Today Bill Gates announced the availability of DreamSpark in his speech to Stanford University.DreamSpark will allows students around the world download professional development and design tools for free.

The following cutting-edge software will be available to empower students to unlock their ingenuity by building critical skills:

Microsoft developer tools. Visual Studio is the Swiss Army knife of computer programming. These professional-grade products provide a security-enhanced and reliable environment, enabling students to program everything from a cell phone to a robot or to create their own Web page. Students will also be able to invent compelling new gaming content and make their dream game a reality by porting their creations to their Xbox 360 console.

  • Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
  • Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
  • XNA Game Studio 2.0
  • 12-month free Academic membership in the XNA Creators Club

Microsoft designer tools. This ultra-versatile suite of tools will enable students to vividly bring their creative visions to life in vibrant new Web site designs and more effective digital content, including animation, imagery and photography.

  • Expression Studio, including
  • Expression Web
  • Expression Blend
  • Expression Design
  • Expression Media

Microsoft platform resources. The foundation for development and design platforms, these products deliver a security-enhanced, reliable and manageable environment for students to more quickly turn ideas into reality.

  • SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
  • Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Virtual PC

DreamSpark is currently available in 11 countries - United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium. It will be available to all higher education students in India very soon. So if you are an student in India then lookout at this space for an announcement very soon.

Catch Max Zuckerman with Bill Gates talk about DreamSpark in an exclusive interview with Channel 8.