Category — free

Microsoft recently announced a new program (called BizSpark) for startups that allows them to get a MSDN for free. This is a great deal, because msdn subscriptions normally cost over $1000/year (depending on the type plan that you buy). You can also renew for up to 3 years (unless your comapny goes public or is acquired by a company that does not itself qualify for BizSpark).

How do you qualify?

Your statup is:

• Developing Software
• Privately held
• Less than three years old
• Making less than US $1M annually

What kind of free software do you get?

Visual Studio Team System 2008:
- Visual Studio Team System 2008: Team Suite
- Visual Studio Team System 2008: Development Edition
- Visual Studio Team System 2008: Architecture Edition
- Visual Studio Team System 2008: Test Edition
- Visual Studio Team System 2008: Database Edition
- Visual Studio Team System 2008: Team Foundation Server Standard Edition
- Visual Studio 2008 Professional
- Visual Studio Team System 2005:
- Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite
- Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers
- Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects
- Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers
- Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals
- Visual Studio 2005 Professional
- Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Microsoft Office System
- Visual SourceSafe 2005
- Previous versions of Visual Studio

SQL server – all versions

Windows Vista
- Ultimate/Enterprise/Business/Home Premium/Home Basic
Windows XP
- Professional/Home/Media Center Edition/Tablet PC Edition
Windows Server 2008 (all versions)
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Compute Cluster
Windows SharePoint Service

Office Ultimate/Enterprise/Professional Plus/Professional 2007
- Office Word, Office Excel, Office PowerPoint, Office Outlook & Business Contact
Manager, Office Access
- Office Publisher, Office InfoPath, Office OneNote, Office Communicator, Office
Groove, Office SharePoint Designer, Office Visio Professional, Office Project
Standard
- Office Accounting, Office Business Scorecard Manager, MapPoint, Office
FrontPage
- Office Project Professional
- Office Project Server, Office Project Portfolio Server

If your startup qualifies, you can signup here