MikeyHunt

and then there is this.... Microsoft India takes over portion of Windows 7 development By Matt Mondok | Published: August 05, 2007 - 10:26PM CT Recent reports have surfaced stating that Microsoft has moved at least some of the development of Windows 7 to its Microsoft India location. Currently, most details available about Windows 7 stem from speculation. What we do know right now is that the system will have multiple SKUs, be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit, feature subscription-based content, and (hopefully) be released around 2010. Other possible features include enhanced virtualization capabilities and more advanced network diagnostic tools. According to Moneycontrol India, the plan to move some of Windows 7's development offshore was announced by Jon DeVaan, the Senior Vice President of the Windows Core Operating System Division. The team from India is a mix of Windows and Windows Live developers, and it will be led by Sunil Bansali. http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft....development?rel

ok.. inquiring minds... did you start on this arduous journey? Hows it going?

Evidence mounting: Windows 7 going modular, subscription By Ken Fisher | Published: March 23, 2008 - 03:50PM CT When Windows 7 launches sometime after the start of 2010, the desktop OS will be Microsoft's most "modular" yet. Having never really been comfortable with the idea of a single, monolithic desktop OS offering, Microsoft has offered multiple desktop OSes in the marketplace ever since the days of Windows NT 3.1, with completely different code bases until they were unified in Windows 2000. Unification isn't necessarily a good thing, however; Windows Vista is a sprawling, complex OS. A singular yet highly modular OS could give Microsoft the best of all possible worlds: OSes that can be highly customized for deployment but developed monolithically. One modular OS to rule them all, let's say. Mary Jo Foley is wagering that one of the big changes coming with Windows 7 is that it might be "available in pieces." That is to say, Windows 7 could be a modular OS. I'll go further. Windows 7 will be a modular OS, and we can already see the clues in Windows Vista, because it, too, is a fledgling modular OS. What we're talking about and why it matters (= software subscriptions), follows... A modular Windows 7 is a lock The first reason Foley gives is that Windows Server 2008 has "server roles" which can automagically determine which packages are installed and how the system in configured (more here). Foley suggests that this approach on the server side would translate well to the client, but the process of modularization has already begun on the client side. Windows Vista was designed so that all three consumer editions—Basic, Premium, and Ultimate—can be installed off of one DVD and can be upgraded in place from one version to another. The changes can be "deep," since (for instance) Home to Premium can enable Aero Glass, and Premium to Ultimate can add BitLocker drive encryption, etc. My point is that Microsoft is already selling a "modular" OS, and the modules currently map to Windows Vista SKUs. Microsoft is also developing other modules around its Live efforts. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft already has a patent on a "modular operating system" concept. A "core function" module, which includes the kernel, features a "license validation module" that authorizes the use of all additional modules, and uses DRM-like technology to prevent the use of unauthorized modules. Windows Vista uses part of its anti-piracy arsenal to validate and monitor changes to the OS for this reason. So, Windows 7 will be modular, but to an unknown degree. I personally expect the modularization to focus on value-adds, as did Anytime Upgrade on Vista. It allows Microsoft to draw lines between what is and isn't "in" the OS for DoJ compliance issues. Whether it be Live Services, Windows Media Player, or even Internet Explorer, Microsoft could roll those into modules and then say, "Hey, look, that's not part of Windows, we're charging extra for that!" Foley says that she's heard from sources that Microsoft is working on a Photo + Mail + Video module that would exist apart from the OS, for instance. I've heard less specific groupings myself. A brave, modular world (might not be so great) Is a modular world a better one? For those of us having to manage software rollouts to scores of desktops, this would be yet another tool in the toolbox. Microsoft could create "desktop roles" like "information kiosk" that includes a stripped-down feature set, for instance. Microsoft can also add/remove functionality module by module. New modules could be sold post-launch, keeping revenue streams strong. In fact, modules could be maintained independent of OS versions. Microsoft could create a "Live Services" module that is maintained by a dedicated team, designed to work across multiple OSes, yet provide a completely consistent experience. A modular approach could also allow the company to make functionality available on a time-limited basis, potentially allowing users to "rent" a feature if it's needed on a one-off basis. Note that Microsoft is already testing "pay as you go" consumer subscriptions in developing countries. The software+services side of modularization is what is surely driving this change at Microsoft. As I argued last summer, this is all a critical piece of Microsoft's software subscription dreams. In "2010, a 'Windows 7' software subscription odyssey," I noted that Microsoft has been reinventing its approach to Windows in order to facilitate the continued sales of multiple levels of the Windows "experience." Microsoft has confirmed that there will be multiple SKUs for Windows 7 and that there will be different subscription services built around the OS. Whether or not this is a good thing is difficult to predict. Generally, we're very much in favor of package-based setup routines, much like you find with popular Linux distributions. Why run a web server when you don't need it? Why start device drivers that aren't going to be used? Why install a library on a system that doesn't need it? But just imagine a Windows 7 install that allowed you to install only what you wanted. Don't like Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Mail, Windows Firewall, etc.,? Don't install them or their supporting code. You've got to like that, if you're a Windows user. Does this mean that Microsoft will ask you to subscribe to the next version of Windows, as opposed to buying it? That's unlikely, unless you're in business. The next consumer release will likely be a standalone OS stocked with an array of built-in and subscription-only modules. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080...bscription.html

