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    March 24

    Microsoft Student Programs

    Microsoft Student Programs

    Microsoft Student programs mission is to empower you to achieve your hopes and dreams - both in your personal and professional life.  The Imagine Cup is one of these programs.  Learn more about the other cool Microsoft programs below and jump start your career, find free software, or communicate online with other students.

    Become a student RockStar! Microsoft Student Partners is a global initiative that provides university students with a passion for technology, the ability to use real-world skills and resources to prepare for a successful career.
    View This Site and View This Blog

    Starting your career? Microsoft Students to Business links you with Microsoft industry partners and provides you practical experience to establish skills and competencies.

    View This Site

    Channel 8 is the Microsoft online community for technology students. Its purpose is to create a venue to help students share ideas with peers, engage with technology experts, and explore exciting new technologies. By providing the ability to communicate and collaborate online, Channel 8 helps students overcome borders and cultural barriers, gain technical resources, and have fun.
    View This Site

    Get free software! Microsoft DreamSpark is your ticket to the future.  It gives you professional level developer and designer tools at no charge. With these tools, you can invent new breakthroughs in technology, get a head start on your career, or just have fun.
    View This Site

    FREE Software??

    Software Access

    BECOME A COMPETITOR!  Once you become serious and sign-up as a competitor and submit a Round 1 entry in one of the Imagine Cup competitions, OR you have already passed a Round 1 IT Challenge quiz, you gain access to download additional FREE software programs from an extended list of 83 Microsoft software titles.  Titles available for competitors only are designated with a * in the list below and can be accessed here.   

    We are also delighted to offer all Imagine Cup 2009 registrants an opportunity to download Microsoft software for FREE! Please read the Guidelines and step-by-step process below for access to this great offer.
    Guidelines:

    • Software is available for students registered for Imagine Cup 2009 that are signed up for at least one (1) competition.
    • Software access is valid through July, 2009.
    • Software is available in English editions.
    • Software is for learning and personal use.  Software is not to be used for professional use.

    Follow These Easy Steps:

    • Register at ImagineCup.com
    • Sign-in with your user id + password or Live ID credentials
    • Click on My Profile. (Make sure your e-mail is correct)
    • Sign-up for at least one (1) competition.
    • On the Monday after you sign-up, you will receive a verification e-mail from ELMS for MSDNAA requiring you to log in.
    • Select one (1) FREE software program from the provided list, and download it.  

    The email from ELMS for MSDNAA may filter to your SPAM or Junk folder. If you sign-up on a Monday, it may take 1 week before you receive the ELMS e-mail. If you still have not received the email from ELMS for MSDNAA, please Contact Us.  

    Available Software Packages:

    *= titles for Imagine Cup competitors only

    Academic Resource Kit .NET CD1 Teaching Resources *
    Academic Resource Kit .NET CD2 Technology Resources *
    BizTalk Server 2006 Enterprise Edition *
    BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Developer Edition (x86 and x64) – DVD *
    CCR and DSS Toolkit 2008 *
    Commerce Server 2007 Developer Edition
    Compute Cluster Pack
    Compute Cluster Pack SDK
    Customer Care Framework 2008 (v3.0) – CD *
    Desktop Optimization Pack 2007 *
    Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition *
    Expression Blend *
    Expression Blend 2
    Expression Design 2
    Expression Encoder 2
    Expression Media 2
    Expression Studio *
    Expression Studio 2
    Expression Web *
    Expression Web 2
    Forefront Client Security (x86 and x64) – CD *
    Forefront Security for Exchange Server with Service Pack 1 (x64) – CD *
    Forefront Security for SharePoint with Service Pack 1 (x64) – CD *
    Forefront Server Security Management Console (x86) – DVD *
    Host Integration Server 2006 *
    ISA Server 2006 Enterprise Edition *
    IT Academy Course: Database Developer
    IT Academy Course: Web Developer
    IT Academy Course: Windows Client
    IT Academy Course: Windows Developer
    IT Academy Course: Windows Server
    MapPoint 2009 European Maps (x86) – DVD *
    MapPoint 2009 North American Maps (x86) DVD *
    Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 Academic Edition *
    MSDN Library - April 2007 (DVD)
    MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2008 (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
    MS-DOS 6.0 *
    Office Accounting Professional 2008 *
    Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition *
    Office Communicator 2007
    Office Groove 2007 *
    Office Groove Server 2007 *
    Office Project Portfolio Server 2007
    Office Project Server 2007
    Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise
    Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard *
    OneNote 2007 *
    Project Professional 2007
    SharePoint Designer 2007
    SQL Server 2008 Developer (x86 and x64) - DVD (English)
    SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (x86 and x64) - DVD
    System Center Capacity Planner 2006 with Service Pack 1 *
    System Center Configuration Manager 2007 - DVD *
    System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 - DVD (Multilanguage) *
    System Center Essentials 2007 - DVD *
    System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 (x64) - CD *
    System Center Operations Manager 2007 *
    System Center Reporting Manager 2006 *
    System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (x86/x64) - DVD *
    System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (x64) - DVD *
    Virtual PC 2007
    Virtual PC 2007 64bit *
    Visio Professional 2007 *
    Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
    Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
    Visual C++2005 Express Edition
    Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition with SP1
    Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD
    Visual Studio 2008 SP1
    Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server Workgroup Edition (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD *
    Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server SP1 *
    Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite (x86 and x64 WoW) - DVD *
    Windows 7 Beta (x86) - DVD *
    Windows Embedded CE 6.0 DVD
    Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Standard - DVD
    Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Standard 64bit - DVD
    Windows Services for UNIX 3.0 *
    Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1 (x64) *
    Windows Vista Business 64bit DVD with SP1 *
    Windows Vista Business DVD with SP1 *
    Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (32bit, 64bit) - DVD *
    Windows Web Server 2008 - DVD *
    Windows Web Server 2008 64Bit – DVD *
    Windows XP Embedded *
    XNA Creators Club Online Academic Subscription
    XNA Game Studio 3.0

