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SharePoint documentation for IT professionals and admins. Migrate your content to Microsoft 365. Migrate from file shares, SharePoint Server, Box, or many of the cloud storage providers. Welcome to TechNet! TechNet is full of cool stuff including articles, code, forums, samples and blogs. To get the most out of TechNet we believe that you should sign in and become a member. It's free and by doing so you gain immediate access to interacting on the forums, sharing code samples, publishing articles and commenting on blog posts.

This post was written by Jeff Sandquist, Corporate Vice President, Developer Relations.

Today, we are excited to give you an important update on the migration of MSDN and TechNet content to docs.microsoft.com. This blog post documents the last few steps of a company-wide effort to overhaul the content structure, format and the underlying infrastructure, and centralize Microsoft technical documentation around one site.

From MSDN and TechNet to docs.microsoft.com

Back in 1992, Microsoft Developer Network was born as a customer subscription service to provide technical information on programming for Windows. Six years later, in 1998, the MSDN Online site was launched, hosting more than 250,000 pages of content.

Back then, the publishing process consisted of creating content in Microsoft Word, converting it into HTML, and publishing through a tool called pubwiz (Publishing Wizard). For over 20 years the process supported the release of new products, services and updates, resulting in a staggering 45 million pages of technical content!

As the product release cycle shifted from years to months, the demand for accessible up-to-date documentation grew. The publishing system needed to match the engineering velocity, and so we decided to re-invent how we manage documentation at Microsoft in the cloud era. In November 2015, the founding members of the docs.microsoft.com team - Dan Fernandez, Mary McHale, Carol Zeumault, and Jeff Sandquist wrote a document named “A New Hope” (a homage to Star Wars Episode IV), that outlined the vision for the new site. It included a set of key guiding principles:

• Unified technical documentation. The new site should consolidate the dozens of documentation websites hosted by Microsoft. A developer learning how to create ave bookmarked any MSDN or TechNet blogs, the links to those will be either redirected to the new location on docs.microsoft.com/archive, or to other blog sites if they are actively maintained and updated blogs.

  MSDN Code Gallery

  Status: ✅ Complete

  We have redirected all MSDN Code Gallery pages to the samples browser and archived key samples to GitHub in the MicrosoftArchive organization. Read more about this process in our recent blog post.

  You can find the most up-to-date code samples on docs.microsoft.com/samples.

  TechNet Gallery

  Status: 🚧 In progress

  The TechNet Gallery will be retiring in early 2020. In December 2019, the site will be made read-only no longer accept new community contributions. Additional announcements and information to follow.

  Use docs.microsoft.com/samples to find the most up-to-date code samples. If you have previously contributed to the TechNet Gallery, make sure you migrate your samples to a personally-managed location, such as your own GitHub repository.

  TechNet Wiki

  Status: 🚧 In progress

  We are working on a more concrete migration plan and schedule for TechNet Wiki. Please check back later for additional details. You can continue to participate and interact with wiki content at this time.

  MSDN and TechNet Forums

  Status: 🚧 In progress

  We announced the preview release of Microsoft Q&A, which replaces MSDN and TechNet forums. To ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruption, we’ve broken down the migration into multiple phases. We expect to complete the migration by mid-2020. Please check back later for additional details.

  Channel 9

  Status: 🚧 In progress

  Channel 9 continues to be an important investment for developer-focused video content. We are working on a migration path that will better integrate our videos and technical content from Channel 9. Please check back later for additional details.

  We want to hear from you

  We are excited to continue investing in our platform and make sure that you get the most relevant and reliable technical documentation for the entire Microsoft ecosystem. Give us your thoughts and improvement suggestions on GitHub and Twitter.

Microsoft TechNet was a Microsoftweb portal and web service for IT professionals. It includes a library containing documentation and technical resources for Microsoft products, a learning center which provides online training, discussion forums, an evaluation center for downloading trialware, blogs for Microsoft employees and a wiki.

TechNet originally provided a software subscription service similar to Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud that allowed subscribers to download Microsoft software under a software as service license for private use. On July 1, 2013, it was announced that Microsoft is discontinuing the TechNet subscription service, with the purchase and renewal of subscriptions to be closed by August 31, 2013.^[1]

TechNet also included a web-based TechNet Magazine which is discontinued since October 2013. Past issues are still available for reading.

As of January 2020, TechNet now redirects to Microsoft Docs.^[2]

Websites[edit]

TechNet's primary web presence is a collection of sites for IT professionals that provide information, documentation, and discussion which are authored both by Microsoft and by the community at large. Recent emphasis on and incorporation of applications such as forums, blogs, library annotations, and social bookmarking is changing the nature of the TechNet site from a one-way information service to an open dialog between Microsoft and the IT professional community.^[3] The main website, and most of its constituent applications below are available in 12 languages, generate traffic from 11.5 million per month and host approx. 11 million documents.^[4]

Library[edit]

Similar to the MSDN Library which contains technical information for software developers, the TechNet Library is a source of technical information for IT professionals and advanced users. The technical content is freely available on the web and on CDs and DVDs. The discs are published monthly and contain the complete Microsoft Knowledge Base, service packs, security updates, resource kits, technical training, operations and deployment guides, white papers, and case studies.

