Check out this program called “DreamSpark“, on msdn-channel8. This is really cool, MS for once, is giving out free developer and designer tools to students around the world.

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.

Starting today (or soon in some areas), students worldwide will be able to download our professional development and design tools for free! It’s called DreamSpark and it is upon us.

At the moment it’s available for 10 countries – United States, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium but they will make it available for more countries through out the year so keep checking this page for updates. Australia and Oceania regions are not in the list yet but we are eagerly looking forward to it.

And here are the list of all the available MS products that the students can download: Product for Download

Pretty cool isn’t it? This is the best news I’ve ever come across from Microsoft these days.

This was a humongous pain for me and took quite a lot of my time so just noting down a few points for self reference. Previously, I have Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 installed on my Vista machine and they worked just fine. Now we are upgrading to VS2008, I uninstalled everything related to VS2005 then reinstall SQL Server 2005 and things got screwed up. Check out the failure list that I got – pretty much everything failed.

The worst thing about this installation is that, it takes ages to install till the end, then shows up the error message box.

Program Versions:

# SQL Server 2005 – Developer Edition
# Windows Vista Ultimate
# Visual Studio Team Suite 2008

Make sure you cross check Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2005 before installation.

The first error/warning I tried to fixed was about IIS requirement. I’m sure I have IIS7 enabled on my Vista and also enabled IIS6 compatiblity mode but that is not enough and have to enable some more features.

System Configuration Check: IIS Feature Requirement
Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is either not installed or is disabled. IIS is required by some SQL Server features. Without IIS, some SQL Server features will not be available for installation. To install all SQL Server features, install IIS from Add or Remove programs in Control Panel or enable the IIS server through the Control Panel if it is already installed, and then run SQL Server Setup again. For a list of features that depend on IIS, see Features Supported by Editions of SQL Server in Books Online.

I think it is to do with Installing SQL Server 2005 Reporting Service on Vista, untill or unless you enable all those features the Reporting services cannot be installed.

Solution:
The main features to turn on are as mentioned here but I turned on almost everything just to make sure.

More info links:
# How to install SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services on a Windows Vista-based computer
# Installation of SQL Server 2005 in Windows Vista – warning message on IIS feature requirement during System Configuration Check
# Tip for Installing SQL Server 2005 Reporting Service on Vista

Ok, this one is the weirdest error and solution I got. Don’t even ask why in the world do I need to install Office 2003 Web Component add-in while I have Office 2007 installed on my machine. I have no clue, but that’s the only solution I found which works for me. It solves the “OWC11 Setup failed error and the following error message.

ERROR 1706 Setup cannot find the required files. Check your connection to the network, or CD ROM! For other potential solutions to this problem, see c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\1033\Setup.chm

Solution
You have to download and install “Office 2003 web components” first and install SQL Server 2005 again; which then in my case cleared the error and installed successfully.
# Download: Office 2003 Add-in: Office Web Components – owc11.exe [ 17.6MB ]

After everything is done, remember to install Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2. Pheewww! That’s it!

I’ve been moving around files and programs from the old XP to a new Vista machine and Infragistics is one of the problems I get while installing on Vista. Just posting it here for my own future reference.

Program Version:

# Infragistics NetAdvantage 2005 Volume2 + hotfixes
# Windows Vista Ultimate

Problem:

The installer runs almost to the end then throws up some compatibility issues errors and didn’t get install properly. The dll library files get loaded in the GAC but cannot load the form design views and also there is no infragistics folder in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\aspnet_client.

Solution:
Need to follow these 4 steps properly.

1. Disable User Account Control (UAC)
2. Restart your machine
3. Edit the System Registry for Internet Information Services (IIS)
4. Enable IIS 6.0 Compatibility

Reference Links:

# FAQ:Installing NetAdvantage for .NET on Windows Vista
# Tip/Trick: Using IIS7 on Vista with VS 2005

Along with the MS certifications life cycle, here are lists of exams that will be retiring on March 31st 2008.

• Windows Server 2000 exams retiring March 31, 2008
• Windows NT 4.0 exams retiring March 31, 2008
• Exchange Server 2000 exams retiring March 31, 2008
• Other exams retiring March 31, 2008

Read detail info here.

This is what I mean by I.T being cool yet sux, or exciting yet pain in the god knows where! We cannot survive in I.T profession if we don’t update yourself, ie. like…forever … and ever.

Professional-series certifications (MCITP and MCPD) require an update every three years from the date that you earned the certification, or your certification will lapse.

More info: New Generation Certification Lifecycle Policies

So like, I recently done 5 exams and become MCPD – Enterprise Application Developer or whatever. I still haven’t receive the certificates yet, must have been lost along with the Cyclone Gene. I entered my home address for mailing; should have use P.O.Box or work address.

Anyhow, according to that certification lifecycle policies, those papers prove their worth for 3years; after that you can throw them away and start pursuing new set of papers. So mine will last till 2011, then what – I don’t know.

PS: The Second Shot offer extended till June 30, 2008 so you might as well take that chance and finish as much as you can.

Yippie! It’s Friday again!. Been occupied with things this week, I didn’t even realized that the week is almost over.

This whole week, I got to work on time. Oh yes, ON TIME!. Our normal office hours is 8:00 – 5:00; Normally I get to work around 8:30 – 9:30 in the morning and knock out around 5:30 – 6:00 in the evening. It’s amazing that I’m on-time this week and proud for myself. You go gal!

Come to think of it, I never wake up myself in the mornings. Every morning at 6:30, Dad bangs at my door and tries to wake me up. I never move an inch from those bangings. Around 7:00, my mb alarm shrills in my ears; what a tedious job to switch it off and go back to sleep. Around 8:00, my bro comes in and yell at my ear. He would ask whether I’ll go with Dad transport or take a taxi later. His yelling is the worst and I can’t shut him off. If I don’t budge by a few yells, he would kick me and pull me down from bed. Most dreadful thing he does is jump on my bed with his slippers on. (more…)

Dave Glover posted some good free online courses offered by Microsoft Learning. Some of them are up to 1 year subscription so you can study at your own pace. Check his attached file for more details. You have to open the file in IE but if it’s taking too long then try open in MS Word. It’s a bit messy but all links are good.