I'll have to disagree with this... The trend of increasing market share is starting to slow down, as people realize that Firefox is not always what it was cropped up to be. Look at the number of security vulnerabilities that have cropped up in FF1.5 and FF2 in the past two years. Severe memory leak issues, that everyone knows about and nobody at Mozilla wants to talk about, don't help the matter either. THE choice of browsers is whatever browser suits you most. I personally prefer Opera, but my parents don't like it. My girlfriend uses Firefox, so do many of her roommates. My thesis advisor uses Firefox for one reason alone - Zotero, but if it weren't for that, he'd prefer to use Safari. The fact of the matter is that there IS choice about what you want to use. Edit - as an addition to my previous statement... the more market share you hold, the more apparent your flaws become. Look at this bug in OSX that my friend found. Apple couldn't even properly handle errors during copy/paste until just a few months ago. They quickly released an update that fixed this bug, but seriously... it's not like we're talking about very complex code here. The same concept applies to Firefox's growing market share (as well as Opera and Safari for that matter). Some good points , but some I must disagree with as well. FF became the 'peoples choice' as a browser by giving people what they want, a better product with options and configurability. Yes , all browsers have issues and FF is no exception. When issues were identified, FF dealt with them quickly. And many users have discovered new tricks and tips to 'soup up' their FF browser experience, because they are able to. Add-ons for FF abound in the marketplace. A cottage industry of sorts. Recently there was a security fix for IE6 issued. And IE6 has been out how many years? Yes, if Microsoft wants to buy a market , they will do so. thats a given, but it's that sort of arrogance that has turned off the consumer and caused many people to hate Microsoft, whether or not Microsoft's products are better for their application. I'm glad there is competition in the browser market and a 'high tide floats all boats' The consumer benefits from competition and as a result is having a better browser experience today because of this. Consumers don't like being locked in or being told what to buy. Thats why new competitors enter the market. There will always be fanbois of every program, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I posted the article as an object lesson in consumer behavior and perceptions. And I find the comments, for the most part, are true. Once the bar has been raised, the consumer is more fickle and has higher expectations. Yes, if MS wants IE8 to be the best browser out there, they can dictate that to the market. But they now have to make a better product, not just rely on superior marketing and distribution to attain and keep market share.

seriously consider trying: J.River Media Jukebox FREE and integrates much better with iPod http://www.mediajukebox.com/index.html Best file organization of any digital music jukebox Connect your iPod or PlaysForSure device Play all popular music files, and audio podcasts Rip, Burn and Encode to multiple formats Create custom Playlists and Smartlists Extensive Tagging capabilities Automatic CD, Album art and Track look-up Full speed Ripping and Burning Powerful EQ, DSP and audio effects Print custom CD labels and covers I use it , and prefer it over Winamp

ok, some Firefox tweaks are in order - should help solve your problem. open Firefox type: about:config in the browser window add or change these lines: (if it doesn't exist create it by right clicking in an open area > new browser.preferences.instantApply > boolean>true (makes the changes apply instantly) content.interrupt.parsing>boolean>true content.max.tokenizing.time>integer>2250000 content.notify.backoffcount>integer>5 content.notify.interval>integer>750000 content.notify.ontimer>boolean>true content.switch.threshold>integer>30000 pref.advanced.javascript.disable_button.advanced>boolean>false these settings should help in solving your problem. You might want to do a clean re-install of Firefox and Java first , then do these. edit..you DID check for viruses / spyware ..did scandisk.. etc...right?

