Filed under: Microsoft
Microsoft extends DreamSpark freebies to high school students

Microsoft's DreamSpark program, which has been providing a veritable truckload of awesome (and extremely expensive) software to college students for some time, has been expanded so that students in grade 9 through 12 can now take advantage of it as well.
Unlike the university program, student's aren't required to register personally. A school administrator registers and is given product keys which are provided to the students - who can then download the programs by signing in to DreamSpark with their Windows Live IDs.
It's an excellent opportunity for aspiring young developers to get their hands on some quality software at a price that can't be beat.
[ via LiveSide ]
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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Thunderbuck said 12:31PM on 4-01-2009
I like DreamSpark, though my warm feelings are tempered a bit by privacy concerns.
In most instances, Microsoft wants significant data access to student rolls at participating institutions. It's also a bit tricky to authenticate yourself if you don't attend a participating school (though, to be fair, MS allows you to use an International Student Identification Card--not THAT hard to get if you're a post-secondary student pretty much anywhere).
The bottom line is that they provide free access to their pro-level development tools to students. EVERYONE should do this.
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James said 3:58PM on 4-01-2009
Heh, "Hey kid, wanna try some Visual Studio? Get you codin' *real* fast. First one's free!"
Seriously, though, I think the program is great. My wife is actually thinking of taking graphic design courses at the local community college, because the courses are much much cheaper than actually buying a license for Expression Studio, and she just wants to play with it to learn...
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