Microsoft DreamSpark :chase your dreams

Microsoft have its own way of selling his product as a freebies to various kinds of customers. They used to give the software product eval license etc during any Microsoft events. This is a kind of a good marketing strategy and some people named it as "Free Products from Microsoft". Now, if i say, that if you just need to prove yourself as a student by showing your IDs and you are eligible for getting various Microsoft professional-level developer and design tools like Visual Studio 2008 professional edition, Expression studio, windows Server 2003 and many more and at no charge. if you are one of those computer geeks that fall in this category then yes, Microsoft have came up with something called "Microsoft DreamSpark".
Unfortunately, it is presently running in 11 countries but soon more and more countries will chip in to this. for more information click here

Silverlight and Sharepoint

Microsoft is focusing on Silverlight to be the roadmap of all the presentation layer across Microsoft technologies. Now this is the time for a due collaboration of silverlight with Sharepoint. Yes, you can be incorporating silverlight in building web parts of sharepoint. Microsoft have recently released a blueprint of silverlight blueprint for sharepoint. Attach is the image that shows how the picture library of sharepoint will look like. There are many such samples available. Ofcourse, this integration of silverlight is very much possible with WSS 3.0 and MOSS. You can also download the source code of the same. for more information visit http://www.ssblueprints.net/sharepoint/

IE 8 Beta released

IE 8 beta is been announced and can be downloaded by clicking Download here. There are some new features like Activities and WebSlices will put the power of online services in the hands of users and allow developers to reach beyond the page and keep a persistent connection with their users. Currently available only in English, the IE 8 Beta is especially for developers who can download, test and give their valuable feedback. Do visit www.microsoft.com/ie/ie8 for getting the latest update on the same.

MSDN Technet sessions DVDs

Have you ever experienced of downloading Microsoft webcasts from Microsoft site for viewing it offline ? Isn’t it a very complex process? Back in September 2007, Microsoft,India has taken a very unique opportunity to record webcasts that will be presented to various large organizations in India. The sessions have been conducted on various upcoming technologies by few MVPs and members of DPE team in Microsoft,India. The idea is great, you do not need to download the webcast from MSDN which I do feel is one of the cumbersome work . These all sessions are been packed in two DVDs and are getting shared with various Microsoft partnered companies in India All you need to do is to put the DVD and go through your favorite topic. I had also taken a session of “WCF and .NET 3.5” where in I discussed about new features of .NET 3.5 especially for WCF. For those of you who have attended the session, please drop me your reviews /comments /suggestion. In case, if any body is interested in getting this DVD, please drop me a mail and I will facilitate the same.