Along the same lines as you are thinking, this guy is already proposing outfitting Windows with only freeware applications. Interesting read... http://www.freewaregenius.com/2007/10/29/r...eware-programs/

Microsoft bites bullet, licenses Adobe's Flash Lite for Windows Mobile Posted Mar 17th 2008 6:33AM by Thomas Ricker Microsoft is expected to shore-up its much maligned Internet Explorer Mobile browser this morning by announcing new Flash Lite support. We have no idea when the new plug-in technology (including Reader LE for PDFs) might make it into Windows Mobile. Nevertheless, with the far superior Skyfire and Opera Mobile 9.5 mobile browsers already supporting Flash Lite, and Microsoft's own competing Silverlight not expected to go mobile until the end of the year, it can't be long now can it? Courtesy of Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/17/microso...te-for-windows/

How To Easily Disable CD or DVD Auto Eject in Windows Vista Author: Raymond When I started using Windows Vista, one of the cool feature I noticed was my DVD-RW drive automatically ejects when I click on the drive in Windows Explorer! There’s also a window saying “Insert a disc. Please insert a disc into drive E:.” How nice, Vista is supposedly smart enough to eject when there are no disc in the drive. Well, the coolness only lasted for a while and it became an annoyance because I will occasionally wrongly click on the DVD-RW drive when I actually wanted to access my hard drive. When it ejects, I had to manually close it. The worst part was my computer case has a cover that covers the DVD drive. So whenever I accidentally click on the DVDRW drive, the DVDRW tray will eject and hit on my computer case cover which I don’t think it is pleasant to the hardware. Disable Vista Insert A Disc I tried searching for a setting or registry hack that can turn off my DVDRW drive auto eject in Windows Vista but couldn’t find any. It seems that this “feature” is hard coded and there is no way to disable it. I don’t believe that it can’t be done so I did a little research, and I found an easy way to disable Windows Vista CD/DVD drive auto eject feature. Read the rest of this entry » http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/0...-windows-vista/

Hello all. I have been advised that the site link I posted (above) may not be 'kosher'. I may have been misled and apologize to everyone. My bad. Gotta watch what I'm doing more carefully . The site itself looks legit, but may not be. I'm looking into it further If you are squeamish about such things play it safe and ignore the post link Thank you for your understanding Mikey

use t0rrent

From the site I posted above: OEM SoftSales Ltd. purchases its software from various venues. Such places include: overstock, auctions, closeouts, companies going out of business. We provide great prices because we purchase them low prices! Also we provide downloadable software, so we do not spend money for shipping and our products become even cheaper. Here is our scheme: Q: How can you sell this software as OEM? It seems too good to be true - is there a catch? A: There is no catch - the software versions that we sell are OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) which means you will receive the installation downloadable CD images only (they do not come in their original retail packing and do not include the manual). We do guarantee that all programs are the 100% full working retail versions - no demos or academic versions! When you order, you will receive all materials required for a complete installation - or your money back! Why pay hundreds of dollars more when you can get exactly the same but downloadable? You don't have to pay that much for the fancy box and manuals. It's legit or I wouldn't post it here http://www.4softsite.info/faq.html?session=316891205559648 read more if you want.

Virus Total is one of the many services that let you upload files to their server which are then scanned for viruses and malware. One major advantage of Virus Total over a single antivirus solution installed on the user's pc is the fact that it uses almost every known antivirus engine to scan the files which could not be done on a single system because those applications would surely interfere with each other. The guys from Virus Total have created a file uploader that makes the whole process comfortable. The 80 Kilobyte application installs itself in the right-click context menu as a Send To entry which in effect means that you can right-click a file on your computer and select Send To > Virus Total to send it to their website to scan the file. A browser window will open displaying the scan results in the end. This is way more comfortable than to open the Virus Total website and browse for the file on your hard drive once you are there. The file size limitation of ten Megabytes is still in place however. Another option that you might want to explore is to send them files by email [scan@virustotal.com]. A report is send to the email address that you have used to send the file. courtesy of GHacks http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/14/virus-tot...ader/#more-3513

