DreamSpark

I am a big believer in enabling easy access to technology for students so that they have the necessary tools and training as they get ready to be the next generation leaders in the world.

I’m very excited about a program that we just announced, Microsoft DreamSpark, that makes professional-level developer and design tools available to students around the world at no charge, to support and advance their learning and skills through technical design, technology, math, science and engineering activities. This program equips tomorrow’s leaders with the professional tools to inspire and create today.

The software that is included in this program includes Microsoft Developer tools such as Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, and XNA Game Studio 2.0. It also includes our tools targeted at Designers with the full Expression Studio. And lastly, it includes our platform resources including SQL Server 2005 and Windows Server, providing a security-enhanced and reliable environment for students to more quickly turn ideas into reality.

Technology has the power to transform education, foster local innovation and enable jobs and economic growth for everyone. Microsoft DreamSpark is just another way of helping this next generation of young leaders seize the opportunity to change the world.

If you are a student, I encourage you to take advantage of this program. Visit Channel8 for more information and to access these tools.

Namaste!

Comments

• Anonymous
  February 20, 2008
  I am very happy to see Microsoft doing this, I think helping young people have all the options so they can make the best decisions and grow through first hand experiences is the way to go. I was reading this on Slashdot the other day and was just sickened by the amount of negative criticism and Microsoft Bashing. No matter what MS does people hate it :(.

• Anonymous
  February 20, 2008
  I'm hardly what you could call a Microsoft evangelist, but I love that they've decided to help the academic community with this program.  As a student myself, it's nice to see that the same company who provides me with reduced-cost operating systems and office programs has decided to do the same (only better) with their dev tools; as a computer science student, it means all the more to me. For once in my life, I can say "Kudos to Microsoft" and not feel like I'm joking.

• Anonymous
  February 20, 2008
  Hi Soma . . . It would be a great idea to transform Visual Studio into a true rapid application environment by including a native data centric language similar to Visual FoxPro. Lets give these student easy access to the tools needed to  build reusable middle tier business objects instead of mingling data codes in the UI. Soma, sieze the moment to have your developers build web form ui controls with native 2 way data binding and a class browser that has the ability inherit UI controls without having to write unnecessary code. I have seen too many promises of .NET give way to the brutal reality of  just how .BLOATED this immature technology is. Our students deserve the same opportunity that Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro developers had. With the right planning and motivation, Yes We Can, Spark their dream. Mark

• Anonymous
  February 20, 2008
  This is good,I hope students make use of this. I remember I used to work on CTP's and Express edition's of VS and wished I had the full arsenal of VS.

• Anonymous
  February 20, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 21, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 21, 2008
  When MSFT quit VB 6 development my company cut back on VB developers and outsourced .NET programming to India.  If this is how you enable economic growth stop before we are all out of a job. Thanks M$FT for destroying my dream!

• Anonymous
  February 22, 2008
  You blog is listed on dotbloat. I support the petition to continue support of Visual Basic 6 and Foxpro. Dont VB and VFP developers matter to your company?

• Anonymous
  February 22, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 23, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 24, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 06, 2008
  Hi Soma, I'm from a research team at Infosys and am writing a series of posts making a case for DSM and the Software Factory approach. Was just trying to give a new angle to the whole idea of "software reusability" based on that.. would like to hear your views on that.  Here's the link.. http://infosysblogs.com/microsoft/2008/03/a_refactorability_approach_to.html#more Some of my older posts in the series are here.. http://infosysblogs.com/microsoft/software_factory Thanks.

• Anonymous
  April 14, 2008
  [原文发表地址] DreamSpark - an inspirational example [原文发表时间] Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:27 AM 几周前 , 我们公布了

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2008
  Nice Blogs... really very informative.

• Anonymous
  October 20, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 20, 2008
  Sorry...  Typo... SilverLight is currently supported in VS 2008 Standard (and up), just not Express.  The end result is the same.

• Anonymous
  October 25, 2008
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 05, 2009
  Publicación del inglés original : Viernes, 19 de diciembre de 2008 20:34 PST por Somasegar Coincidiendo

• Anonymous
  January 06, 2009
  Hi Dear. My Question is: DreamSpark could be available for independent users what not are updated with the market of Work? Greetings

• Anonymous
  October 22, 2009
  DreamSpark is definitely not designed for parents who are interested in discovering whether their child(ren)s school is currently enrolled. I would like to be able to find this information without having to go to the school to ask.  My 13 year old step-son could probably give the designers of the site a few tips (seriously, I'm not trying to be obnoxious).  More information needs to be available at all levels.