Microsoft Student Developer Program DreamSpark Rebranded to Microsoft Imagine

Microsoft DreamSpark is a program from Microsoft that was created to not only encourage students to learn how to code using the latest Microsoft technologies but to also give them access to those tools at no cost.

This free offering lowered the cost of entry for students and eliminated a major hurdle for them to begin exploring what it means to build modern apps using high quality tools and having access to cloud services to implement their creativity. There are also premium offers for low cost subscriptions that make even more tools and services available to students and faculty.

Now the program that has sparked so many dreams is changing its identity but the program itself and everything it offers is staying in place.

Last week Microsoft announced their plan to re-brand Microsoft DreamSpark to Microsoft Imagine and laid out the following elements of the switch over:

The DreamSpark portal has already shifted over to Microsoft Imagine name as have their social media channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

If this is the first time you have heard of this program then you definitely want to check it out for your students because they can get the following services at no cost to start on their way to learning about development in the Microsoft stack.

Azure Notification Hubs - keeps you in touch with users by enabling you to send mobile push notifications tailored by audience, language, and location using any back end, and major mobile platforms.

Azure Mobile Apps - your cross-platform mobile app gains a cloud backend providing a variety of essential app services including authentication, social integration, offline data sync, and more, regardless of whether your app runs on Windows 10, iOS, or Android.

SQL Database - build secure, global SaaS applications that support massive scale.

Azure App Service Web Apps - is a part of a fully managed cloud offering that enables you to build and deploy web apps in seconds. Use ASP.NET, Java, PHP, Node.js or Python. Run popular web apps and CMS solutions. Set up continuous integration and deployment workflows with VSO, GitHub, TeamCity, Hudson or BitBucket – enabling you to automatically build, test and deploy your web app on each successful code check-in or integration tests.

MySQL Database from ClearDB - adds the power of MySQL to your Web Apps. With clearDB MySQL you can deploy more kinds of web apps and CMS solutions such as WordPress, Joomla, Acquia Drupal, phpBB, and more.

Azure Machine Learning Studio - Max Number of Modules per Experiment 100, Max Experiment Duration 1 hour per experiment, Max Storage Space 10 GB Single Node

Visual Studio Application Insights - provides you with the deep diagnostics and performance telemetry to ensure your web apps and services are running at their maximum potential. Search and analyze your data to continuously improve your application, prioritize future investments and improve the overall customer experience.

Visual Studio Team Services - collaboration tools that work with your existing IDE or editor, so your team can work effectively on software projects of a team of upto 5 for FREE.

PowerBI - Data Capacity 1Gb/user, content refresh cycle 1 day, streaming data support 10k rows/hour.

Learn more about Microsoft Imagine and begin the enrollment process over at the Microsoft Imagine website.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.

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