Antonio Bello posted on July 08, 2006 06:21

I presume that everybody knows what MSDN is, and how much it costs - it's not exactly what I define a cheap product, but it is undoubtedly of great value, since it includes all Microsoft development tools, and it's a must have for any developer involved in the Microsoft technologies.
Not everybody knows about the Empower Program, a MSDN-like subscription offered at the very low fee of 375 USD, which includes software for development, testing and internal business use along with 5 user licenses. The program is available in almost all the countries, with different prices (usually higher) outside US.
Of course, this program is subject to a set of requirements:
- limited to 1 year only, renewable for a second year only
- available once per company
- being a registered member of the Microsoft Partner Program (registration is free)
- having a company's web site
- development of a reusable software application supporting one of the required technologies
The program is equivalent to the Visual Studio Professional + MSDN Premium subscription (formerly MSDN Universal), which includes almost everything, but it doesn't include Visual Studio Team editions - in fact, Visual Studio 2005 professional only is included.
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