MS DreamSpark (MSDN Academic Alliance)

The Department of Computer Science is licensed under the Microsoft DreamSpark program (also known MSDN Academic Alliance), which enables all current faculty, staff, and students to access software available under the program. This allows the department to provide legal copies of certain Microsoft software for academic and non-commercial use.

For more details and to access software, see The Department DreamSpark Site.

Access

Undergraduate students registered in a Computer Science class in the current term are eligible to access the DreamSpark software library. Please note that access in the current term is given to undergrad students the day after the last day students can make registration changes without penalty. Due to changes in the DreamSpark system students will not be notified when access has been enabled.

 

The dates that undergraduate students will gain access to the software library are as follows:
  • 2012-2013 Regular Session Term 1 - September 20, 2012
  • 2012-2013 Regular Session Term 2 - January 17, 2013
  • 2013 Summer Session Term 1 - May 11, 2013
  • 2013 Summer Session Term 2 - July 03, 2013

 

Computer Science faculty, graduate students, and staff will continue to have access to the DreamSpark library while part of the department unless notified.

Login information

Faculty, staff, and students use their NSID and associated password to log onto the DreamSpark website. Please note that although the DreamSpark website is hosted on non U of S servers that authentication (where nsid and passwords are entered) is done on a U of S server.

Do NOT use the DreamSpark website Change Password feature as this will not work and you will be giving your NSID password to a non U of S entity. Only use U o f S services (i.e. PAWS or SSAM) to change your NSID password.

Email from the DreamSpark system

As per U of S policy all email from DreamSpark website servers will be sent to your NSID account hosted on mail.usask.ca (abc123@mail.usask.ca). If you prefer a reading your email from a different account you will have to set up your @mail.usask.ca account to be forwarded to that account.

Available Software Products

The MS DreamSpark Preamium subscription allows the Department to supply several Microsoft products to students for academic use. Examples are:

  • All Microsoft Operating Systems
  • Visual Studio (non express versions)
  • Visio Professional
  • Project Professional
  • MSDN Library

The list of software available changes over time. For a detailed list of the software currently available, please see The Department DreamSpark Site.

When do new software titles become available?

A little insight into the process:

Software titles are first released to DreamSpark subscribers, of which the Department of Computer Science is one. We will make these releases available t o staff and faculty in certain circumstances and use it ourselves to install it into the undergraduate labs. But we prefer that faculty, staff, and students acce ss the software through the E-Academy site as E-Academy handles the issuing of keys, tracking downloads, reporting to Microsoft, etc. (much less work and headache s for us).

E-Academy is classed as a "reseller" of Microsoft products so they do not receive the new titles until Microsoft releases it to all resellers. This c an be anywhere from a few days to several weeks after the DreamSpark release date. Once E-Academy receives the release they are able to configure the software as bei ng available for their clients, of which the Department of Computer Science is one. The time from receiving to making available varies from a few days to a week or so in practice.

Acquiring Software

All provided software packages are available one or more of the following delivery options:

  • Downloading of CD or DVD ISO images. These images are intended to be used to make a CD or DVD using the appropriate disc burning software.
  • Direct delivery from Microsoft. Discs may be purchase for a small fee directly from Microsoft. The fees are typically less then US$20.00 plus shipping.

NOTE: Regarding downloads...

The downloads are compressed and encrypted. A small Windows based application is used to download and unwrap the ISO image file. This means that the downloading must be done from a Windows OS based computer.

CD/DVD burners and burning software are available to Computer Science students in the Computer Science undergraduate laboratories (Spinks addition third floor ).

  • Thorv S360
  • Thorv S315
  • Thorv S311/S320

If downloading at home on a Windows machine and you do not have software that can create a CD from an ISO image file check out ISO Recorder .

Restrictions

You can only access the DreamSpark site and software while you are part of the Department of Computer Science; as in currently taking a class offered by the department or on payroll in the department.

This means that as an undergraduate student you will not have access to the DreamSpark site in between terms (ex: during summer) or during a term that you are not taking a class offered by the Department of Computer Science.

Required Reading

Below are links to the End User Licensing Agreement and Acceptable Usage Policies. You should read these before you go to request and software.

Further Assistance

If you have further questions please contact CS Library Help at library at cs.usask.ca or drop by Thorv S306 during office hours.