Bill Gates
Microsoft is looking to deepen the pool of potential programmers for both its gaming and non-gaming software by offering free development tools directly to students.
As well as various software development tools for non-gaming applications, students will be able to get their hands on XNA Game Studio 2.0, which is already used by independent developers to craft games. They will also get 12-months free Academic membership in the XNA Creators Club, which will enable them to show off their games to other members.
Dubbed 'DreamSpark', the initiative is currently aimed at students in Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. Microsoft tells us that 35 million students now have access to the tools.
The company says that it is targeting as many as a billion students as it rolls out the programme to other territories and high school students.
“We want to do everything we can to equip a new generation of technology leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to harness the magic of software to improve lives, solve problems and catalyze economic growth”, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said.
"Making sure there is a strong pipeline of technically skilled students is key to the future of the global economy", said Joe Wilson, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Academic Initiatives.
"The ability to create new software and services will be an essential part of the skill set of the next generation of workers. Technology is one of the chief drivers pushing worldwide economic development and job creation", he continued in scarily obvious manner.
Microsoft has made development tools available to students in the past, but it has always been through universities, so access tended to be limited to computer science students and was dependant on universities bothering to sign up.
Along with XNA Studio 2 (and Visual Studio) comes Microsoft's Adobe Creative Suite challenger,Expression Studio, all of which are "available to all students whose studies touch on technology, design, math, science and engineering".
Gates, who - with co-founder Paul Allen - would alter timesheets for their computer time at the Seattle-based Computer Center Corporation (a company that offered time on a mainframe computer), said "I can relate very well to these student developers. For students, any fee is a barrier."†
Whoa down there one little second, Billiam! That sounds like Communistic talk to us. Students, as we all know, are lazy, good-for-nothing, drug-taking, booze-drinking party animals who like nothing more than to play Counter-Strike 23 hours a day before going mental and shooting each other... ahem.
However, on the off chance that some students are not barmy on pills and video games, making future game developers familiar with dev tools for the Xbox 360 can't hurt Microsoft.
On a related note, Microsoft has suffered a spot of embarrassment at GDC over at its XNA booth. The BBC managed to catch the footage below‡ of one of Microsoft's display consoles flashing off the Red Ring of Death, which one report recently suggested contributes to a 16% failure rate for Xbox hardware.
Source: †Reuters, ‡BBC
As well as various software development tools for non-gaming applications, students will be able to get their hands on XNA Game Studio 2.0, which is already used by independent developers to craft games. They will also get 12-months free Academic membership in the XNA Creators Club, which will enable them to show off their games to other members.
Dubbed 'DreamSpark', the initiative is currently aimed at students in Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. Microsoft tells us that 35 million students now have access to the tools.
The company says that it is targeting as many as a billion students as it rolls out the programme to other territories and high school students.
“We want to do everything we can to equip a new generation of technology leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to harness the magic of software to improve lives, solve problems and catalyze economic growth”, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said.
"Making sure there is a strong pipeline of technically skilled students is key to the future of the global economy", said Joe Wilson, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Academic Initiatives.
"The ability to create new software and services will be an essential part of the skill set of the next generation of workers. Technology is one of the chief drivers pushing worldwide economic development and job creation", he continued in scarily obvious manner.
Microsoft has made development tools available to students in the past, but it has always been through universities, so access tended to be limited to computer science students and was dependant on universities bothering to sign up.
Along with XNA Studio 2 (and Visual Studio) comes Microsoft's Adobe Creative Suite challenger,Expression Studio, all of which are "available to all students whose studies touch on technology, design, math, science and engineering".
Gates, who - with co-founder Paul Allen - would alter timesheets for their computer time at the Seattle-based Computer Center Corporation (a company that offered time on a mainframe computer), said "I can relate very well to these student developers. For students, any fee is a barrier."†
Whoa down there one little second, Billiam! That sounds like Communistic talk to us. Students, as we all know, are lazy, good-for-nothing, drug-taking, booze-drinking party animals who like nothing more than to play Counter-Strike 23 hours a day before going mental and shooting each other... ahem.
However, on the off chance that some students are not barmy on pills and video games, making future game developers familiar with dev tools for the Xbox 360 can't hurt Microsoft.
On a related note, Microsoft has suffered a spot of embarrassment at GDC over at its XNA booth. The BBC managed to catch the footage below‡ of one of Microsoft's display consoles flashing off the Red Ring of Death, which one report recently suggested contributes to a 16% failure rate for Xbox hardware.
Source: †Reuters, ‡BBC
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Microsoft
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Comments
deleted 19 Feb 2008 12:45
1/3
Fantastic RROD that couldnt be any more funny, i like how there were no MS reps about as that was happening!
My 3rd console is currently having problems with display flickering and such, although its only once every other week and a reset sorts it, i can forsee the Reaper of RROD coming along in the distance, its funny as i only started getting these problems since playing Mass Effect i dont think that game does the 360 any favours.
My 3rd console is currently having problems with display flickering and such, although its only once every other week and a reset sorts it, i can forsee the Reaper of RROD coming along in the distance, its funny as i only started getting these problems since playing Mass Effect i dont think that game does the 360 any favours.
Joji 19 Feb 2008 14:43
2/3
I like the idea of MS giving XNA2 away, but why not to everyone, in a similar way to Valve did with their software, leaving creative types a chance, regardless of being a student or not.
This is exactly why I wasn't able to enter the games industry, you seem to need degrees for everything. What if I can't afford to be a student? Make the XNA2 program free for everyone MS, or atleast make the previous version free if not. Only then will you see the untapped creative muscle out there flexed to the max.
And who would stand to benefit? MS, gamers and Live of course.
This is exactly why I wasn't able to enter the games industry, you seem to need degrees for everything. What if I can't afford to be a student? Make the XNA2 program free for everyone MS, or atleast make the previous version free if not. Only then will you see the untapped creative muscle out there flexed to the max.
And who would stand to benefit? MS, gamers and Live of course.
king skins 20 Feb 2008 12:53
3/3
XNA is already free... but there are two versions standard and pro (pro one isn't free). I think they are giving the pro version of XNA2 to students but you will still be able to get the standard version of XNA2 for free.