Bigger Computer Monitors = More Productivity Wall Street Journal Posted by Ben Worthen Working late? Blame your computer screen. A new study finds that bigger monitors make people more productive. Computer researchers at the University of Utah tested how quickly people performed tasks like editing a document and copying numbers between spreadsheets while using different computer configurations: one with an 18-inch monitor, one with a 24-inch monitor and with two 20-inch monitors. Their finding: People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones. There is an upper limit, however: Productivity dropped off again when people used a 26-inch screen. (The order of the tasks and the order of computer configurations were assigned randomly.) The study concluded that someone using a larger monitor could save 2.5 hours a day. But James Anderson, the professor in charge of the study, tells the Business Technology Blog to take that result with a grain of salt: It assumes that someone will work non-stop for eight hours, which no one will, and that the tasks they perform will all benefit from a larger screen, which isn’t always the case. But things like moving data between files are ideally suited to bigger or multiple screens. Anderson, who uses a computer with two 20-inch screens and one 24-inch one, recommends that businesses take the time to match employees with the proper size screen based on job requirements. A caveat: The study was funded by NEC, which makes computer monitors. But Anderson says that it was vetted by the University’s research board. Also, he doesn’t care who businesses buy their monitors from – he just wants businesses to realize that the right monitor can make someone more productive. And if a tech department has to buy 500 of the same size in order to get a bulk discount? Buy the biggest ones you can, Anderson tells us. “Size matters,” he adds.

hmmm. Lots of questions you are asking. Let me try. Most of what you list are programs. Once you install programs, they usually go to a folder called Program Files (by default.) (My computer> C drive> Program files) Addons or (utilities) are enhancements or additional features, that can be added to a program so it can do more things . In Firefox, (for example) on your list, you can choose to add addons by (with Firefox running) going to: Tools>Addons>get extensions (lower right corner) and browse the list of whats available for download, so you can customize' the program to better fit your needs. Winrar is another example. It is a Utility Its purpose is to open compressed Windows files. It helps you get better use out of Windows operating system, you have installed. To make it more clear.. a program is like a car. When you order options like a GPS system, a Cd Player or Air Conditioning to be installed in the car ... these are considered addons. In order to uses addons, you must have the program they are for, installed first. otherwise the addon is of no use. Hope this helps you.

