Microsoft Student Partners

The Microsoft DreamSpark program provides students access to an awesome list of free Microsoft software and has just got better. Students now have access to free Microsoft Technology Specialist Exam vouchers to be used at Prometric test centers.

This is a limited offer and the voucher must be redeemed before June 30th 2009, so get in quick.

Additionally Microsoft has added several free e-books for download, along with access to the IT Academy program.

Learn more at www.dreamspark.com

Luke
Aussie MSP Lead
The University of Western Australia

Microsoft loves students. And they want students to have the best access to software and technology. For Microsoft software there is two main ways to do this.

1. DreamSpark – any university student has access to this, technology wise or otherwise
2. MSDN-AA – each university specifically signs up for this. Generally this is available only for Computing & Engineering students. The university can sign up for MSDN-AA on its own or to IT Academy with includes MSDN-AA.

The good news is both Curtin and UWA both have signed up for MSDN-AA.

MSDN-AA primarily works by allowing students to borrow DVDs of the software and installing it on their machine. For Curtin students you can get the media from ComSSA, and UWA students should ask at the CSSE reception desk.

ELMS for MSDN-AA is an addon for MSDN-AA which allows the students to download the software online, not just install off pre-burned media. UWA has signed up for this and if you are a Computer Science student you should have received an invite for you to register. Once you have registered you can download the software at http://msdn70.e-academy.com/au_37792

For more information, please contact ComSAA at comssa@lists.curtin.edu.au for Curtin students or go to http://web.csse.uwa.edu.au/school_and_systems_information/school_systems_information/downloads for UWA students.

A couple of students noted why bother if they can just pirate the software? I would say just for the easy of use. No worrying about keygens or serials, updates all work and any genuine advantage addons just work.

Luke
Aussie MSP Lead
The University of Western Australia

On Thursday and Friday last week, MSPs from all over Australia gathered at Microsoft’s Australian HQ for the Aussie MSP Summit 2009.

We were treated to two awesome days of presentations, workshops, gaming, food, prizes and plenty of free stuff.

Day 1 kicked off with some intros to awesome programs available to students such as DreamSpark, Imagine Cup, Students 2 Business, Microsoft Student Partners, MSDN-AA, Student Tech Clubs, Channel8 and more. Microsoft provided lunch with a chance to checkout some cool technologies in the cafeteria. The afternoon continued with presentations from Microsoft staff on Microsoft programs such as It’s Not Piracy, Microsoft Learning, MSPress, IT Academy, Imagine Cup and technologies such as Windows Live and Windows Mobile.

After a big first day, we all jumped into the bus and headed to the Great Northern Hotel for dinner and drinks.

Around 9pm we made it back to Microsoft Australia and went straight to the Xbox room. We were lucky to be able to play Halo Wars before its release along with other great games. Gears of War 2, Call of Duty and Forza seemed popular!

At the end of the night the MSPs were shocked to hear they would all be given Xbox 360s along with 4 games and an extra controller! Microsoft has gone out of their way to ensure when MSPs share their love of technology with the community, they can actually share it!

After a quick refresh on the previous days content, Day 2 started with a presentation from GP on where MSPs fit into the big picture at Microsoft. Michael Kordahi followed with an awesome presentation on the future of technology. Andrew Coates demonstrated Live Meeting and Nick Hodge presented on Microsoft’s Open Source program. Lunch was provided by the guys from Atomic Magazine who asked us to give away their magazines at our events… awesome for students all-round!

But one of the highlights for me, was each MSP getting up to present a 5 minute demo on stuff they are passionate about.

Of course there were prizes throughout the event, for the best questions and the most involvement from MSPs.

After  2 full days, MSPs headed back to their homes, Xbox under one arm, and various other loot under the other and heads full of ideas on how they can share their passion, excitement and love of technology with their fellow students.

In fact, some already have, such as Sean’s O-Week Presentation along with his post on new stuff added to DreamSpark.

All Aussie MSPs are fired up and equipped, so join us for an awesome 2009!

Luke
Aussie MSP Lead
The University of Western Australia

DreamSpark is now available to any university student who has an edu.au E-mail address.

