As recently as yesterday, Microsoft has pegged back the number of license keys available for each version of products available in its TechNet subscriptions from ten down to five for TechNet Professional subscriptions and two for TechNet Standard subscriptions without notice. Existing subscribers who have already claimed all of their keys are unaffected but those who have not are now bound by the five key restriction.
Oddly, Microsoft has not lowered the number of available license keys for Windows Vista which remains at ten for each available version. Not sure why that is the case but perhaps Microsoft aren’t afraid of letting Windows Vista out to subscribers more easily before it goes out to pasture (or the abattoir depending on how you look at it).
Whilst five keys may still be more than enough for some, I can see a backlash against Microsoft being created as a result of this action. The more passionate may end up just claiming every single key for every product they might remotely consider using in the future in an attempt to hoard keys. Granted, if Microsoft gave notice of this reduction then a similar sort of gold rush for keys may have ensued to perhaps this is one of those “lose/lose” situations.
Still, a TechNet Professional subscription is still pretty good value especially if you can get a 40% discount coupon that floats around every so often. Just be wary the Microsoft may change the rules on you without notice.
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