERNAL USE in your company or ogranisation etc, NOT JUST FOR EVALUATION but for INTERNAL BUSINESS USE as well. It suits us down to the ground with about six units in the house. Both my S/O and I are into IT in one way or another, I have been in IT since 1976, Sandy since the late 80's.

It suits us down to the ground, we can use it for business use, showing, demonstrating, and even teaching other people. Stacks of stuff is Permitted by the licence if you read it, the golden rule is basically you can't give it to anyone NOT connected to your business or organisation.

And yes, you still have access to TechNet and all the forums. At the last count there was about 30 things I could download and get TIME UNLIMITED keys for, up to TEN KEYS per download.

If you can't afford £199, then you can still download most Serverware etc for up to a 90 day trial, which should get you through most exams.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Edited by TrevorSP (Tue 09-Jun-09 09:47:01)

In reply to a post by camieabz:

I managed to get a few (13) ISOs and a few (80+) keys before it went again...

I read a piece earlier suggesting that all the keys are gonna be blacklisted anyway

Might be cos some folk download 13 ISOs and 80 keys.

You will be caught out and microsoft will send you a letter in the post to take you to court for illegal keys stolen from 1 year free subscription which it not suppose for your sole use only.

I got email from microsoft as they are investigate me that I was illegal of using all product keys and they will inform me if they will take legal action against me and others who had been subscription 1 year free with all the product keys stealing.

Microsoft ask me how many product keys on the computer and where did I get the link from for 1 year free subscription from and ask me will I buy 1 year technet plus subscription in future and ask me to take the survey questions.

I had hit back at microsoft told them "if the technet plus was free for 1 year then why did microsoft accepted my pre-order online and accepted me in the first place if this was mistaken by microsoft as these link to get free 1 year subscription shouldn't be on the website in the first place, so I am NOT ILLEGAL".

Edited by adslmax (Tue 09-Jun-09 10:05:44)

Not sure why they picked on you, DJ. The forum where I first got the link has a few very busy threads concerning this, I've not seen a single post suggesting anyone has had a mail from microsoft. Could you post the body of the message, please.

General consensus seems to suggest that we purchased a technet trial for $0.00 and we can use the software which we got during the trial.
Undoubtedly someone messed up...and heads will be rolling...there should have been a eula linking the trial to a survey (which is where it originally came from)..but there wasn't, so those of us who joined the trial did so fairly and legally, and the keys issued are valid..which Microsoft undoubtedly know.

The problem I have is...what to do with it all? I'm like a kid who's filled his pockets at the sweet shop whose then remembered he doesn't like sweets. I have lots of keys..but they're no use to me..I'm certainly not going to sell or give them away (I did use my real details signing up). I have installed the office 2007..but i still prefer the older 2003 version which I already have.

There are a few voices from microsoft saying the keys will all be blacklisted...we'll see, I'll certainly not have trouble sleeping if they are...but I imagine microsoft's legal department are trying to work out the fallout of blocking thousands of keys sold ($0.00 I have a receipt!) to people who filled out the eula correctly...I imagine the fallout will be bad.

Best bet is to accept they made a mistake and take the hit...most people using the keys either wouldn't purchase in the 1st place, so no lost sale (me and office 2007) or would steal it anyway...so no great loss.

Yea - thanks guys..
That sub was for participants in an MS Survey/Pilot & you have now killed access to keys & d/loads for everyone even those of us with legit access.

OK MS should have made the registration link more secure & the one to blame is whoever posted the original link... But if I find your house/car door unlocked / open does that give me the right to empty them for you?

& Just as I needed an ISO of XP Pro as well...

But if I find your house/car door unlocked / open does that give me the right to empty them for you?

That's a totally unfair comparison.

(i) The link was posted on several respectable news sites, with no indication that it was a restricted offer.

(ii) The page itself again gave no inidication that it was a restricted offer and accepted applications with no checking of any sort. By accepting applications Microsoft made an implicit contract which they are now refusing to honour.

Microsoft screwed up and they should honour the subscriptions for those who signed up in good faith.

A cynic might suppose that this whole thing was a ploy by Microsoft to get people interested in Technet. It has had the opposite effect on me.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

...
& Just as I needed an ISO of XP Pro as well...

I've got one of those
en_windows_xp_professional_with_service_pack_3_x86_cd_x14-80428

search for that filename and you should be able to find a source of the iso..I'm hoping you already have a key because I, obviously, can't share

Surely if you're a paid up subscriber you should be able to contact microsoft to have your access enabled again?!

Trevor
Many thanks for the replies, it gives me something more to think about.......
Right now cash is low (made redundant a while ago) so liked the idea of the free access for my course, but as you and others have pointed out, most of the stuff i can get on trial versions so it should get me through the courses
as it turns out - i might not even need to download a trial version, on the XP part of the MCP, we get a trial version of xp pro (i already have a legit version of this as my main OS so no worries there) but i had it confirmed for the server 2003 part of the course, we get a trial version of that to install
now i just need to install virtual PC so as not to make a mess of my main PC !!!!

Microsoft had offer me a good deal reduce from £234 to £167 for a 1 year subscription due to error mistake from Microsoft who had accepted my order of 1 year free subscription (that's was leaked into the web link) as Microsoft had told me there is no way that Microsoft will to give away a free year of subscription because Microsoft is not a charity, business is a business matter.

I had signed up and join 1 year subscription £167 plus European VAT charged at 21.5% (Ireland, Microsoft) but was disappointed of non United Kingdom (England) to charged at 15% VAT.

Microsoft had accepted my apology for my mistake to sign up free year of subscription as I always Genuine and Legal use of my Windows version in my home's pc.

3 pc's and a laptop cost me nearly £600 for all four Vista Ultimate license keys (genuine oem)

So, the technet plus would save ££££ for all windows products plus 10 licenses per products.

Hi there, ADSLMAX,

Don't get confused between TechNetPlus and MAPS.
TechNetPlus = 1 x licence for the registrant only per application for technical use only.

MAPS = 10 x licence keys for client side apllications and 1 x Licence keys and 10 x Seat licences for serverware, for FULL business use, Technical use, Demonstration, teaching etc etc. There is a huge difference if you have more than ONE unit in the house!

One caveat is that for MAPS you do have to take a qualifying exam, or everyone would want one!
Then if you specialise, say, you want the FULL Web Solutions Toolkit, probably worth about £1k +, then another exam, pass and it gets sent to you free, quarterly with your usual MAPS.

You can choose to recieve MAPS via physical shipment or digital download. I have just moved from Physical to Digitial and it is much easier as it is always up to date! I understand that physcial shipments are being reduced to the minimum from July 09 onwards anway, so you may not have a choice! But well worth looking into.