[velodrome]

That's because Microsoft kind of screwed over its TechNet subscribers. In a way, they poisoned their TechNet community.

There is a petition on change.org with almost 10,000 signatures.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/continue-technet-or-cr...

[xradionut]

They have also tightened the screws and raised prices on the only alternative, MSDN subscriptions. Plus cranked the prices on SQL Server, fucked the GUI up in Windows, screwed the pooch on RT and back-peddled on the new Xbox, etc...