Microsoft offers free download for Imagine Cup contestants

Software giant, Microsoft has concluded plans to offer Imagine Cup contestants free download of 18 of its products, which the firm said is reward for schools and students who elect to take part in the contest.

Imagine Cup is the brand’s global premiere student technology competition created by Microsoft slated to take place in Poland, this July and Microsoft Nigeria is actively encouraging schools and students across country to compete for a place in the final. Development Platform Manager for Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Ken Spann, said that only registered Imagine Cup participants would download 18 Microsoft products for free.

He said that the Imagine Cup encourages young people in tertiary education to apply their imagination, their passion and their creativity to technology innovations that could be made a difference in the world today. Now in its eighth year, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a truly global competition focused on finding solutions to real world issues.

“Every major success in the world started out as just an idea in the mind of one person somewhere in the world,” he said, stressing that this was the recipe that inspired Microsoft to create the Imagine Cup.

“What begins with a burst of inspiration and a lot of hard work can become a future software breakthrough, a future career, or a flourishing new industry,” he said.

The contest, he explained is open to students around the world, and draws serious talent, just as the competition is intense, even as it spans a year, beginning with local and, regional contests which then culminate in a pan-African contest.

The winners of this contest, he said, then, go on to attend the worldwide finals with a cash prize of USD25,000 awarded to the winning team.

ITRealms Online recalled that in 2009 more than 158 Nigerian students competed for a place in the finals which took place in Cairo, Egypt.

This year, Champion Infotel gathered that Microsoft aims to encourage up to 500 students to compete from 25 schools across the country. While the regional finals are determined among the 25 teams selected to travel to Poland to compete in the 2010 Imagine Cup finals will take place in May.

Among the 18 products available for free download are Windows Server 2008 R2 on which the following products can be installed: Visual Studio Beta 2010 Ultimate, Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, SQL Server 2008 Developer and Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R.2.

For a complete listing of products available for free download, students have been advised to visit: https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/ProductList.aspx.

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