Here’s something you don’t see every day. American software company Microsoft Corp. has this week revealed that it is launching a new international initiative to actively promote the design and development of software within student communities.
Microsoft to launch DreamSpark program providing free development and design software access to students. Credit: Microsoft/XNA
According to the Redmond-based company, the world’s largest software maker, students will be given the opportunity to get free hands-on experience with Microsoft developer and designer tools to help them create software apps, Web pages, and even Xbox 360 videogames.
The generous ‘DreamSpark’ initiative is currently restricted to college students based in the US, Western Europe, and China, although the company has stated that the program will gradually reach beyond those three regions to include as many as 1 billion students around the globe.
In order to take advantage of DreamSpark, students equipped with a broadband Internet connection will be granted access to the likes of Visual Studio, Expression Studio and XNA Game Studio, reports the Reuters news agency.
Visual Studio contains the development tools of choice for professional developers, while Expression Studio is design-specific software, and XNA contains all the tools necessary for developing videogame creations to be hosted by Microsoft’s popular Xbox 360 home console.
Adoption of XNA will also see students gifted with a free one-year membership to the exclusive XNA Creators Club, which allows XNA development projects to be brought through to the Xbox 360.
The DreamSpark initiative isn’t the first time Microsoft has opened its development and design tools to students in order to improve emerging talent via freely-given adoption and association. However, it is the first time students will be able to use the company’s tools without their institutes of higher learning first registering them to the program.
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