“Nothing is comparable to the joy of getting precious things for free!”
It needs no telling that genuine software are pricey and often beyond of reach especially for the students. Having said that, the software giant Microsoft came forward and took the initiative to offer hundreds of its genuine software and developer tools to the students and academicians for FREE. The program is titled as MSDN Academic Alliance, popularly known as MSDNAA. Under this program, Microsoft and North South University (Bangladesh) has signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to make the latest Microsoft software available in labs, classrooms, and on student PCs. At the same time, MSDNAA aims to build a community of instructors who can share curriculum and other learning resources to support the use of Microsoft’s latest technologies. To make this happen, the “MSDNAA Install Fest” was held in North South University (NSU) during the Spring, 2011 for the first time. The four days (3-6 April’11) long event, organized by the team of Microsoft Student Partners (MSP) created much hype in the campus and was a great success.
Following the legacy of that success, the 2nd MSDNAA Install Fest was scheduled from 20 Nov to 23 Nov, 2011. As part of the preparation, the MSPs of NSU had a meeting and initial plan was outlined. The MSPs were formed in groups and tasks were assigned to them, so that the event gets well organized. The permission from NSU authority was already taken and NSU Information Service Department (ISD) provided us full support by providing multimedia projector, sound system and other logistic supports. Microsoft Bangladesh Limited sent all the promotional materials for the event along with a PC to make the registration process get going, thanks to Omi Azad for his tremendous support and guidance! These days almost everyone is in Facebook, so we created an event for the Install Fest to spread out the words. The promotion got a boost when we projected the vibrant trailer of Imagine Cup 2012.
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On November 20th, we setup the Install Fest booth at our chosen space. While the MSPs were working hard, the track from the Imagine Cup-2012 was rocking the floor. Students were gathering at the booth long before the actual scheduled time (11:00 AM). As soon as the clock hit 11, we started the registration process through five PCs in parallel. All the PCs were equipped with the registration app (developed by MSP, Anam) to keep the information of the registrants. Like the previous Install Fest, all were required to bring the copy of their own NSU ID and must have a Windows Live email ID to get registered. Students came in groups with a happy smile and excitement in their face. MSPs were busy answering the queries and providing assistance. Since the web store for the NSU MSDNAA was ready and the copies of software were available at NSU’s local web resource, we showed the whole process to the new registrants.
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The event went well for rest of the four days; eventually we had to extend it to an hour more because of the requests from the students. In all, Microsoft Academic Alliance truly has set a new tradition in campus by offering tools and resources for the students and would work as catalyst to developing their skills. Personally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all MSPs and other volunteers to make this happen and become a proud part of it.
Written By: Khan Mehedi Al Reaz
Microsoft Student Partners Campus Lead, North South University