[dba-Tech] Technet / MSDN / Power Pack

Hi Jim and Steve

No, it not so. The Action Pack, MSAP, is available for professionals somehow dealing with MS software for a living.

This, however, doesn't provide developer tools - which in MS jargon is Visual Studio and Expression Suite. These are offered as part of the

  Special Edition Web Solutions Toolkit 

for which you have to pass an "exam" to gain access.
Read the old thread about this (some links only operational in IE):

  http://databaseadvisors.com/pipermail/accessd/2007-October/055800.html 

To obtain VS 2008 Standard this way will take some time but you can get started right away with the free Express edition.

/gustav


>>> accessd at shaw.ca 27-04-2009 02:05 >>>
My understanding was that this subscription was only available to
individuals who had successfully completed a series/single exam(s). This
limitation was added as some people were taking the subscriptions and
reselling the products... not particularly smart as it was so easy to
validate through MS updates.

I spent a couple of hours, one evening, trying to find the testing section
of the MS site after logging in.  I do not think I am particularly slow but
I could not work my way through the various web site settings and timing-out
pages so I gave up that idea. I guess that was the labyrinth part of the
test.

Maybe things have changed and if they have I would not mind continuing with
the subscription.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com 
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Steve Erbach
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2009 9:25 AM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: [dba-Tech] Technet / MSDN / Power Pack

Dear Group,

Just last night I discovered that Microsoft has a service on its
Technet site that gives you a year's subscription to all Microsoft
software for "evaluation" purposes.  $349 a year allows you to
download everything, including the Windows 7 Release Candidate,
Windows Server 2008, etc.

I wondered if any of you lot had a Technet subscription.  I believe
that Rocky has a Power Pack (?) subscription which is different.  Some
of you have MSDN subscriptions, too.  What do you think of them?  Have
they been worth it?

In '04 I found out from Hindman, I think, about the Microsoft ISV
program.  I was able to get a full Universal MSDN subscription with 5
licenses for Office, Windows, etc., for $295 a year for two years.
THAT was very, very handy.

I was considering setting up a Windows SBS 2008 or Windows Server 2008
as a Virtual PC on my system since it's got some fairly good oomph (8
GB RAM, dual core 3 GHz Intel processor, Raid 1 500 GB array).

Any thoughts about Technet?

Regards,

Steve Erbach
Neenah, WI
http://www.NeenahPolitics.com 
http://www.TheTownCrank.com