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What is the MSDNAA
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
(MSDNAA), or just Microsoft e-Academy.
The official MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA programme?
The MSDNAA 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
MSDNAA EULA (see What
are the terms of the MSDNAA End User Licensing Agreement
(EULA)?). The EULA governs the
usage of all software which students get under the MSDNAA programme,
and must be strictly adhered to.
In essence, SIS students are not
allowed to use MSDNAA software for commercial purposes or to set up or
administer a “live” IT system.
For example, you cannot use MSDNAA
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 MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA
EULA. Hence IS480 students are allowed to use MSDNAA software for the
DEVELOPMENTAL and TESTING phrases of your IS480 project. If your
sponsor company/organization wants to host the application (developed
using MSDNAA 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.)
More information about the IS480
course can be found here.
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How
can I get the MSDNAA software?
There are 3 ways you can get a copy
of the MSDNAA software:
- The following installers are
available from the student shared drive (\\fs21\Applications\PC_Software_Image\Student).
You need to be within the SMU Intranet (you need to be VPNed
in if accessing from home) to access this drive:
Visio Professional 2007
Visio Professional 2010
Project Professional 2007
Project Professional 2010
- A selection of the MSDNAA software
is available at the SIS software repository. See here for
the list of software put up there.
For most of the MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA web
site?
Please follow the instructions
below:
Step 1. Click
here to visit the MSDNAA web site.
Step 2. If your browser warns about
a security certificate issue, see Why
is there an security certificate problem with the MSDNAA web site?.
Step 3.
Click on the product that you want to download. Click "Add To Cart".
Step 4. After you have added all the products you need to your shopping cart,
click on "Shopping Cart" at the top menu. Click "Check Out". Read and accept the
EULA.Verify your Order Information, and click on "Proceed with Order".
Step 5. The Receipt page will appear. If your product requires a product
key (license key), it will be shown in red on this screen (take note of the
product key). Click on "Download Options" for your product. A new Window will
appear with a hyperlink to download the product. When you click on this
hyperlink, a 3rd Window pops up with a "Start Download" button.
Step 6. Click
on the "Start Download" button to download an exe file. This exe file brokers
the downloading of the setup files to your laptop. Run this exe file.
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Do
I need to be on the SMU intranet (or VPNed in) to download software
from the MSDNAA web site?
No. You can visit the MSDNAA web
site and download software using any Internet-accessible network.
Some of you may experience this
problem when accessing the MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA web site?
Our MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA 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
MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA software?).
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I have downloaded an ISO or
IMG file; so how do I use it?
When you download MSDNAA software
from the MSDNAA 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
you have downloaded software from MSDNAA, your personal product (license) key
will be displayed beneath the product name if a product key is required (some
products such as Service Packs do not need a key). You can always
retrieve this product key again, by logging into the MSDNAA website. Click on
"Your Account" at the top menu to see all the items that you have previously
downloaded. The Product Keys should be visible (in red) beside each product.
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 MSDNAA 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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| 18. |
What is the
difference between the x86 and x64 versions?
You
need to find out if your laptop is a 32-bit or 64-bit laptop. You can
install a 64-bit operating system (e.g. Windows XP x64, or Windows 7
x64) only on a 64-bit laptop, though you can install a 32-bit operating
system (e.g. Windows XP x86) on a 64-bit laptop if you want (not
recommended though, because a 32-bit operating system cannot utilize
4GB of RAM, if you have got 4GB or more of RAM).
A 32-bit
software can be installed on both a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system,
but a 64-bit software can only be installed on a 64-bit operating
system. So make sure you get the correct edition of software.
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I
need technical support! Who should I contact?
If
you suspect that you are not able to visit the MSDNAA 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 MSDNAA
software (so, please do not contact SMU Helpdesk). You should ensure that your question has not already been
answered here before contacting the MSDNAA administrators.
Your "friendly"
MSDNAA administrators for SIS are:
· Mok
Heng Ngee (hnmok@smu.edu.sg)
· Lee
Yeow Leong (yllee@smu.edu.sg)
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