BizSpark FAQ for Phone 7 Developers: MS Products, Azure, etc.

[kenikh]

I've been seeing a lot more interest lately from the XDA community regarding Azure and figure it is worth starting a thread to try to answer some basic questions.

First, I'll be up front with everyone...BizSpark is my day job, I work for Microsoft and technology evangelism is my passion. I can think of few things more exciting than what the Cloud is going to bring to the market through mobile device in the next few years. We know who's going to be on the front lines of driving this innovation: you are. So let's answer those questions:

1. How does someone get Azure for free through BizSpark?
   
   Sign up for a BizSpark account here
   ​
   This is the updated site that offers information: BizSpark Azure.
   Deal is, you sign up for the introductory offer (free), set your subscription to (not “Auto Renew”), and then after 16 months sign up for the BizSpark Azure (Again, free) for the end of your agreement.
   ​
2. Who qualifies?
   
   Yes, there are qualifications, but pretty much anyone who cares enough about software development to be reading this sub-forumon XDA will qualify. If you are actively developing software, you aren't developing this project for a publicly traded company, your project/startup is less than three years old and is making less than US $1M annually, you qualify. That simple.
   ​
3. What other products can I get?
   
   BizSpark pretty much gives you a premier MSDN account for three years, so if it is on MSDN, you can use it. Dfinitly everything you car about: Visual Studio, all of the Expressions products, etc.
   
   Many products have stipulations that they be used for development purposes only, but Azure, Server, SQL, etc can be used in production, meaning you can go live, host your product and try to make some money with it.
   ​
4. Can I get a free AppHub developer account, too?
   
   No, but there's always hope...
   
   ​
5. Why is Microsoft giving their stuff away for free?
   
   Because there should be no excuses for startup developers to not have access to the best software development tools on the planet.
   ​

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or send me an email through the board.

 

[williammel]

I thought this could be a cool idea so I applied, and got denied about 6 hours later. The email told me I do not qualify and to look into Dreamspark or a MSDN account.

 

[ameel]

I thought this could be a cool idea so I applied, and got denied about 6 hours later. The email told me I do not qualify and to look into Dreamspark or a MSDN account.

let me try and see...

 

[tiwas]

I applied, but...my company is older than three years, but has only done software dev for one year. Hopefully I'll be allowed in, but not holding my breath. Might actually still be cheaper to create a new company and apply via that

 

[kenikh]

Anyone having problems, contact me directly:

kenikh at microsoft dot com

 

[tiwas]

Cheers! Will do

 

[seraph1024]

For those weary about bizspark, it is a great thing for start ups. There are other things that come with it... not just free software. I am glad someone from MSFT is here to talk about it. You do need to be less than 3 years old and make less than a million dollars in revenue in a year -- which is always the case for most startups.

- L

BizSpark Business

 

[TheRomMistress]

Sign up for a BizSpark account here
​

This is the updated site that offers information: BizSpark Azure.
Deal is, you sign up for the introductory offer (free), set your subscription to (not “Auto Renew”), and then after 16 months sign up for the BizSpark Azure (Again, free) for the end of your agreement.
​

BizSpark Azure link is broken

 

[agarp]

BizSpark site is temporarily down
will try whe it goes live again

 

[Lurk]

I thought it was the project OR company

"your project/startup is less than three years old "

I'll give it a try anyway.

Thanks for the info.

*** Edit ***

Didn't qualify. They didn't say why, but my company is older than 3 years.

Too bad, so sad, back to work!

Oh yea, Shout out to the XDA community. I've enjoyed lurking her for years now. Lots of beautiful things and creative ideas. Thanks so very much!!!

 

[kenikh]

Site is up: http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/

I've been slow to reply to PMs, but will try to get through the backlog today.

 

[dougthug]

Giving it a try now. I'm hardly a "company" or "start-up", but I write software and have a couple of projects that I would like to begin working with .Net for. Also, the idea of a premier MSDN account is a nice idea. It's like high school all over again, just trying to get some acceptance .

 

[UstesGreenridge]

giving it a try now, this would be sweet considering I am developing a word search game.

 

[Synssins]

Signed up yesterday, and PM sent. This would be fantastic.

 

[unubtanium]

Anyone having problems, contact me directly:

kenikh at microsoft dot com

Hope you can help.

 

[kenikh]

All emails replied to

 

[dougthug]

Giving it a try now. I'm hardly a "company" or "start-up", but I write software and have a couple of projects that I would like to begin working with .Net for. Also, the idea of a premier MSDN account is a nice idea. It's like high school all over again, just trying to get some acceptance .

It's better than high school, I just got my acceptance email this morning. I'm all signed up and rocking. Good lookin' out. I appreciate the heads up. Now to code something .

 

[andyav]

Thank you for sharing this with the community. I applied for an account and recieved a reply back saying that I did not meet all the eligibility requirments at this time.

 

[unubtanium]

I am 4ever gratefull! This will help ALOT!

 

[mupets_revenge]

Got accepted just finishing configuring my push notifications server in the cloud!

Really amazing offer thanks for pointing me to it and the help via email very very very much appreciated