Questions about TechNet Plus

I am a TechNet Plus subscriber, my subscription ends middle of July this year. Is there anything coming in the next year that would be beneficial to keeping my TechNet Plus account? I mainly wanted Windows 7, Home Server, and Office 2010. I should have plenty of keys and activations for reinstalls and virtual machines I'll be running.

Also, if you leave for a year and come back, will it retain your past keys in your file or will it reset to a full 10 per product?

It seems too that they have a different download for each of the different versions of Windows 7 (i.e. Ultimate, Pro, Home Premium, etc). I know the purchased retail version you should be able to use any DVD for any version. Is this the case with the TechNet downloads? They are named differently but seem to be the same file size. Just download an Ultimate for example and use a Home Premium key? I understand that you need different installs for 32-bit and 64-bit though. I'd prefer to keep a backup of just a 32-bit and 64-bit version and not variations of each.

 

In the next year it is highly likely that they will release the next version of Windows Home Server (based on Win 2008 R2 server). They already have an public early beta out just this month. So at st by July next year your Technet Plus would give you access to either a close to final release candidate or the actual product.

I think the final retail version of Office 2010 is due on October this year, so that will be a benefit as well.

But in general the benefit of Technet plus is really just the ability to legally and safely play around with all sorts of versions of programs instantly. I wouldnt really subscribe just for one program or the other as it isnt really meant for that.

 

on-going renewals are generally cheaper than starting and stopping a subscription.

 

Well, I got 25% off when I got my Technet, so it wasn't much more than renewal price. But if Office 2010 comes out in October, and Home Server 2 (or whatever) mid next year, I better just extend my subscription then.

 

????

Office 2010 is already out....

When I let my Technet subscription lapse, they called me back and offered me a big discount to sign back up and added 6 extra months so I got 18 months for the price of 12.

Overall, I think it was just a tad over a renewal ($20?) plus a half year free. Not sure if they will do that again, but for $20 more the extra half year put me ahead of a renewal

Oh, and by the way, my old keys were still there....I had lapsed by 3 months, I think.