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Ric_Knight · 05-19-2008, 12:00 AM

If your are a university student Microsoft has two programs that you should know about. The first one, The Ultimate Steal, is on hiatus until August but it will be well worth the wait. By going to The Ultimate Steal you can join a waiting list to be informed when the program starts again. What it provides is a copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition (they are fond of "Ultimate" in this series of program updates), about $680 regualr price, for $59.99.

Ultimate Edition includes Access 2007, Accounting Express 2008, Excel 2007, InfoPath 2007, Groove 2007, OneNote 2007, Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager, PowerPoint 2007, Publisher 2007 and Word 2007. You must be varified as a student at a post secondary school in order to take advantage of this program, but once you are you will be saving about 90% on the street price of the suite.

I took advantage of the first run of this program and I am glad I did. It would be cool if they offered something similier for the Mac suite, but for us Windows users it is the Ultimate Steal.

For programming and web development students the Dream Spark program https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/ is even more exiciting. Microsoft is giving away almost every development suite they produce for programing and development, including Expression Studio, Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition and Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition. Again, you must go through a verification process in order to download the programs.

Both of these programs are part of Bill Gates' and Microsoft's comitment to education. If you are a student at a US university, you should look into these programs.

Bernardakins · 05-19-2008, 12:06 AM

Thanks for this bit of advice! I had heard of this earlier, but I didn't know where to find out more about it or what it was called. I'm going to college in the fall and it's going to be really expensive so every bit counts! I'm normally a fan of Open Office, but at that price, I might just try it...

Ric_Knight · 05-19-2008, 02:29 AM

A lot of people I know use OpenOffice, and I have tried it out myself, but I just perfer the Microsoft product. The new ribbion control bar is an advancement, in my openion, that makes using the program much easier to use.

Corrine · 05-19-2008, 03:02 AM

It is taking me a while to get used to the Ribbon. I'm sure part of the reason is that we're just upgrading to Office 2003 at work. I am definitely trying to give it a chance though.

Redline · 05-19-2008, 08:30 AM

Open Office is decent, but it cannot quite match up to the quality and functionality of the far more expensive Office. The price of the Ultimate Steal is extremely nice, but I get Office for free through some MS connections, so it doesn't make much of a difference for me.

Dream Spark is awesome though. Free dev tools ftw.

Sheerdal · 05-19-2008, 07:44 PM

Yeah Dream spark has been my life saver. It is a really nice Program there are also some other channels besides Channel 8 that have a lot of good info in them such as Channel 10

Home | Channel 10

and

Mix is also a fun place to go

MIX | MIX Online

But Dreamspark has the software...

JackalsNose · 05-19-2008, 11:13 PM

Or...you could get Office 2007 for free from most universities...ok, maybe it's not "Ultimate" or whatever but it still suits my purposes fine.

You could also develop on free software like Dev-C++ and Eclipse. Makes your wallet feel better and functions like a dream for the true coder. A small disclaimer would be that I have never actually had any experience with Microsoft development tools, because I'm too cheap for all of that and free things just work so good.

Ric_Knight · 05-19-2008, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackalsNose

Or...you could get Office 2007 for free from most universities...ok, maybe it's not "Ultimate" or whatever but it still suits my purposes fine.

You could also develop on free software like Dev-C++ and Eclipse. Makes your wallet feel better and functions like a dream for the true coder. A small disclaimer would be that I have never actually had any experience with Microsoft development tools, because I'm too cheap for all of that and free things just work so good.

I had heard that, but it was $35 for Professonial Plus at my university (Which I bought just prior to the start of the first Ultimate Steal promotion) instead of being free. Still not a bad deal, but when this chance poped up, I went for anyway.

The Dreamspark stuff is cool, but the only program I really "needed" was the Expressions Studio because I wanted to know how it works. I use the Adobe Suite for school and work, but I am always asked about cheaper programs by other students and student groups and I figured I need to make a knowledgable suggestion.

Sheerdal · 05-20-2008, 06:04 PM

Yeah Dreamspark is golden for me because I installed Server 2003 and then added SQL Server 2005 for one of my Databases classes Then I used the Visual Studio to design some of my front end Apps. I have been using now to do some side programing projects such as Gadgets for the Vista Sidebar and trying to get things going in that regard. Overall I take full advantage of the program the only thing I haven't gotten to really dive into is the Expression Suite. Is that like Fireworks? Dreamweaver?

Vipralion · 05-21-2008, 01:48 AM

YES!!!! DreamSpark has been great for me!

I was particularly interested in Expression Studio and actually almost bought Expression Web about a month before DreamSpark was announced. Very glad that I didn't.

What I wasn't expecting was to get as much use out of Visual Studio 2008 as I have. I have it set to web developer mode but that hasn't stopped me from attempting to develop some games for my Zune though XNA. I really want to learn so much more about C# first though but need to slide that in between school work. But when I need, the XNA Studio Connect license will be there for me when I want to start porting over to Xbox 360. I really love Microsoft. You can tell by all the products I've tied myself to. :P

My real dilemma now that money and the software isn't an issue, is what to learn first? I'm really really wanting to learn Silverlight as well as C# and XNA but there's only so much time and just one of me!!

--

And to answer Sheerdal's question, Expression Studio is Web, Blend, Design, Media, and Encoder which could be seen as the Microsoft equivalents to Adobe's Dreamweaver, umm... I guess I would say Fireworks for Blend, Photoshop/Illustrator (but not really) for Design, and the last two match the two different programs in CS3. Can never remember all of the program names from CS3... hehe.

