Well, Microsoft has recently started a program called - DreamSpark.
It is simple, it's all about giving students Microsoft
professional-level developer and design tools at no charge so that they
can chase their dreams and create the next big breakthrough in
technology - or just get a head start in their career.
Please
note that the program is open only for Students!! Also the program is
open for students from the following countries only: United States, the
United Kingdom, Canada, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and Belgium.
The list of softwares that they can download for free are as follows:
- Expression Studio
- Sql Server 2005 Express
- Sql Server Developer Edition
- Virtual PC 2007
- Visual Basic 2005
- Visual C++ 2005
- Visual C# 2005
- Visual J# 2005
- Visual Studio 2008 Professional
- Visual Web Developer 2005
- Visual Studio 2005 Professional
- Windows Server 2003
- XNA Game Studio
This is how you can download:
- Sign In with your Windows Live ID. If you don't have one, go get one. Pretty basic stuff.
- Get
verified as a student. The system is linked to schools and
organizations around the world that can confirm student status. Simply
choose your country and school, enter your info and hit submit. - Download
your products. Now remember these are professional tools. This means
they are pretty big files so make sure you have the bandwidth and space
to bring them to your machine.