From Times Online March 12, 2008 Google could be superseded, says web inventor The next generation of web technology is likely to be far more powerful than the current crop, Tim Berners-Lee said Google may eventually be displaced as the pre-eminent brand on the internet by a company that harnesses the power of next-generation web technology, the inventor of the World Wide Web has said. The search giant had developed an extremely effective way of searching for pages on the internet, Tim Berners-Lee said, but that ability paled in comparison to what could be achieved on the "web of the future", which he said would allow any piece of information — such as a photo or a bank statement — to be linked to any other. Mr Berners-Lee said that in the same way, the "current craze" for social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace would eventually be superseded by networks that connected all types of things — not just people — thanks to a ground-breaking technology known as the "semantic web". The semantic web is the term used by the computer and internet industry to describe the next phase of the web's development, and essentially involves building web-based connectivity into any piece of data — not just a web page — so that it can "communicate" with other information. Whereas the existing web is a collection of pages with links between them that Google and other search engines help the user to navigate, the "semantic web" will enable direct connectivity between much more low-level pieces of information — a written street address and a map, for instance — which in turn will give rise to new services. "Using the semantic web, you can build applications that are much more powerful than anything on the regular web," Mr Berners-Lee said. "Imagine if two completely separate things — your bank statements and your calendar — spoke the same language and could share information with one another. You could drag one on top of the other and a whole bunch of dots would appear showing you when you spent your money. "If you still weren't sure of where you were when you made a particular transaction, you could then drag your photo album on top of the calendar, and be reminded that you used your credit card at the same time you were taking pictures of your kids at a theme park. So you wouldd know not to claim it as a tax deduction. "It's about creating a seamless web of all the data in your life." One example frequently given is of typing a street address which, if it had "semantic data" built into it, would link directly to a map showing its location, dispensing with the need to go to a site like Google `maps, type in the address, get the link and paste it into a document or e-mail. The challenge, experts say, is in finding a way to represent all data so that when it is connected to the web, links to other relevant information can be recognised and established — a bit like the process known as "tagging". One expected application is in the pharmaceutical industry, where previously unconnected pieces of research into a drug or disease, say, could be brought together and assimilated. Mr Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web in 1989 while a fellow at CERN, the European Organsation for Nuclear Research in Switzerland, would not be drawn on the type of application that the "Google of the future" would develop, but said it would likely be a type of "mega-mash-up", where information is taken from one place and made useful in another context using the web. Existing "mash-ups", such as progams that plotted the location of every Starbucks in a city using Google maps, were a start, he said in an interview with Times Online, but they were limited because a separate application had to be built each time a new service was imagined. "In the semantic web, it's like every piece of data is given a longitude and latitute on a map, and anyone can 'mash' them together and use them for different things." Mr Berners-Lee, who is now a director of the Web Science Research Initiative, a collaborative project between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southampton, sought to put into context the rapid growth of social networking sites in recent years, saying that once the semantic web was rolled out they would be thought of as one of many types of network available. "At the moment, people are very excited about all these connections being made between people — for obvious reasons, because people are important — but I think after a while people will realise that there are many other things you can connect to via the web." He also spoke about what he described as one of the key challenges of the web today — confronting the security risks associated with large databases of information that were attractive to criminals and identity fraudsters. "There are definitely better ways of managing that threat. I think we're soon going to see a new tipping point where different types of crimes become possible and lucrative, and it's something we constantly have to be aware of. "One option is to build systems which more effectively track what information you've used to perform a particular task, and make sure people aren't using their authority to do things that they shouldn't be doing." Courtesy of Times OnLine: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...icle3532832.ece

go here http://www.4softsite.info/ for XP & 2000 - this is what they have: Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 retail $299.00 your price$59.95 Microsoft Office 2000 Premium Edition retail $299.00 '' $39.95 Legit OEM Product

sorry, my bad. thought this was the place.

go here http://www.4softsite.info/

Reuters By Kenneth Li NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hulu, the online video joint venture of News Corp and General Electric's NBC Universal, will make its public debut on Wednesday with programming from Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros Television Group, Lionsgate and from sports leagues. Missing from the list of providers are media mogul Sumner Redstone-controlled companies Viacom Inc, which continues to hold discussions, Viacom said recently, and CBS Corp, which has said it was not averse to a licensing deal. At launch, Hulu will offer full-length episodes of more than 250 TV series from current hits such as "The Simpsons" as well as older shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It also will offer 100 movies including "The Big Lebowski" and "Mulholland Drive." Hulu said it has signed licensing deals with the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. Hulu's launch is a big bet by big media companies that consumers are as eager to spend long periods of time watching TV shows and movies in front of their computers as they are in front of their televisions. Ahead of its test launch four months ago, the service, dubbed by the press as a rival to Google Inc's YouTube video sharing site, was skewered by the press and influential technology blogs for attempting to compete with the Web's most popular video destination. Hulu has won over some of its harshest critics including technology blog, Techcrunch, which has since praised the venture for focus on professional content, clean, easy-to-use design, and video quality. Its readers voted it as the best video start-up of 2007. With no marketing and a private test pool of users, Hulu Chief Executive Jason Kilar said they have attracted over five million viewers in the past month with its breadth of legally available contemporary shows and clean design. Some 80 percent of its entire video library is viewed every seven days, a sign likely to be viewed favorably by programming partners seeking ways to boost profits from vintage shows, Kilar said. Shows on Hulu also are distributed on AOL, Comcast Corp's Fancast.com, Microsoft Corp's MSN, News Corp's MySpace and Yahoo Inc. AD FORMATS IMPRESS Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said he was most impressed, not with its features, but with its range of options for advertisers. "It's the part people overlook," he said. Among the range of new advertising options, Hulu said that Nissan, for example, can give Hulu viewers the option to choose to watch any one of its several car ads. Advertisers spend "billions of dollars getting the right ad in front of the right person," McQuivey said of marketing to traditional television viewers. Hulu's online advertising permits "self-selected targeting." McQuivey added, "From the advertisers perspective, it can't get any better." Hulu said most of the companies which signed up for the test also are a part of the official launch, including Nissan, Best Buy Co Inc, and Unilever PLC. Hulu is available at www.hulu.com/ starting Wednesday. (that's today)

@JohnDoe - looks good and en Español tooLooks like he's good to go!

