Shahid Online - Tech Corner

...for students OK. A lot of people knocking off Microsoft and looking at open source software mainly because of their high prices. I'm not too sure when Microsoft started off this move. But, for some time now they have made a selection of their software freely available for students. This is available as Microsoft DreamSpark . Getting hold of the software will involve a process of verifying you are a student. While this may not include all the necessary software (such as Office) there are a number of websites which sell Microsoft software at discounted rates for students and families. The most noteworthy is Software4Students . Non-student developers, like myself, need not worry as Microsoft has made available Visual Studio Express Editions (as separate packages) so we don't lose out on Visual Studio and SQL Server. Alternatively, there is an open source development tool SharpDevelop which is a decent alternative to Visual Studio allowing you to develop .NET apps as well ...

In preparation for the next release of Microsoft's RIA , Silverlight 2 has been rolled off from Beta into the first Release Candidate. Silverlight 2 Release Candidate 0 Developer Runtime edition has been made available since last Thursday. The browser plugin is still in Beta, though. Based on the .NET Framework, Silverlight is intended to be an alternative to Flex for those developing web-based applications. Still tight-lipped about the product release date, rumour has it that Silverlight will be released in the first week of October. The final release of Silverlight will feature improved "default control template skins" which can be tweaked using Microsoft Expression Blend. The download, along with other tools are available from the Silverlight website. Source: Visual Studio Magazine

OK, it may not be Open Source.  But, as a follow up to Microsoft's success in providing Free .Net development tools for the Windows operating system, they are gearing up for the next version. Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions Beta 2. This Beta release really wows you with the future of the development tools, which lets you develop for Windows, the Web, Games, Hardware and Databases. Check it out at: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/express/future/ Blogged with Flock