MSDN Academic Alliance

MSDNAA (MSDN Academic Alliance) is a highly underpublicized program at Columbia that provides free Microsoft software to any student taking at least 1 credit during the semester.

Getting the Software

Students who have CRF accounts (used for certain CS classes) can download the software instantly from the MSDNAA Web site. Other students must visit the CRF offices (see directions in article) and request a CD from Daisy Nguyen.

Available Software

(Cool stuff in bold)

• Access 2007
• Exchange Server 2003 (Enterprise Edition)
• InfoPath 2007
• MSDN Library (Visual Studio .NET) - Jan. 2004 Edition
• MSDN Library - May 2006 Edition
• MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2005
• OneNote 2007
• Project Professional 2002
• Project Professional 2007
• SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition - 32-bit
• SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition - 64-bit Extended
• SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition - 64-bit Itanium
• Virtual PC 2004
• Visio for Enterprise Architects
• Visio Professional 2002 (Single User)
• Visio Professional 2007
• Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
• Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
• Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
• Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
• Visual J# .NET
• Visual J# 2005 Express Edition
• Visual SourceSafe 6.0d
• Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional
• Visual Studio .NET Academic Student Tools 2003
• Visual Studio .NET Academic Teaching Tools 2003
• Visual Studio .NET Professional 2003
• Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
• Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite
• Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System
• Windows 2000 Advanced Server (with SP4)
• Windows 2000 Professional (with SP4)
• Windows 2000 Server (with SP4)
• Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition - Disc 1
• Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition - Disc 2
• Windows Services for UNIX 3.0
• Windows XP Professional (Single User)
• Windows XP Professional (Single User) 64bit Edition
• Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Single User)

They briefly offered Windows Vista for free, but withdrew it because of complaints from CUIT, who were not yet ready to provide support for it on campus.

The Visual Studio Express editions are actually freely available to anyone and can be downloaded through the Microsoft site.

External Links

MSDNAA Columbia Page - Direct downloads for students with CRF accounts