Chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology
That's right, Microsoft wants to give you a head start on your professional career by giving students free access to a wide range of its developer software as part of its DreamSpark program.
DreamSpark, currently operating in the following 11 countries; Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, offers students the following software free of charge:
- Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
- Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
- XNA Game Studio 2.0
- 12-month free membership in the XNA Creators Club
- Expression Studio, which includes Expression Web, Expression Blend, Expression Design and Expression Media
- SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
- Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
- SQL Server Developer Edition
- Virtual PC 2007
- Visual Basic 2005
- Visual C++ 2005
- Visual C# 2005
- Visual J# 2005
- Visual Web Developer 2005
That's a whole lot of software, and believe me, the retail prices aren't cheap! Maybe Microsoft's soon-to-retire chairman, Bill Gates, is getting a little soft as he prepares to step down later this year. Here's what Mr Gates had to say about the program:
All you need to do to get your hands on the free software is have a Windows Live ID and verify yourself as a student once every 12 months. Better still, you can do all this at Microsoft's DreamSpark website.
Go forth students, get your free software and design our programs of the future.
Official DreamSpark website: downloads.channel8.msdn.com