Anyway, definitely the software suite to go with if you're developing with Silverlight and .NET otherwise you can go with either Expression or CS3 for web development. Expression Web 2 brings support for PHP so things are going good!

05-19-2008, 12:00 AM	#1 (permalink)
Ric_Knight Status: Junior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 25	The Ultimate Steal & Dream Spark If your are a university student Microsoft has two programs that you should know about. The first one, The Ultimate Steal, is on hiatus until August but it will be well worth the wait. By going to The Ultimate Steal you can join a waiting list to be informed when the program starts again. What it provides is a copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition (they are fond of "Ultimate" in this series of program updates), about $680 regualr price, for $59.99. Ultimate Edition includes Access 2007, Accounting Express 2008, Excel 2007, InfoPath 2007, Groove 2007, OneNote 2007, Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager, PowerPoint 2007, Publisher 2007 and Word 2007. You must be varified as a student at a post secondary school in order to take advantage of this program, but once you are you will be saving about 90% on the street price of the suite. I took advantage of the first run of this program and I am glad I did. It would be cool if they offered something similier for the Mac suite, but for us Windows users it is the Ultimate Steal. For programming and web development students the Dream Spark program https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/ is even more exiciting. Microsoft is giving away almost every development suite they produce for programing and development, including Expression Studio, Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition and Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition. Again, you must go through a verification process in order to download the programs. Both of these programs are part of Bill Gates' and Microsoft's comitment to education. If you are a student at a US university, you should look into these programs.

05-19-2008, 12:06 AM	#2 (permalink)
Bernardakins Status: Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Kansas Posts: 42	Thanks for this bit of advice! I had heard of this earlier, but I didn't know where to find out more about it or what it was called. I'm going to college in the fall and it's going to be really expensive so every bit counts! I'm normally a fan of Open Office, but at that price, I might just try it... Last edited by Bernardakins; 05-19-2008 at 02:38 AM.

05-19-2008, 11:13 PM	#7 (permalink)
JackalsNose Status: Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Durham, NC Posts: 32	Or...you could get Office 2007 for free from most universities...ok, maybe it's not "Ultimate" or whatever but it still suits my purposes fine. You could also develop on free software like Dev-C++ and Eclipse. Makes your wallet feel better and functions like a dream for the true coder. A small disclaimer would be that I have never actually had any experience with Microsoft development tools, because I'm too cheap for all of that and free things just work so good. __________________ -Bob Adams North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics '08 Kettering University '13

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05-19-2008, 02:29 AM	#3 (permalink)
Ric_Knight Status: Junior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 25	A lot of people I know use OpenOffice, and I have tried it out myself, but I just perfer the Microsoft product. The new ribbion control bar is an advancement, in my openion, that makes using the program much easier to use.

05-19-2008, 03:02 AM	#4 (permalink)
Corrine Status: Junior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 18	It is taking me a while to get used to the Ribbon. I'm sure part of the reason is that we're just upgrading to Office 2003 at work. I am definitely trying to give it a chance though.

05-19-2008, 08:30 AM	#5 (permalink)
Redline Status: Junior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 7	Open Office is decent, but it cannot quite match up to the quality and functionality of the far more expensive Office. The price of the Ultimate Steal is extremely nice, but I get Office for free through some MS connections, so it doesn't make much of a difference for me. Dream Spark is awesome though. Free dev tools ftw.

05-19-2008, 07:44 PM	#6 (permalink)
Sheerdal Status: Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Florida Posts: 34	Yeah Dream spark has been my life saver. It is a really nice Program there are also some other channels besides Channel 8 that have a lot of good info in them such as Channel 10 Home \| Channel 10 and Mix is also a fun place to go MIX \| MIX Online But Dreamspark has the software...

05-20-2008, 06:04 PM	#9 (permalink)
Sheerdal Status: Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Florida Posts: 34	Yeah Dreamspark is golden for me because I installed Server 2003 and then added SQL Server 2005 for one of my Databases classes Then I used the Visual Studio to design some of my front end Apps. I have been using now to do some side programing projects such as Gadgets for the Vista Sidebar and trying to get things going in that regard. Overall I take full advantage of the program the only thing I haven't gotten to really dive into is the Expression Suite. Is that like Fireworks? Dreamweaver?

05-21-2008, 01:48 AM	#10 (permalink)
Vipralion Status: Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: SD, United States Posts: 71	YES!!!! DreamSpark has been great for me! I was particularly interested in Expression Studio and actually almost bought Expression Web about a month before DreamSpark was announced. Very glad that I didn't. What I wasn't expecting was to get as much use out of Visual Studio 2008 as I have. I have it set to web developer mode but that hasn't stopped me from attempting to develop some games for my Zune though XNA. I really want to learn so much more about C# first though but need to slide that in between school work. But when I need, the XNA Studio Connect license will be there for me when I want to start porting over to Xbox 360. I really love Microsoft. You can tell by all the products I've tied myself to. :P My real dilemma now that money and the software isn't an issue, is what to learn first? I'm really really wanting to learn Silverlight as well as C# and XNA but there's only so much time and just one of me!! -- And to answer Sheerdal's question, Expression Studio is Web, Blend, Design, Media, and Encoder which could be seen as the Microsoft equivalents to Adobe's Dreamweaver, umm... I guess I would say Fireworks for Blend, Photoshop/Illustrator (but not really) for Design, and the last two match the two different programs in CS3. Can never remember all of the program names from CS3... hehe. Anyway, definitely the software suite to go with if you're developing with Silverlight and .NET otherwise you can go with either Expression or CS3 for web development. Expression Web 2 brings support for PHP so things are going good!