I have come across a lot of posts on many Indian forums where they say Microsoft is giving away free software but that is NOT valid for India which kind of annoys me but as it turns out, Indian students are also eligible to free software, yes you read it correctly - free.
There are 2 ways by which you can eligible for this:
- Enroll into the MSP program, ie. the Microsoft Student program.
- Become an IEEE member, which most engineering students do.
The software that you are entitled to under both these programs are pretty much the same.
Details of the Microsoft Student Partner program are -
Free goodies that you are entitled to:
- MSDN subscription.
- Vista(Business Edition)
- Resource DVDs
- Books
The eligibility criteria for this is:
- Over 17 years of age.
- Bachelor’s/Master’s Degree student at an officially recognized University/college.
- Studying a full time course at the University/college.
How to enroll:
You need to give an exam which includes a written test & group discussion. The written test will test you on your Analytical Ability, Verbal Ability, C Programming & Computer Science concepts.
Other benefits:
- Exclusive MSP Boot-camps conducted by Microsoft
- Rewards & Recognition for top performers
- Networking opportunities
- Technical training & resources
- Microsoft events
- Interactions with MVPs & Microsoft Employees
- Internship opportunities at MS and partners
- Recruitment opportunities at MS and partners
More Details on MSP Website.
Details of the IEEE program are -
Free goodies that you are entitled to:
- Vista Business Edition
- Visual Studio Team System
- Expression Web Designer
- Project 2007
- Visio 2007
- Windows Server 2003
The eligibility criteria for this is:
- Your institute must be a part of the IEEE-Microsoft IEEE program.
- You should be an IEEE member.
- You should belong to the respective department. Off course you can navigate this.
To check whether your institute is part of the program, head here. Enter the city & country and check the list.
Once you sign for this offer, consult your college professors for it you will be provided with your log in credentials which you will use on the Software Centre page of your college.
Other benefits:
Some more crappy IEEE benefits that are well, really useless and crappy. More details.
~Have fun!
October 20th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
thanks very good
October 21st, 2008 at 12:29 am
You went for the MSP thing? I did. Results on 28th.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:27 am
Nope, I didn’t go. All the best.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:06 am
Great info brother..
October 21st, 2008 at 10:26 am
Think about it .Why is microsoft trying to give “free software”?
The below reasons are hypothetical.
1) Gets all the young engineers hooked to MS$
Example i asked a cs student to do an open source project for the final year and all the students wanted to work on ASP.
2) M$ will only do things to benefit their company in the long run.
why india? They tried it in china but could not enter the market.
Will this make students more employable
How many had to learn vb then change to vb.net
Now if they had learnt python,ruby,perl they would have an edge after then finish college.And would have a better edge if they were linux gurus .
Spread the word…..
October 21st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
There is nothing wrong with MS giving away free software to anyone. How can someone have a better edge if they know about an OS that is hardly existent?
And who is stopping them from learning any of that stuff?
As a student I want to learn about Python, I do it, I want to learn about Microsoft products which are most widely used, I want to obtain them at a discount and MS provides them to me. I’m happy and feel glad about the offer.
Learn VB and then change to VB.Net? How many had to learn CRT technology and then had to change to Plasma or LCD?
How many had to learn BJTs and then switch to SMDs?
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 am
It not about “stopping” people from learning stuff.
What do most cs colleges teach students? propriety technology like ASP. why not php/perl/python?
For that answer we need to look back a few years when M$ bill gates visited india . What did he sign with the education department?
There is nothing wrong with MS giving away free software to anyone.But they do it for a reason.And that reason
How can someone have a better edge if they know about an OS that is hardly existent?
Again it related to why the education department does not have linux in all courses. And why is it not promoted by the government instead of using and OS with so many security holes .
1. MSDN subscription. (money for an online knowledge base which should be free ?)
2. Vista(Business Edition)
Hasent vista been rejected by most businesses ?
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Once you sign for this offer, consult your college professors for it you will be provided with your log in credentials which you will use on the Software Centre page of your college.
The consulting college professors is the tough bit.
Btw- there’s another means of getting free M$ software- Join the IEEE Computer society. I haven’t had the time or inclination to look it up properly, but I believe you can bypass the college professors with this one (this point is probably a deal breaker for some of us folks;-)
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:59 pm
This link might help- http://www2.computer.org/portal/web/students/
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Interesting.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 pm
@Sam, did Gates tell them to teach only Microsoft technologies? Can you link me to some textual proof?
Which company does not give promotional products, there are many industrial software that are given to students at discounts/free/evaluation versions for their academic purposes.
And it’s not only Vista business edition have a look at their entire list, it’s exhaustive list of some awesome niche software used by developers.
Microsoft is not forcing anything on you. If you’re a student and are interested in Microsoft technologies they are giving it to you for free. They are not holding a gun to anyone’s head and saying take it for free.