Microsoft offers free licenses of certain software products to students at colleges and universities that participate in the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Academic Alliance (AA). If your college or university participates in this program, you have the opportunity to obtain hundreds of dollars of software, for free. Here is a partial list of the software you can obtain:
• Microsoft Access 2010
• OneNote
• Expression Studio
• Windows 2008 Server
• Microsoft Project 2010
• Visual Studio Developer
• SQL Server 2008
• Visio
a. Search www.microsoft.com, www.google.com, or www.bing.com and determine the function of each of these software products.
b. Which of these software products are operating systems and which are application programs?
c. Which of these programs are DBMS products (the subject of the next chapter)?
d. Which of these programs should you download and install tonight?
e. Either (1) download and install the programs in your answer to part d, or (2) explain why you would not choose to do so.
f. Does the MSDN AA provide an unfair advantage to Microsoft? Why or why not?