MSDN Academic Alliance Question

I am a student at a 4yr university as an electrical engineering student. Through my reading here on the forums i have heard of multiple of student who have had little to no problem getting software through the academic alliance program.
Today i went to our department and asked if i could get some software, mainly a copy of a windows OS and they basically said no and that the software is only available if an instructor says you need it.
My understanding was that the software was available for science/engineering students who need the software and are enrolled in the college.
My question is where can i find a page listing the requirements for a student to get the software. The guys said he doesnt want to open a door where student can get software for free and line up for it-.

SOme information and experiences would be helpfull...

THanks
pete

 

It honestly depends on your university. It's a swing and a miss most of the time.

Search for availability here. http://www.msdnaa.net/search/schoolsearch.aspx?

You could just obtain log-in information and download the software sometimes.

 

our school the program is only for IT and ET students.

the thing is you can download a copy for free but you can also order unlimited copies the catch is those aren't for resale. i bought like 12 copies of vista for future desktops and laptops.

 

Like admlam said, it depends on the school. Where I go, every student gets Vista Business for free. And we can buy Office 07 Pro for $99.

Some schools offer software for download through e-academy. Google your school name with "e-academy"

 

It depends on a lot of things. For instance, at my school, engineers can get a lot of stuff for free; Office 2007 Enterprise, Vista Ultimate, Visual Studio, MS Project, Sharepoint, etc. We pay a 25 dollar fee with tuition every semester, and we get all that (plus stuff like MATLAB, Maple, Mathcad, SolidEdge, etc). But nobody else at the university gets those deals, and up until this year, only Computer Engineers could get these. They just now opened it up to all engineers. So bottom line, if your school tells you they don't offer it, then they don't offer it, and there's not much you can do.

 

As the others have said - it depends on your school. I'm a Computer Engineer at the University of Central Florida, and I received an automated message with a user name and password for it, and I can get copies of stuff like Vista, Microsoft Visual Studio, and others for very cheap (like 17 bucks for the media, plus shipping). MSDNAA for UCF is on a major-by-major basis: some types of engineers don't get it, and some non-engineering majors like Digital Media and Computer Science do get it. My older brother was a Computer Engineer at the University of Florida, and they get to download the .iso's for free. It all depends.

 

At my school I bought Visual Studio 2005 and Windows XP Professional SP2 for $5 each during spring. I've heard Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise or Professional and Vista Business are being sold for very affordable prices. It really depends on your school and their connection through MSDN.

 

At Georgia Tech they send out an email every semester to all EE students enrolled in an EE course with login and password to msdnaa. There we are free to take whatever we wish as long as it is for school use.

 

Where do you get the username/password? Do you ask your professor? From the list my school has it with the link that says "Get Software" .So, maybe I could download it if I can get the info? I'm going for a IT AAS degree so I would think I would be able to apply for it.

Also when they link the license to you, can you still give it to someone? Like family members outside your household? Or is there something in there that keeps you from selling it?

 

My goal here was never to get something i shouldn't. What upsets me is that my school is listed under MSDNAA schools. It lists three colleges in my university, accounting, engineering and computer science. I am an engineering student and i don't see what makes it not a viable option for me. Other than the guy being lazy , i really think he is not following the msdnaa rules.
Is their a link from Microsoft listing what makes a student applicable ? Or even a phone number.
I really think the guys is just being lazy and with a bit of a hard time i can get him to budge...Its a purposeless system if students cant get software...Any ideas ?

THanks
pete

 

If you are taking a CS course, you could probably get Visual Studio. But to use Visual Studio, you need an operating system (such as Vista). I think once you start class, you can probably get software. Unless your school is not subsidized from Microsoft as much.

 

Technically, the software you get frmo MSDNAA is only for educational use. That is, if you don't need it for your studies, you're not allowed to use the software.

We can't get MS Office for that reason. We can get XP, Vista, Visual Studio, and a ton of other applications and OS'es, but not Office.

You can. But it's not allowed.

Or he's not the MSDNAA guy. There might be a big difference between asking your university for a copy of Windows, and asking them for access to MSDNAA.
Those things are typically kept separate. MSDNAA is just something you get a login to, and then you basically help yourself. The licenses don't belong to the university. Your university's own software licenses are a different thing.

So make sure you ask for access to MSDNAA (or ask who's the contact person for it)

 

At my school its pretty similar. We can get some Office components like Access 2003 or Visio 2007, but not any full version of Microsoft Office. Everything is $5 and requires only proof that you are enrolled in a Computer Science related class. The best options right now are Visual Studio 2005, Windows XP Professional SP2, and Vista Business. I'm sure they have something in the fine text on how these licenses are only to be used towards educational use, or at least not towards business use.

If you're looking for an IDE and your school doesnt offer Visual Studio 2005, then you can download Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 or look for something else like Eclipse, which is also a free download. I dont think you can write code in C# in Eclipse though.

 

I don't see why the whole process isn't automated. Surely they should provide you with the the username and password for MSDN's website. I can simply login and download whatever I need, and this was done the day I joined my CS department. However, I pretty certain that admin tasks are with your department, since I had to go back to my department to report corrupt VS 2005 ISO.

 

I realize that every school has different policies toward their software distribution. But i think that Microsoft and the school probably have established common certain rules and specifications to promote their software and help students. I am trying to find out these rules that are set by Microsoft but cant seem to find anything ?

pete

 

I don't think they do. From what people here have said, there are major differences. For one thing, some people mentioned having to pay $5 for each download. We get access to everything for free.

Microsoft just gives permission to the university to offer licenses to their students. How the university handles it (and, I suppose, who they're willing to give allow access, and why and when) is probably up to the university themselves.