    Key Technologies in Imagine Cup

    Software Design Technologies

    Microsoft MultiPoint helps developers create educational applications that affordably increase the reach of existing classroom computers. With MultiPoint, a single computer can have multiple mice connected, making it possible for groups of students to work on one computer—at the same time. Through uniquely-designed on-screen cursors, Microsoft Multipoint allows three to 30 students to collaboratively use and learn from educational software on one computer, thereby creating an active, collaborative learning experience that engages each and every student. To incorporate MultiPoint SDK in your Imagine Cup solution:   click here.

    Mesh Services and Live Framework are building blocks that bring software and internet services together and put you in control of your digital world. They allow you to interact with applications, files, people, and devices that matter the most and make sure you are in sync with them wherever you are and whenever you need them. Mesh Services provide exciting new opportunities for developers that bring traditional client and web applications to life and introduce new classes of applications to the developer toolkit. Experience Mesh and learn about developing on Mesh Services. Live Framework provides one place to program against Mesh Services and other exciting Live Services like Live Contacts, Live Profile and much more. These are the same things that power the Windows Live and Mesh experiences.  Now you have their power at your disposal! No matter what languages, platforms or developer tools you use, you’ll find that with the Live Framework you will be able to create exciting new applications across the web, desktop and devices and enhance your existing applications with new capabilities. To incorporate Mesh Services & Live Framework in your Imagine Cup solution: click here.

    Parallel Computing applications are helping turn ideas that were once nothing more than farfetched dreams in to reality. Dynamic 3D environments, complex investment analysis, and product development tools are just a few examples of what parallel computing makes possible. The computing industry is at an inflection point.  Over the last 30 years, software developers have relied on exponential growth in processor power in order to increase the performance, feature functionality, and user experience richness of their applications.  However, this clock speed driven free lunch is over. While the average PC clock speed increased more than 10x between 1993 and 1999, this average hasn’t doubled in the last four years.  Instead, the hardware industry is shifting to multi-core and manycore processors where multiple cores are placed on a single die to increase the overall processor computational horsepower. The average PC on the market today is a dual-core, soon to be quad-core. In two years, expect the average to be eight-core! Unfortunately, most software today does not effectively take advantage of multiple cores. The key to high-performance applications of the future is through parallelism. To incorporate Parallel Computing in your Imagine Cup solution: click here.    

    SMS Server Toolkit enables anyone with a Windows smartphone and a PC to create an SMS server, thereby bridging computer networks with that of SMS. Short Message Service" (SMS)-capable phones are the most common digital-access devices in the world, with more than 2.5 billion devices sold to date. Unfortunately, much of the great data and functionality based in PC networks has been unavailable to SMS-based phones to date. In particular, we are excited about this technology because it enables small organizations such as schools, microfinance organizations, and even a lone IT staff worker to experiment and deploy SMS based applications cheaply. They can build these applications using Visual Studio or Excel. Additionally, this technology does not require that a developer gain permission from the local telephone company. The developer just plugs in a phone and pays for any SMS messages their program generates or receives. Sample applications we expect people to create: Schools can SMS hundreds of parents simply by filling out an Excel spreadsheet. Organizations can make their corporate directories easily available to any employer with an SMS cell phone. Sales representatives can SMS a customer name or number to their company’s SMS server and receive that customer’s ERP information. This is mostly an enabling technology that will help many developers create SMS applications easily and cheaply. We believe that this platform providing SMS “server sessions” is the first of its kind and will make it easy for developers to create dialogue-based interactions via SMS, essentially enabling people to create interfaces as robust as an iPod UI. To incorporate SMS Server Toolkit in your Imagine Cup solution: click here

    Windows Mobile lets you reuse your existing Visual Studio and .NET development skills and server infrastructure to extend your applications to mobile devices and give users new experiences and solve new business
    problems. Students! Use your genius to create innovative, dynamic, and powerful software applications by using Microsoft tools and technology- namely the Windows Mobile SDK. Unleash your ideas, curiosities, and talents towards creating usable software applications that run on Windows Mobile Phones.To incorporate Windows Mobile in your Imagine Cup solution: click here.