Two of the main new features Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 introduced last week, Activities and WebSlices, are now available for Firefox users. Activities, is a simple way to add web services you can direct text selections to for further detail. For example, you can select a word of a web page, select a define activity and get the definition from a provider you have added like Dictionary.com or Answers.com. You can do the same with a street address. Michael Kaply, author of Operator, a more capable Firefox extension that uses microformats to detect and exchange data between sites, has released a new version of: Microsoft Activities for Firefox that allows adding Microsoft Activities providers to Firefox and use them to preview and direct text selections to them. Microsoft Activities You will need to add a few Activities providers from Microsoft. WebSlices are small pieces of the most relevant content of a web page that a user can subscribe to to get the latest facts without having to visit the full page. Disruptive Innovations’ Daniel Glazman has released WebChunks, a very early implementation of WebSlices, as a Firefox extension that detects webslices in a web page and subscribe to them via a toolbar. WebChunks You will first need to get a few providers from Microsoft. Then you can visit one of the sites to subscribe to a web page. You will notice a purple icon when you hover a webslice. Right click and select Subscribe to a webckunk to add it to the webchunk toolbar. There are two kinds of webslices: one is embedded in the web page as regular content and a second one is just the first item of a web feed. Currently WebChunks only support the first one but coming versions will support both of them. Another limitation is the need of a separate toolbar and that webslices are updated every time you click on it instead of all of them getting a periodic refresh. In some cases like auctions, it is better that way though, so maybe an option to set the kind of refresh would be the right way to go. Courtesy of MozillaLinks For more info and download links: http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/03/ie-8-ac...es-for-firefox/

sure... (imho) the best free non-bloated firewall for XP is Comodohttp://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Most of the 'ink jet' low end printers on the market, made by the usual suspects: HP, Lexmark.. etc ...have sensors in the ink cartridge casing that prevent the printer from operating once, one or the other or both cartridges are 'almost' out of ink. The theory being that they don't want you to be in the middle of printing something, when the damm cartridge runs completely out. I think they just want to sell you more ink cartridges quicker., but maybe that's just me. One way to get around this dual-cartridge-printer-wont-work-if one-is-out 'feature' is to go into> printer> properties and choose colors to print in> greyscale setting Be sure to do this before the color cartridge can trigger the 'out' sensor. In most cases you will be able operate the printer in 'black cartridge function mode' independently of the color cartridge by doing this. So you will only need to buy the 'black' (usually cheaper & longer lasting) cartridge from now on. I have the color cartridge still in - from the original buy - doing this on my HP 3915..but have replaced the black one several times.

I’m normally very cautious when I read about free offers on the Internet. It is often the case that free does not really mean free. This time however it seems to be the real deal, that is if you are a student from one of the following eleven countries: US, UK, Canada, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Belgium. If you are a 'student' you can grab free Microsoft software including Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and several more. All you need is a Live ID (which is free as well) and a way to identify yourself as being a student in one of those countries. The real beauty of this system is that you do not need to study Computer Science to be eligible for those free full version downloads of Microsoft software, they are available for everyone. Here is a list of all Microsoft tools currently available: * Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition * Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition * SQL Server 2005 Express Edition * Expression Studio * XNA Game Studio 2.0 * XNA Creators Club Online * Visual C# 2005 Express Edition * Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition * Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition * Visual Web 2005 Express Edition * Visual J++ 2005 Express Edition * SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition * Microsoft Virtual PC Impressive List, ain’t it ? The process is as simple as it could be. You pick a software product from Microsoft first, then log into your Windows Live account, pick your continent from the world map, pick your country and finally your University from a list of available ones. Not all Universities are listed in that menu, if yours is not in the list you need to check this page to see what you can do about it. A method for all countries is to use ISIC to identify yourself which is available as an option amongst all listed Universities. https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/Products.aspx Courtesy of Ghacks: http://www.ghacks.net/2008/02/19/free-micr...e-for-students/