R.I.P Tech Net - The Sad End of an MS Institution

[JRNYMAN]

Whether you've dabbled in computer repair/upgrades as a hobby or, like me and Rip Rokken and several other veteran MR members who have spent the better part of the past two decades working full time in the personal computer mega-arena, no doubt you've sought the assistance of Microsoft's vast labyrinth of operating system-specific technical info known as Tech Net. I can personally attest to the hard work and dedication of the individuals who made up the all-volunteer staff who genuinely tried to make Tech Net THE best source for answers and solutions to the complex world of the Microsoft Operating Systems. They didn't always succeed but they gave a shit and they did a kick ass job of keeping everything incredibly well-indexed and organized - I'll give them that!

Depending upon how you view this decision it might be a glimpse of things to come. Microsoft has definitely put a lot of faith and weight in Windows 8 and seems to believe they have literally developed an OS that can heal itself and never crash (Pffft! Yeah right....) If that's really how they feel and also believe the days of personal computing are on their way out as evidenced by Steve Ballmer's near-restructuring of the corporation last week, what's next for the mega-corporation? Have they quite literally eliminated the very need for their own existence? I seem to remember a speech given by Ballmer himself some years back at the MS Developer's Conference that went something like.... "Developers, developers, developers,....." watch the vid here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMLcKtVwF-A

Seeing Tech Net come to an end is almost as sad as the day I found out the last Comdex I attended was the last Comdex that would ever take place. Ahhhhh.... those were the days. All expense paid trip to Vegas to see and play with the latest in computer technology, take in a couple of keynotes by people who we actually looked up to back then and the rest of the week having a blast with other like-minded people who sincerely enjoyed being computer professionals.

Here's the story...
https://windowssecrets.com/top-story/r- ... stitution/

[brandonx76]

Microsoft is seriously thinking they don't need to maintain a knowledge base for system support? that's surprising, My parents are still running Windows Xp (sp3) and it's very functional. I remember Tech Net, used it briefly and not very successfully between 98-02 while I was chief network admin at a small law firm (recalls my old MCSE credentials..) I could rarely find what I was looking for, but always heard other IT peers sing it's praises - the types of issues and things you ran into with Windows NT and Windows 2000 were just ridiculous...exceptions, deep nebulous registry hacks, 'driver' issues, random one-off situations with no solutions. Very aggravating... But with Google you have so many resources available and public forums - I honestly haven't looked at Tech Net in years.