Free Software From…Microsoft!

Microsoft, and free software? Free software and Microsoft? Microsoft offering software for free? Come on, today it's not the 1st of April! Humm... today, it seems it's not about Microsoft having something wicked prepared for the free software world, but about offering free access to some of its huge commercial software portofolio. Sounds awesome, don't you think?


Microsoft's new program, called DreamSpark, allows students in United States, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (more to follow, in the near future) to use for free a wide range of commercial applications from the Redmond Giant, including Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft Expression Studio, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003!

While this action from Microsoft may be fueled by the need to face the free software community, as well as various competitors offering similar programs for students and non-commercial users, Microsoft's senior director of academic initiative, Joe Wilson, says it's all about helping the young prepare for their future careers, but I am sure improving the company's image is also a goal (nothing wrong with it, from my point of view).

"Microsoft puts a whole lot of effort in reaching out to college students. I think the main benefit that Microsoft gets is that it defuses some of the negative impressions that college students sometimes have of Microsoft.", said Greg DeMichallie, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft.

These being said, we should see what happens in the long run, but if you're a student, I am sure you'll be very pleased to find out that expensive software products just came within your reach.

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