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What is the MSDN AA
programme all about?
The Microsoft
Developer Network (MSDN) programme is a subscription programme which allows
subscribing software companies to use a wide range of Microsoft software –
including beta and release candidate versions – for developmental purposes.
Microsoft has extended the MSDN programme to universities and educational
institutions, and has called it MSDN Academic Alliance (MSDN AA), or just
Microsoft e-Academy.
The official MSDN
AA home page maintained by Microsoft is here. More information such as which institutions are
eligible to be subscribing members etc can be found there.
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Why aren’t the other schools
in SMU members of the MSDN AA programme?
The MSDN AA
programme is targeted at (and is relevant only for) schools offering STEMD
(Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Design) courses.
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What can I do with the
software which I get under this programme?
For details, please
refer to the MSDN AA EULA (see What are the terms of the MSDN AA End
User Licensing
Agreement (EULA)?). The EULA governs the usage of
all software which students get under the MSDN AA programme, and must be
strictly adhered to.
In essence, SIS
students are not allowed to use MSDN AA software for commercial purposes or to
set up or administer a “live” IT system.
For example, you
cannot use MSDN AA software to develop an application for sale, or for other
forms of remuneration. If you are employed by a company to do development work,
you are NOT allowed to use MSDN AA software for such purposes; the company
employing you must purchase their own Microsoft software licenses. (It does not
matter if the company is a charity or non-profit organization.)
In the event that
an academic project created using MSDN AA tools has become so successful that
there are plans to commercialize it, a separate commercial license for the
relevant tools has to be purchased by the student or sponsor before proceeding.
Remember that MSDN
AA software is to be used only for academic purposes (i.e. as part of your
coursework in the university, research, academic projects).
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What are the terms of the MSDN
AA End User Licensing Agreement (EULA)?
Everything’s
here. You are
strongly encouraged to take a look at the licensing terms. By obtaining a copy
of the MSDN AA software and using it, you have agreed to these terms.
Do take note that
students are personally liable for any violation of the EULA.
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Can I share the software with someone else?
Obviously not. The
product license key issued to you is clearly non-transferable as well. You are
responsible for the confidentiality of the key issued to you. Please do not
share the software or license key with anyone else.
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Do I have to uninstall the MSDN AA software after I graduate
from SIS?
No. This license
is non-transferable but perpetual. You don’t have to uninstall the tools on your
personal laptops after completing your course at SIS, but the stipulation of
“academic use only” remains.
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Can I use MSDN AA software for my IS Application Project
(IS480)?
We have cleared up
the ambiguity with Microsoft as to whether usage of software for your IS
Application Project (a.k.a. your Final Year Project) can be considered
“academic” or “commercial” as defined in the EULA: your IS480 project (IS
Application Project) is officially considered a STEMD instructional course as
defined under the MSDN AA EULA. Hence IS480 students are allowed to use MSDN AA
software for the DEVELOPMENTAL and TESTING phrases of your IS480 project. If
your sponsor company/organization wants to host the application (developed using
MSDN AA tools) for live production, your sponsor must purchase the relevant
Microsoft licenses for production purposes.
(Suggestion: if you
need only Visual Studio.NET IDE and SQL Server for your IS480, and you do not
need advanced features beyond those offered by the Express Edition, you should
download and use Visual Studio.NET Express instead of the Professional Edition.
VS.NET and SQL Server Express are free for commercial usage; there is no
licensing restrictions for applications built using Visual Studio Express
Editions. See here
for the official VS.NET Express web site and here for their
excellent FAQ.)
Please direct all
other enquiries concerning is480 to the FYP course coordinator. More information
about the IS480 course can be found here.
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How can I get the MSDN AA software?
There are 3 ways
you can get a copy of the MSDN AA software:
1.
Visio Professional 2007
2.
Project Professional 2007
3.
Visio Professional 2010
4.
Project Professional 2010
- A selection of the MSDN AA software is available at the
SIS software repository. See here for the list of software put up
there.
For most of the
MSDN AA software, you need to obtain your personal product license key (which
will be required during installation). See How do I find my product registration key
which is required for installation?.
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How do I download software from the MSDN AA web site?
Please follow
the instructions below:
Step 1. Click
here
to visit the MSDN AA web site.
Step 2. If
your browser warns about a security certificate issue, see Why is there an security
certificate problem with the MSDN AA web site?.
Step 3. Click
"Click to Login to E-Academy". If you are already logged into the SMU network,
you will be authenticated automatically. Otherwise, you will be asked for your
SMU user ID and password. Your user ID will be your student/staff ID (e.g.
smustu\peter.pan.2009, or smustf\peter.pan).
Step 4. Click
the To order new software link:
Step 5. Select
the software you want to download from the drop-down list and click Go.
Step 6. Click Add To Cart: 
Step 7. Read
the terms and conditions, then check the I Agree
checkbox to agree with the terms and conditions. Remember that you have agreed
to abide by the licensing agreement by checking this box.
Step 8. Click Check Out.
Step 9. When
prompted for your name and email address, enter them and click Next:
Step 10. Click
the Download link.
Step 11. If a product license key is
required for installation, it will be shown on this screen. Note down your
product license key and click Download. Your
download will begin shortly:
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Do I need to be on the SMU intranet (or VPNed in) to download software from the MSDN AA web site?
No. You can visit
the MSDN AA web site and download software using any Internet-accessible
network.
