Edward,
I pay for my own TechNet subscription/renewal. On top of memberships, magazines, software, tools, and services that make my work/life easier. An MSDN subscription that would give me access to a similar product library would be a huge chunk out of my take-home pay. It's never going to happen.
$200, 300, even 400 dollars for something that is core to my work or career development, I will find the money. I pay for my own books and training too.
VMware and MS are taking the same tack: get your employer to pony up the big bucks, or we cut you off.
Sadly, I ponied up a lot of big bucks for VMware training, and my demo environment expired at 5pm on Friday, the last day of class. Thank you for the $5K, now go download the expiring demo.