So TechED Sydney is over and I now have the time to post about the big announcement for students that came out of the event. On Tuesday Microsoft held TechEd Student Day, a free day for students to come along and sit in on a series of presentations geared towards students, TechEd style.

Aside from that, every University student who attended the University half of the day received 4 DVDs full of free software, ready for use. Now if you could not attend this event, do not fret, this is all available for you as well (if you are a student), however you need to download it for yourself.

Head to https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/ and Sign In with your Windows Live ID, and then verify your student status and you can get your keys and downloads for all the software listed. This includes:

• Visual Studio 2008 Pro
• Visual Studio 2005 Pro
• Windows Server 2003 Standard
• SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
• Microsoft Expression Studio
• 12 Month XNA Creators Club Trial
• XNA Game Studio 2.0
• Virtual PC 2007 (Great for use with Windows Server 2003)

Grab the downloads, grab the keys, and start making cool things with this free software. Anything you make can be distributed with a non-commercial license, so get to it!

I have been a Microsoft Student Partner since the beginning of this year, and in conjunction with the other MSP at UTS,(Chris Webster) have been planning a large event for this semester.

Recently we decided that the best thing to do was to give a talk on the ways you can get free (or cheap) software from Microsoft as a student.

The time has finally arrived.

How to get Free (and cheap) stuff from Microsoft

Slides and content will be available after the presentation, although probably only late night or next day due to a late lecture. :P

If you intend to come to the event, head to the website there and register your interest so we can get an idea of numbers.

Remember, not only do you take away the methods of gaining free software, but you also take away a bag of goodies and have the chance of winning a lucky door prize!

If you are a student attending UTS, then visit the new UTS MSP website and watch it for details on promotions and events that we are running. Some great stuff will happen and you do not want to miss it! :D

http://www.utsmsp.com

To help celebrate the launch of Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft is holding a competition that is open to all.

To win some really awesome prizes, you just need to create and submit a 10 minute or less video demo of one of the new technologies being launched. So that could be C#3.0 or LINQ, or anything else related to the products launched at the Heroes Happen Here 2008 launch event.

The comp runs from the beginning of April (it's started!) until September, and is open to everyone.

You can get more details as well as a registration form at http://www.microsoft.com/australia/heroes/community.aspx.

It is pretty simple, just create a small demo, put it online using Silverlight Streaming, complete the registration form and send it in.

If you are a part of a group you have a higher chance of making the national finals because 3 demos from at least 2 people in a group (User group etc) will go through, whilst only 30 random demos will be chosen by Microsoft if they are alone.

So find some other people making demos, choose your best and send them off!

If you win in the national finals, you get a Media Center PC, a trip to Tech Ed 2009 in LA, and a copy of Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite, WITH a MSDN Premium subscription! All for a 10 minute demo.

(There seems to be issues with the website at the time of writing, but I have assurances it will be resolved ASAP)

As of now (well a couple of days ago) DreamSpark has been available to students in a number of major countries around the world. It is a great program that empowers students to work with technology without being restricted by finances.

What is DreamSpark?

DreamSpark is free software. It is a program where if you are a student and can verify that (usually with a Uni email address), then you can get a ton of free professional development and design tools from Microsoft.

What is included?

• Visual Studio 2005 Pro
• Visual Studio 2008 Pro
• Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
• SQL Server 2005 Development Edition
• Expression Studio
• XNA Game Studio 2.0
• 12-month subscription to XNA Creators Club

These are available alongside the already free Express editions and MS Virtual PC, all perfect to get into developing for a wide range of platforms, including the Xbox 360! (requires the Creators Club subscription)

Go to the DreamSpark Website and follow the instructions there to get your free stuff. Countries and Universities are being added all the time, so if you aren't able to get in now, check later. Or better yet, talk to your University about getting into this.

More...

If you are a student studying at University or TAFE in Australia, you can get Microsoft Office 2007 for only $75. If you are in a uni/TAFE course, its almost guaranteed you will need to write up reports/essays. So why not take advantage of an awesome offer.

If you are a student of one of the institutions listed at http://store.digitalriver.com/store/msshau/ContentTheme/pbPage.universities then you can take advantage of this offer. Just make sure you have an email address with the Uni/TAFE as well!

Click that link to take advantage of this great deal!

If you and your Uni uses Endnote, ensure you have Endnote X1, which has built in support (may need a reinstall) for Office 2007.

MS Office 2007 Ultimate includes:

• Word 2007
• Excel 2007
• PowerPoint 2007
• InfoPath 2007
• Groove 2007
• OneNote 2007
• Publisher 2007
• Outlook 2007

You can get these in one of two forms:

• 'Perpetual' (Permanent) license for $75
• 1 Year license for $25

Both of these provide all of the above, and for $14 more you can get mailed to you a backup Trial disk which you just enter your key into to activate.

If you already have one from an orientation day or MIX On Campus 2007 (or other) then you can use that trial, or even if you have the bandwidth, download the trial from the blazing fast Microsoft Servers.

You can then take the $1000 you save and put it into a CANVAS card http://www.mycanvascard.com.au/ or a trip to Contiki! 

Take advantage of this offer and make the most of your Degree! :)