Reply to: MS TechNet

[scooby]

Technet is the best for your scenario.

Cheers mucker!

[jmo21]

We have to agree to disagree. My Accountant has warned me off making an expense claim for what can be deemed as Training that is not related to the work that is being carried out or related to the business. In any case, whilst I am not working, I am not going to make any expense claims. I'm still yet to put my Sage Self-Study cost through the books.

my argument is that if you work in IT, then most software can be deemed business related.

but fair enough, can't fault you for taking accountants advice!

[pmeswani]

sorry, but again, i don't agree

What specific reason can they use to prove you are not using this set of software to learn the security side of these products??

We have to agree to disagree. My Accountant has warned me off making an expense claim for what can be deemed as Training that is not related to the work that is being carried out or related to the business. In any case, whilst I am not working, I am not going to make any expense claims. I'm still yet to put my Sage Self-Study cost through the books.

[pmeswani]

We've gone from Technet to MSDN to Action Pack... I'm confused

What is best for me as a PM to "Evaluate" OS, Office and other little bits??

I'm not sure i'll pass the tech tests to become a partner and get the action pack.

Technet is the best for your scenario.

[scooby]

We've gone from Technet to MSDN to Action Pack... I'm confused

What is best for me as a PM to "Evaluate" OS, Office and other little bits??

I'm not sure i'll pass the tech tests to become a partner and get the action pack.

[jmo21]

I don't want to take the chances of falling foul if I get invetigated. You have made the argument for why I can't claim it. It's not related to the work I am doing, therefore I cannot claim it.

sorry, but again, i don't agree

What specific reason can they use to prove you are not using this set of software to learn the security side of these products??

[voodooflux]

Do you get physical CDs or is this access to the full MSDN download site?

Both when I was on the scheme. I'm not sure whether that has changed recently though, as you can now get a cheaper download-only MSDN subscription.

[d000hg]

If you're a software developer then it's also worth looking at the Microsoft Empower for ISVs program as well - essentially an MSDN Professional subscription (a superset of Action Pack/Technet) for around £250/year. The downside is that you can only subscribe for two years, and must be seen to be working on a product.

Do you get physical CDs or is this access to the full MSDN download site?

[d000hg]

So,you take a test and only get given the apps for the tests you pass?

Does the price vary then to reflect this?

It wasn't like that. When I did it, they were just introducing the test. You could get the majority of the software with no test, then there were two different versions you had to take different tests for. I think one was focused on business, the other was called "Web Toolkit" or similar, but included Visual Studio. You just had to take one test for either, you got a different list of tests for each version.
It was the same price for both. My subscription expired and the emails I got made it sound like you might now have to take a test to get anything.

[voodooflux]

If you're a software developer then it's also worth looking at the Microsoft Empower for ISVs program as well - essentially an MSDN Professional subscription (a superset of Action Pack/Technet) for around £250/year. The downside is that you can only subscribe for two years, and must be seen to be working on a product.

[pmeswani]

don't want to tell you how to run your business and all that.....but i'll try anyway!!

I don't think HMRC will analyse your expenses that closely that you would get into trouble for this.

and besides, if you are a security analyst, you can easily argue, i want to learn Vista security, Sharepoint security etc etc

throwing away money if you ask me, and crazy not to claim it.

I don't want to take the chances of falling foul if I get invetigated. You have made the argument for why I can't claim it. It's not related to the work I am doing, therefore I cannot claim it.

[Clippy]

With action pack you get full versions with licenses, but the restriction is you can't use them on production servers. So you can run your small business on Windows Server & Vista, run development MSSQL databases, get Office, etc. But you can't run a customer-facing web-server on them.
Also, you are limited to 10 client licenses.

There aren't restrictions so much, but you have to take a test to get some/all of the software. When I did it, I had to take the test to get Visual Studio, but I did a test on Expression Studio and passed despite never having heard of it.

What's the deal with Technet? Are they technically demo licenses?

So,you take a test and only get given the apps for the tests you pass?

Does the price vary then to reflect this?

[d000hg]

With action pack you get full versions with licenses, but the restriction is you can't use them on production servers. So you can run your small business on Windows Server & Vista, run development MSSQL databases, get Office, etc. But you can't run a customer-facing web-server on them.
Also, you are limited to 10 client licenses.

There aren't restrictions so much, but you have to take a test to get some/all of the software. When I did it, I had to take the test to get Visual Studio, but I did a test on Expression Studio and passed despite never having heard of it.

What's the deal with Technet? Are they technically demo licenses?

[Clippy]

How is it different to the Action Pack which costs about the same?

I've been meaning to look into this myself.

Am I right in that MS are or have tightened up on who can sign up to the Action Pack?

I believe TechNet is aimed at people who support the technologies whereas the Action Pack is aimed at people who sell them - don't quote me on that though.

[jmo21]

Because my role as an IT Security Analyst does not require the need to install Operating Systems and Microsoft specific applicationsas part of my day to day role (albeit that I am not working right now, but I hope you get the drift). It could be argued as not being related to my business and that I bought the subs in order to learn new technologies in order for me to get new work.

don't want to tell you how to run your business and all that.....but i'll try anyway!!

I don't think HMRC will analyse your expenses that closely that you would get into trouble for this.

and besides, if you are a security analyst, you can easily argue, i want to learn Vista security, Sharepoint security etc etc

throwing away money if you ask me, and crazy not to claim it.