Ed Bott's Coverage of The Campaign

Ed Bott, well respected journalist with Ziff Davis, penned a nice peice last week, entitled "Enterprise fanboys push back on TechNet subscription shutdown." He points out that, at the time of writing, over 5000 people had signed the petition to Save Technet - although by now over 7500 folks have signed!.

Ed argues that the move may not have been the most sensible and he agrees with me that the timing and method sure was cynical. He concludes: "It’s hard to believe that [Microsoft] really wants to kick away its “enterprise fanboys” with an ill-timed, tone-deaf move like this."

So far, at least, that is precisely what Microsoft appear to be doing.

Mary Jo Foley mentions us!

Mary Jo Foley is a great journalist and for the past 20 years or more has followed and commented on all things Microsoft, in her blog whose title is: 'All About Microsoft'. Her latest piece, which is a blast form the past, covers NT's 20th birthday with the title of: "Microsoft's Windows NT turns 20".


And at the end of this article, she makes mention of the campaign to save Technet.

Thanks Mary Jo! And thanks for her readers who have taken the time to visit here. See the panel on the right for the URL of the petition. PLEASE sign it, and please add comments here. And if you are passionate about the subject, we can give you authoring rights on this blog for you to have your say.

The Importance of TechNet

The removal of the TechNet subscription facility has angered and upset a lot of IT Professionals who traditionally have been amongst Microsoft's more ardent supporters.  Jim Jones, a contributor for 4sysops.com, published an excellent article delineating the importance of TechNet. It describes possible compromises and strikes at the heart of what many in the community fervently believe. The article can be found here.http://bit.ly/1bNu7C9

If feels like Microsoft only seems to believe that Chief Information Officers (CIOs) matter. It seems to many of the community that Microsoft forget that CIOs typically make decisions based on consensus with their staff and colleagues. In other words, the very people Microsoft have angered over this move.

One of the few bright spots on Microsoft’s recent financial disclosure was enterprise services, where things continue to be on the up. These services are driven by Microsoft’s relationship with these same individuals that benefit most from TechNet.  Between that and Friday’s massive sell-off wiping out $34 billion in market value (the largest in 13 years), the thought of Microsoft alienating its most ardent supporters is ludicrous.

Save TechNet Petition Exceeds 7000 Sgnatures!

The petition to save TechNet Subscriptions, published over on Change.Org, has now exceeded 7000 signatures. That's a lot of people and a whole lot of IT Pros that are disappointed with the decision to cancel the TechNet subscription service. 

So if you are an IT Pro, and want to help, please go to: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/continue-technet-or-create-an-affordable-alternative-to-msdn and sign the petition.

Paul Thurrot Speaks on the Subject

Paul Thurrott, a well known Microsoft tech blogger, has added his voice to discussion in an article on his SuperSite for Windows. Like most folks, Paul believes Microsoft's excuses here (it has seen a shift from paid to free evaluation experiences and resources) is just BS. Sadly, that's the excuse MS are using, despite it being more likely that piracy is the real reason.

If you care about this issue, please sign the petition over at Change.org (the url is: https://www.change.org/petitions/continue-technet-or-create-an-affordable-alternative-to-msdn).

I hope someone (some ones!) at Microsoft read the petition and more imprtantly, read the comments. There area  lot of people who are really unhappy over this.

And also, if you have the time, please email SteveB@Microsoft.Com and ask him to reconsider.

Can the IT Community Save Technet?

This question is asked over on the Windows IT Pro site. See http://windowsitpro.com/windows/can-it-community-save-technet for their article on this subject, written by the most excellent Rod Trent. Sadly, he's not too optimistic.

Save Technet Subscription Blog starts up!

Welcome to this blog, whose purpose is to help save Microsoft's TechNet Subscription service.

There will be more posts as the campaign takes off.

Please feel free to comment on the posts here and if you care enough to help out - let us know.