In January 2014, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Security Bulletins and Advisories would be merged into the TechNet Library.^[5]

In 2016, Microsoft introduced the new technical documentation platform, Microsoft Docs, intended as a replacement of TechNet and MSDN libraries. ^[6] For the next two years Microsoft was migrating their materials into Microsoft Docs. Now most of the TechNet Library pages redirect to the corresponding Microsoft Docs pages. ^[7]

Forums[edit]

TechNet Forums are the web-based forums used by the community to discuss a wide variety of IT professional topics. TechNet Forums were migrated to an all-new platform during 2008 that provided new features designed to improve efficiency such as inline preview of threads, AJAX filtering, and a slide-up post editor.

Blogs[edit]

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TechNet had their own blogging platform, which hosts the blogs of Microsoft employees. In May 2020, the MSDN and TechNet blogs were closed and the content was archived at Microsoft Docs.^[8] Most teams from the old TechNet blogs, opened new active blogs in other systems.^{[example needed]}

Wiki[edit]

The TechNet Wiki is a technical resource inspired by Wikipedia. Wiki is a community site and does not offer official documentation from Microsoft.^[9] Anyone who joins the community can contribute new topics, edit and enhance existing topics, provide comments and 'friend' other registered users. The goals ^[10] of the wiki include providing broader and more in-depth solutions content (how-to, procedural, troubleshooting, deployment), from a broad pool of first-hand experiences, with less publishing friction than traditional mechanisms.

Other[edit]

TechNet content on related topics is organized into separate sections, such as:

• TechNet Evaluation Center
• Microsoft Tech Companion App
• Microsoft Script Center
• TechNet Video

Social bookmarking[edit]

Social bookmarking on TechNet Social was first launched in 2008, built on a new web platform that has user-tagging and feeds at its core.^[11] The goal of the social bookmarking application is to provide a method whereby members of the IT professional community can:

Windows 10 Forums

• Contribute to a database of quality links on any topic from across the web. By filtering on one or more tags, (e.g. 'Exchange' and 'security') users can discover popular or recent links and subscribe to a feed of those links.
• Find and follow experts' recommended sites. Each profile page includes a feed of the user's contributions. Users can be discovered through a drop-down menu on each bookmark.
• Demonstrate their expertise through the links displayed in their profile.
• Store their favorite links online.

The initial release of the application provides standard features for the genre, including a bookmarklet and import capabilities. The TechNet web site is also starting to incorporate feeds of social bookmarks from experts and the community, displayed alongside feeds from relevant bloggers.^[12]

Subscriptions and downloads[edit]

TechNet also provided access to Microsoft software ^[13] for evaluation purposes through the 'TechNet subscription' . The annual subscription provided trial-use-only software that was unlocked only so long as a subscription was maintained.^[14] The Standard subscription provided access to most of their software except specific enterprise-oriented software and included one collection of Microsoft E-learning. The Professional subscription was more expensive and provided access to all their software and included two free professional support calls and two collections of Microsoft E-learning.^[15]

On July 1, 2013, Microsoft announced the retirement of the TechNet Subscriptions service to focus on growing its free offerings, including evaluation resources through the TechNet Evaluation Center, expert-led learning through the Microsoft Virtual Academy, and community-moderated technical support through the TechNet Forums to better meet the needs of the growing IT professional community. The last day to purchase a TechNet Subscription was August 31, 2013. Subscribers could activate purchased subscriptions through September 30, 2013.

Microsoft announced an extended 90-days plan to help existing subscribers get used to the new situation.^[14]

TechNet Magazine[edit]

Founded in 2005, TechNet Magazine is a discontinued monthly print magazine that provided IT professionals, working with Microsoft technologies, information about planning, operating, and optimizing their systems. At the time it was discontinued, TechNet Magazine had a print circulation of about 100,000 readers in the US.^[16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Bott, Ed (1 July 2013). 'Microsoft to shut down TechNet subscription service'. ZDNet. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
2. ^kexugit. 'Welcome to docs.microsoft.com'. docs.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
3. ^Martin, John (27 August 2008). 'Microsoft is Planning Much More Than Just Social Bookmarking'. John Martin's Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 1 August 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
4. ^Schwartz, Jeffrey (May 29, 2008). 'Microsoft Revamps MSDN and TechNet'. Visual Studio Magazine. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
5. ^Trent, Rod (16 January 2014). 'Microsoft Security Bulletins and Advisories Merging with the TechNet Library'. Windows IT Pro. Penton. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
6. ^Jonathan Allen. MSDN/TechNet Being Replaced by Open Source Project docs.microsoft.com InfoQ News
7. ^João Carrasqueira. Microsoft is moving its OneDrive technical documentation to Microsoft Docs Neowin News
8. ^'Archived MSDN and TechNet Blogs'. docs.microsoft.com. 29 May 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
9. ^Price, Ed (8 April 2010). 'Wiki: About TechNet Wiki'. TechNet Wiki. Microsoft. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
10. ^Battalio, Eric (26 February 2010). 'Wiki: About'. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
11. ^Havenstein, Heather (August 22, 2008). 'Microsoft details plans for new social bookmarking tool'. Computerworld.
12. ^Martin, John (30 May 2008). 'New Social Bookmarking Feeds in MSDN Dev Centers'. John Martin's Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 8 March 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
13. ^'TechNet Downloads'. Microsoft. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
14. ^ ^ab'TechNet Subscriptions'. TechNet. Microsoft. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
15. ^'Compare Subscriptions'. TechNet. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012.
16. ^Fell, Jason (28 July 2009). '1105 Media to Publish Microsoft's MSDN, TechNet Magazines'. Folio. Retrieved 19 September 2018.

External links[edit]

• Official website (Archive)

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