     

    Embedded Development Technologies


    Windows Embedded CE 6.0
    , along with Platform Builder, a Visual Studio 2005 plug in, provides an integrated development environment (IDE) that enables you to build both application and Windows Embedded CE 6.0 operating system software in a familiar environment. Windows Embedded CE 6.0 helps streamline the development process by providing, Code flexibility, Source Code Accessibility, ability to configure and test easily, fast editing, enhanced compilers, production quality drives and native windows applications. To incorporate Windows Embedded CE in your Imagine Cup solution: click here.

    Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 provides the latest breakthrough technologies that enable CE 6.0 device makers to efficiently build small footprint devices that connect to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. These new features include additions and upgrades to: Device Drivers, Remote Desktop, Internet Explorer, VoIP, Web Services on Devices (WSDAPI), WMP Updates and File System Updates.

     

    MashUp Technologies

     

    PopFly Block is the fun and easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, and Web pages. It’s made up of online visual tools for building Web pages and mashups and a social network where you can host, share, rate, comment and even remix creations from other Popfly users.  So you’ve created an account on Popfly and want to create a mashup but you’re not sure what a mashup is or how you create one? Then this is the document for you! Popfly Mashups are all about letting you take data and media from different sources and combining them to make web sites the way you want. These mashups can then be embedded in other places such as your blog or Facebook profile and even downloaded as a Windows Vista Sidebar gadget. To incorporate PopFly Block in your Imagine Cup solution: click here.

     

    Photography Technologies

    Photosynth is a potent mixture of two independent breakthroughs: the ability to reconstruct the scene or object from a bunch of flat photographs, and the technology to bring that experience to virtually anyone over the Internet. Using techniques from the field of computer vision, Photosynth examines images for similarities to each other and uses that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point each photo was taken from. With this information, we recreate the space and use it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos. Photosynth was inspired by the breakthrough research on Photo Tourism from the University of Washington and Microsoft Research. This work pioneered the use of photogrammetry to power a cinematic and immersive experience. Providing that experience requires viewing a LOT of data though—much more than you generally get at any one time by surfing someone’s photo album on the web. That’s where our Seadragon™ technology comes in: delivering just the pixels you need, exactly when you need them. It allows you to browse through dozens of 5, 10, or 100(!) megapixel photos effortlessly, without fiddling with a bunch of thumbnails and waiting around for everything to load. nt to know even more We’ve have bunch of information about our community on the blog. You can get advice on making that one synth turn out perfectly on the community site. To incorporate Photosynth in your Imagine Cup solution: click here.

    March 02

    2009 Theme & Millennium Development Goals

    The Eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals

    The Millennium Development Goals were agreed upon by 189 nations around the world more than eight years ago. They encompass universally accepted human rights such as freedom from hunger, the right to basic education, the right to health, and a responsibility to future generations. We are now more than halfway toward the target date – 2015 – by which the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved.

    Imagine a world with less poverty, hunger and disease, greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants, better educated children, equal opportunities for women, and a healthier environment; a world in which developed and developing countries worked in partnership for the betterment of all. Now imagine that you are part of the solution.

    Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
    Overview Fact sheet Success stories

     

    Achieve universal primary education
    Overview Fact sheet Success stories

     

    Promote gender equality and empower women
    Overview Fact sheet Success stories

     

    Reduce child mortality
    Overview Fact sheet Success stories

     

    Improve maternal health
    Overview Fact sheet Success stories

     

    Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
    Overview Fact sheet Success stories

     

    Ensure environmental sustainability
    Overview Fact sheet Success stories

     

    Develop a global partnership for development
    Overview Fact sheet Success stories

     

     

    How will the world look in 2015 if the goals are achieved?

    • More than 500 million people will be lifted out of extreme poverty.
    • More than 300 million will no longer suffer from hunger.
    • Dramatic progress in child health will save 30 million children and more than 2 million mothers.
    • More than 350 million people will have access to safe drinking water.
    • More than 650 million people will have the benefits of basic sanitation.
    • Hundreds of millions more women and girls will lead their lives in freedom, with more security and more opportunity.

    Behind these large numbers are the lives, hopes, and capabilities of people who also seek to end the burden of grinding poverty.