DreamSpark

 One of the most exciting things I’ve seen to come out of Redmond is DreamSpark.

In a nutshell DreamSpark is a selection of enterprise level, pro standard development tools that students in HE and now high schools can download and use for FREE.

When you look at the list of tools available it truly is a mindblowing project:

Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
XNA Game Studio 2.0
Expression Studio, including
Expression Web
Expression Blend
Expression Design
Expression Media
SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
Windows Server Standard Edition

and 12-month free Academic membership in the XNA Creators Club

There’s even subsidised MTS Certification!

My school has just signed registered.. lets see how it goes!

Here’s Bill Gates on Microsoft Channel 8 discussing DreamSpark