Tech.Ed 2008 – Student Day, DreamSpark, Students2Business, Mobility *Smackdown* and Microsoft Surface

Where to start!? Microsoft’s Tech.Ed 2008 brought with some fantastic initiatives for students (DreamSpark and Students2Business), some great sessions (Mobility *Smackdown*) and some cool technology (Microsoft Surface).

Here’s a quick run down of my experiences during the week (some photos below, more on Facebook):

Student Day

Tech.Ed Student Day was split into two halves: in the morning, over 1000 high school kids packed into the auditorium to hear from a range of people, one of those being Microsoft’s Senior Director of Academic Initiatives, Joe Wilson. Joe pointed out that innovation in the IT industry always seems to be pioneered by people under the age of 25 – we’ve got big shoes to fill!

What do companies like Dell, Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, AOL, Facebook all have in common? They were all started by people under the age of 25.

In the afternoon session, Joe launched a number of fantastic Microsoft initiatives: DreamSpark, Students2Business and Imagine Cup.

DreamSpark – www.dreamspark.com

Microsoft DreamSpark is a program that provides no-cost access to Microsoft designer and development tools for verified students around the world to support and advance their learning and skills through technical design, technology, maths, science and engineering activities. This program is intended to equip tomorrow’s developers and designers (you guys!) with the professional tools to inspire and create today.

At www.dreamspark.com, Australian students can now download all of the following software, for free:

• Microsoft developer tools:
  • Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
  • Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
  • XNA Game Studio 2.0
  • 12-month free membership in the XNA Creators Club
• Microsoft designer tools:
  • Expression Web
  • Expression Blend
  • Expression Design
  • Expression Media
• Microsoft platform resources:
  • SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
  • Windows Server, Standard Edition

Anything you make with this software can be distributed with a non-commercial license, so head over to Microsoft’s Channel 8, download the software, get your serials, and start innovating!

Students2Business – http://www.s2bprogram.com/Australia/

Basically what happens is this: universities and training centres work hand in hand with Aussie companies to provide students with internship opportunities. The S2B portal allows the various parties involved in the process to register in a common location and be easily linked up, matching qualified job candidates with open positions that may be suitable.

- from Andrew Parsons’ blog

The program has only just been launched, and already it’s making headlines!

Mobility *Smackdown*

Voted the most popular session at Tech.Ed last year, this year the Mobility Smackdown was sure to be a winner. This session was “A Team”-themed – all the presenters and “helpers” (us) were dressed up in army/camo gear – with a whole bunch of demos on and relating to Windows Mobile devices.

To Roger Lawrence’s delight, some of the participants ended up eating Apple and BlackBerry!! (strudel)

What do you want to carry around fruit in your pocket for? It’ll just go rotten!
– One of the many jokes about the Apple iPhone

Microsoft Surface – “the coffee table that will change the world”

Without a doubt, playing with one of Australia’s first two Microsoft Surface tables was excellent.

Microsoft Surface had barely landed in Australia, yet Tatham Oddie was able to pull together a pretty cool little application that allows you to place his Tech.Ed 2008 pass on the Microsoft Surface, and customise your Tech.Ed session timetable for the week! Pretty cool – imagine what the Amnesia guys are going to get up to with this.