DreamSpark is a program that gives university students access to 100% free software, including Window Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 along with others.

DreamSpark together with the It’s Not Cheating program empowers students to reach their potential with awesome free tools.

Even better, very soon all TAFE students will also have access to DreamSpark. Watch this space!

Luke
Australian MSP Lead
UWA

Sporting a new look website and integration into more universities (including those slow-to-integrate ones, like UWA), Dreamspark 2.0 also brings with it an updated set of software suites, now providing:

• Windows Server 2008
• Visual Studio 2008 Professional (2005 also available)
• SQL Server 2008 Developer
• Expression Studio 2
• XNA Creators Club – 12 month subscription (via Game Studio 2.0 but don’t forget to check out 3.0!)

Dreamspark 2.0 - new look website

Shibboleth to the rescue! (UWA login)

Tip for UWA students: Login with your student number and library password (i.e. card barcode), hopefully the interface will become somewhat more user friendly as we progress. For those who really care, UWA are using Shibboleth.

In case you missed it, XNA Game Studio 3.0 has now gone live!

The biggest feature of course if the ability to create games and distribute them through Xbox Live Community Games.

Remember, as a student you can get access to XNA Game Studio free of charge through DreamSpark!

Luke
UWA MSP

Microsoft Tech.Ed Student Day is coming up on this Tuesday 2nd of September in Sydney!

If you are a student and haven’t already registered, go to this page and register for FREE today.

The Student Day will be comprised of two sessions and includes the launch of Dreamspark in Australia, the Microsoft program giving students free Microsoft software such as Visual Studio 2008 Professional.

WA MSPs Luke and Oren will both be at Tech.Ed so we hope to see you there!

Luke
UWA MSP 

Straight from the grapevine it looks like great things are coming for Semester 2! Apart form the launch of Dreamspark (coming soon!) we are in early stages of preperation for a developer oriented event at UWA.

As usual there’ll be heaps of free giveaways and aawesome prizes to pick up – so make sure to stay tuned for more details!

Got suggestions? Questions? Anything else? Feel free to leave a comment below…

In what can only be described as “it’s about time” DreakSpark is set to land in Australia on September 2^th during the Australian Tech. Ed 2008 (Sydney) Student Day.

What do I get with DreamSpark?

DreamSpark currently contains:

• Visual Studio 2008 Professional
• Windows Server 2003 Standard Version
• Expression Studio
• XNA Game Studio 2.0 (+ Creators Club)

So what’s so great about DreamSpark you ask?

Yup, you get all the software it comes with via MSDN-AA anyway – but there are two big differences:

1. The license is unencumbered so you can use it for profit
2. XNA Creators Club! Perfect for those with Xboxs (and Zunes soon) the Creators Club grants you access to exclusive content and the ability to develop and debug games directly on the Xbox (but you already know that of course, because you attended game camp!)

It’s nice to (finally) see DreamSpark make it’s way down South – we’ll keep you posted as more information roles in!

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Feb. 18, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates today will unveil a software giveaway that will ultimately provide millions of college and high school students around the world with access to the latest Microsoft developer and designer tools at no charge to unlock their creative potential and set them on the path to academic and career success.

The Microsoft DreamSpark student program (http://channel8.msdn.com) makes available, at no charge, a broad range of development and design software for download. The program is now available to more than 35 million college students in Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. Broad global coverage, as well as an expansion of the program to high school students around the world, potentially reaching up to 1 billion students worldwide, will continue throughout the next year. Gates will share details with students and faculty at Stanford University as part of a U.S. and Canada college tour that kicks off today.

“We want to do everything we can to equip a new generation of technology leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to harness the magic of software to improve lives, solve problems and catalyze economic growth,” Gates said. “Microsoft DreamSpark provides professional-level tools that we hope will inspire students to explore the power of software and encourage them to forge the next wave of software-driven breakthroughs.”

Click here for the entire article.

Unfortunately Australian students won’t have access until around the middle of this year, your local MSP will be able to tell you more closer to the release date. Until then, there have been reports that students with an International Student ID can register and start benefiting from the free software right away.