DreamSpark: Free Microsoft Dev Tools For Students

As I look at a $2500 MSDN Subscription fee, this makes me very jealous. Got any friends that are students?:

"DreamSpark is simple, it's all about giving students Microsoft professional-level developer and design tools at no charge so you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology - or just get a head start on your career.

Who can get this right now?
We are kicking this off in 11 countries/regions, giving DreamSpark to millions of students in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium. If you are not residing in one of the countries listed keep checking back, we will be adding more countries throughout the year."

Applications Include:

• Visual Studio 2008 Pro
• Windows Server 2003 Standard
• SQL Server 2005 Developer
• Microsoft Expression Studio
• XNA Game Studio 2.0
• XNA Creators Club
• Visual Stuido 2005 Pro
• Express Editions of (VB, C#, C++, J#, SQL Server, Visual Web)
• Microsoft Virtual PC
  

You can access DreamSpark here: https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/

Brazil offers free Net access to Amazon tribes

Every once in a while I read a story that seems really out of place. Sort of like this one: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2007-03-30-brazil-net-amazon_N.htm?csp=34

I think it's a great idea to provide internet access to a bunch of remote tribes living in the middle of the rainforest! I can't imagine living without gmail or MSN, so why should they. Moreover, I can't imagine anything going wrong exposing them to the world VIA the internet. Change is good, and it's not like the centuries old traditions are that important.

I'm kind of stoked I could have Roberto Carlos Cinta-Largo, tribal leader of Cinta-Larga (Cinta-Larga means Broad Belt in Portuguese, a reference to the tribe’s prior habit of wearing bark sashes around the waist to cover genital regions) added as a friend on my facebook page. After all, diamonds go a long way (note to myself: remember to tell Roberto about eBay when added as a friend).

Worst case, they go online, discover Baywatch, and travel the world in search of Pamela Anderson. They develop a porn addiction and or realize airplanes are not actually real deities and probably shouldn't be worshiped. No harm done?

Best case, they make new love connections with other remote tribes women VIA Lava Life, build their important people network on hi5 - god knows it's all about connections, and sell raw diamonds really cheap on eBay.

At least, they can report the illegal mining and deforestation of the rainforest to the Brazilian government VIA VOIP instead of um ... whatever they used before VOIP and email and cell phones and MSN and ICQ and satellite phones and land lines and a um a couple cups with a piece of string .. I dunno .. however they did it - this is way better.

VOIP / GPS will be super sweet for little tribes like Funai to be able to keep in touch as they get pushed further and further into the rainforest by these logging / diamond mining white men. No longer will they have to rely on "the big tree, by the river mouth" they can find each other VIA GPS - and even give coordinates of illegal poachers to government so they can be apprehended at the scene.

My vision is a future where ...
Roberto Carlos Cinta-Largo has signed in ...
Rômulo Siqueira de Sá has signed in ...
Roberto Carlos Cinta-Largo says: Mountain Pig at 01 16.69S 60 24.47W
Rômulo Siqueira de Sá says: LOL, cooking Pirana and Frog, Good luck with Mountain Pig
Roberto Carlos Cinta-Largo says: ROTGLOL, Pirana and Frog ???????????

Over and Out