Being a SDN Top Contributor has some benefits. You get the chance to influence the direction our Community is going. Two years ago I was asked in a survey if I would pay for the service I get from the SAP Community network. As far as I can remember I suggested: "Keep the Content as free as possible". But be open for value added services. Talking to some SDNers, I learned about a new program coming up on the SDN. A subscription program for NetWeaver. It seems to be a result of the initiative started two years ago which I was able to influence.
What does the SDN Subscription Program provide
Today you already can download most of the NetWeaver Stack in the SDN Download Area. But mostly that software only runs for a limited time after that you have to reinstall. That's not a solution for a professional developer or 3rd party software vendor. With the SDN Subscription Program you will get the latest NetWeaver Stack including NWDI, BI, SAP Master Data Management (SAP MDM) - EIM - SAP Developer Networkand much more is shipped to your desk, but also available for download. You have a license to install this software your developer machine and also on a development, test and evaluation server. Use for production is not allowed.
In addition to the Software you will get Access the Enterprise Services Workplace Systems. If you're a subscriber you can access the SAP Service Marketplace to search for SAP Notes and also create OSS Messages. And that's not all. You get authorizations for the Premium Access Zone where recorded sessions from the last TechEd are available for download.
Last but not least members of the SDN Subscription Program will have a special Icon in the SDN Forums because they can award more than the standard 10, 6 or 2 points.
My opinion
As already said in the teaser: Freelancers, small and medium Software Vendors will have the chance to get a development environment with support and great additional content for a reasonable price. I think you can compare the SDN Subscription to the MSDN Subscription. The Prices for the SDN NetWeaver subscription program seem to be in a similar range as the MSDN Premium and MSDN Professional edition.
You can register to be notified when developer software subscriptions for the SAP NetWeaver platform are available:
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/webcontent/uuid/10474948-182f-2a10-c9a8-a2cf98...