Some of you may
experience this problem when accessing the MSDN AA web site from OUTSIDE the SMU
network using IE:
After clicking on Click to Login to
E-Academy in the next screenshot:
You fail to be
forwarded correctly:
If you meet this
problem, hit Alt-T in IE to
access the Tools menu. Select Internet Options. Switch to the Advanced
tab, and uncheck the Enable Windows Integrated
Authentication box. Click OK, restart IE and try to visit the web
site again:
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Why is there a security certificate problem with the MSDN AA
web site?
Our MSDN AA web site uses a
self-generated digital certificate (i.e. we did not purchase a digital
certificate from the Certifying Authorities). Therefore, your browser will show
a warning message that the digital certificate used by this web site is not
valid.
Important: before continuing, check that the URL is legitimate (https://codebeamer.smu.edu.sg/...). For IE users, click "Continue to this website (not recommended)" to proceed:
For Firefox users, you can add this
URL as an exception so that this security certificate error does not appear
again when you next visit the same site:
Step 1. Click on the Or you can add an exception… link.
Step 2. Click Add Exception…
Step 3. Click Get Certificate. 
Step 4. Click Confirm Security Exception.
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I cannot find Microsoft Office in the list of software to
download… where is it?
Microsoft Office is
not available under the MSDN AA programme (several Office-related tools such as
OneNote, SharePoint Server, Project and Visio are available though).
Nevertheless, SMU has purchased a campus-wide license for all students, staff
and faculty for the installation and usage of Microsoft Office 2007.
Please visit or
contact the SMU Helpdesk
to find out how to obtain a licensed copy.
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Why is the downloading taking so long?
The MSDN AA server which doles out software is hosted in the USA, and not in
Singapore. The SMU network may be experiencing very heavy traffic during office
hours, and downloading huge files like MSDN AA software will take significant
time. It is highly recommended to perform the downloading after office hours or
from home using your own broadband network.
You can test the
downloading speed of the network you are currently connected to using free
services such as www.speedtest.net.
Alternatively, you
can get the software from the software repository (See How can I get the MSDN AA software?).
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I have downloaded an ISO or IMG file; so how do I use it?
When you download
MSDN AA software from the MSDN AA web site, you will be getting either an
executable (.exe file), an IMG file, or an ISO file after a successful download.
An EXE file is straightforward - you just run it.
Some installers (such as VS.NET 2010 Pro) are distributed as IMG files. Simply
rename the file extension to ".ISO" and treat it like an ISO file.
An ISO file
is an image which is meant to be burnt to a CD or DVD (See here for a more
comprehensive description).
You can either:
- Burn the ISO file to a CD or DVD. Most burner software
such as Nero or Roxio which comes pre-installed on
your laptop should be able to recognize ISO files.
- Alternatively there are several software applications
(some of which are free) which enable you to “open” an ISO file to extract the
contents to your hard disk without a need to burn them onto a physical CD/DVD.
The following software can be used to extract files from an ISO:
7-zip. There are tools which allow you to emulate a DVD/CD drive so that
your ISO image can be used as if it is already burned out and inserted into a
drive:
Daemon Tools Lite.
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My ISO image extracts to a single README.TXT file! Why is this so?
This is a common issue when extractor tools such as 7-zip are
used to view the contents of an ISO file.
There are 2 possible reasons for this: the ISO file is corrupted
(not properly downloaded etc), in which case you will need to get another copy
of the ISO file. Before reaching that conclusion though, try to "open" that ISO
file using a virtual drive tool such as Daemon Tools Lite. It is possible that
the ISO file works after all.
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How do I find my product registration key which is required for
installation?
After
downloading any software from the MSDN AA web site, you can obtain your product
license key by clicking on the "Download" link displayed after the login page: 
If you have
obtained the installer from other sources (e.g. through the student shared
folder or software repository), you will still need to “place an order” for that
software via the MSDN AA web site in order to see your allocated product license
key. Your license key is personal and unique; please do not share it with anyone
else.
By default, each
student is only allocated 1 product license key for each software product. In
the event that you need additional keys for the same product, you will have to
make a special request by sending an email to the administrator.
If your product
license key has been invalidated because it has been used too many times, see
here.
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When I entered my product registration key, a message appeared to
tell me that the serial number has been rendered invalid because the software
has been activated too many times. How do I solve this problem?
The product license
keys issued are meant for 1-time usage (i.e. for the installation of 1 copy of
the software on 1 machine). In order to prevent abuse of keys, you will have to
activate your software over the Internet after installation. Microsoft keeps
track of these keys and how many times they have been used.
Keys which have
been used repeatedly for multiple installations will be rendered invalid, and
you will get an error message which looks like this:
You will need to
contact Microsoft licensing in order to re-activate your personal key (follow
the instructions in the error message. i.e. “click Back and choose the telephone option”). Please contact the
administrator if you encounter problems with
re-activation.
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I need technical support! Who should I contact?
If you suspect that you are not able to visit the MSDN AA web site because of
network connectivity issues within SMU, please contact the SMU Helpdesk.
The SMU Helpdesk is NOT providing technical support for usage or installation
of MSDN AA software. You should ensure that your question has not already been
answered here before contacting the MSDN AA administrators.
The friendly MSDN AA administrators for
SIS are:
·
Mok Heng Ngee (hnmok@smu.edu.sg)
·
Lee Yeow Leong (yllee@smu.edu.sg)
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