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UMass MSDN Academic Alliance Synopsis

Students and faculty at the University of Massachusetts are among the first in the nation to use a state-of-the-art package of Microsoft software and resources designed to enhance teaching and research at national universities. Through a special partnership with Microsoft Research, UMass students and faculty have free access to the program of services, which Microsoft estimates is valued at $2,299 per eligible user. The new program, called Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance (MSDN-AA), will be used at UMass exclusively for instruction and research.

Scott Williams, University Program Manager, Microsoft Research, said Microsoft University Relations works with the top 50 tier-one research institutions in North America on a one-to-one basis, to build relationships that enhance teaching and learning, inspire technological innovation, and establish Microsoft as a leading technology partner for higher education. Microsoft Research conducts both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering, and works toward the goal of developing new technologies to simplify and enhance the user's computing experience, reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and facilitate the creation of new types of software.

Here is a synopsis of the program: An academic MSDN Universal subscription includes a special license addendum that enables departments to load an unlimited number of copies of most products in MSDN on their lab machines for instructional and research use only (may not be used to run infrastructure). As well, students in the department will be able to download any software in MSDN to their personal machines for their own use.