Don't get me started on that one! As a contractor/freelancer myself in the Microsoft space, I feel that MS have royally screwed us. We used to have Technet (for

Don't get me started on that one! As a contractor/freelancer myself in the Microsoft space, I feel that MS have royally screwed us. We used to have Technet (for approx 200GBP pa) which allowed us access to proper business versions of OSs and other applications complete with a handful of serial numbers. They then took Technet away and told us to just use the 90 or 180 day 'trial' versions of stuff. Not everything is available as a trial, and to be honest, if you are simulating a complex environment in a lab, the last thing you want to do is completely rebuild it every few months. The only other option (for me anyway) is to continually sub to MSDN platforms ( approx 1800GBP pa) ... it sucks.