Microsoft Developer Network
Encyclopedia
The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) is the portion of Microsoft
responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system
(OS), developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API
and scripting languages of Microsoft's applications. The relationship management is situated in assorted media: web sites, newsletter
s, developer conferences, trade media, blog
s and DVD
distribution. The life cycle of the relationships ranges from legacy support through evangelizing potential offerings.
is the centralized repository of official developer-related documentation. Document sets are published by various user assistance organizations within Microsoft, and the community has the opportunity on many of the pages to add their own annotations. Community Content contributions can be edited by anyone.
used by the community to discuss a wide variety of software development topics. MSDN Forums were migrated to an all-new platform during 2008 that provided new features designed to improve efficiency such as inline preview of threads, AJAX
filtering, and a slide-up post editor.
s of only Microsoft
employees.
on MSDN Social was first launched in 2008, built on a new web platform that has user-tagging
and feeds at its core. The goal of the social bookmarking application is to provide a method whereby members of the developer community can:
The initial release of the application provides standard features for the genre, including a bookmarklet
and import capabilities. The MSDN web site is also starting to incorporate feeds of social bookmarks from experts and the community, displayed alongside feeds from relevant bloggers.
Social Bookmarks was discontinued on October 1, 2009
.
per year per subscription, as it is offered in several tiers. Holders of such subscriptions (except the lowest library-only levels) receive new Microsoft software on DVDs or via downloads every few weeks or months. The software generally comes on specially marked MSDN discs, but contains the identical retail or volume-license software as it is released to the public.
Although in most cases the software itself functions exactly like the full product, the MSDN end-user license agreement prohibits use of the software in a business production environment. This is a legal restriction, not a technical one. As an example, MSDN regularly includes the latest Windows operating systems (such as Windows Vista
and Windows 7), server software such as SQL Server 2008, development tools such as Visual Studio, and applications like Microsoft Office
and MapPoint. For software that requires a product key, a Microsoft website generates these on demand. Such a package provides a single computer enthusiast with access to nearly everything Microsoft offers. However, a business caught with an office full of PCs and servers running the software included in an MSDN subscription without the appropriate non-MSDN licenses for those machines would be treated no differently in a software licensing audit
than if the software were obtained through piracy.
Microsoft's MSDN license agreement makes a specific exception for Microsoft Office
, allowing the subscription holder to personally use it for business purposes without needing a separate license — but only with the "MSDN Premium Subscription" and even so only "directly related to the design, development and test and/or documentation of software projects" as stated in the MSDN licensing FAQ. As would be expected, any software created with the development tools (like Visual Studio), along with the runtime components needed to use it, isn't restricted in any way by Microsoft either — such software can and regularly is used for business production purposes. The license agreement refers to several other items in the subscription and grants additional similar exceptions as appropriate.
An MSDN subscriber is entitled to activate as many copies as needed for his/her own development purposes. Therefore, if a computer enthusiast somehow has 20 computers at home which he uses himself for software development (and aren't acting as part of a business, for example, a server farm), one subscription allows all 20 of those computers to be running their own separate copy of Windows, Office, and any other Microsoft product. After a few installations, the activation keys will stop allowing automatic product activation
over the Internet, but after a telephone call to the Product Activation hotline to confirm that the installations are indeed legitimate and consistent with the license agreement, the activations are granted over the phone.
Even though an MSDN subscription is on an annual basis (for retail subscriptions—volume licensing subscriptions can be multi-year), the license to use the software, according to the agreement, does not terminate. The individual just isn't entitled to any upgrades after the subscription has expired. An MSDN subscription also allows access to obsolete software from Microsoft's past. Although they aren't included in the regular CD/DVD shipments, subscribers can download old software such as MS-DOS
5.0 and Windows 3.1 from MSDN Subscriber Downloads. Such software usually comes in the form of ISO
or floppy disk image files that allow the subscriber to reproduce the original installation media after the download.
s. Its main focus is on Microsoft's .NET platform, however it also features articles on areas such as programming practices and design patterns
. Many resources are available for free online, while others are available by mail
via a subscription.
Depending on subscription level, subscribers may receive early editions of Microsoft operating system
s or other Microsoft products (Microsoft Office
applications, Visual Studio, etc.
).
Universities and high schools can enroll in the MSDN Academic Alliance
program, which provides access to some Microsoft developer software for their computer science and engineering students (and possibly other students or faculty as well). An MSDNAA
account is not an MSDN account and cannot be used to access the subscriber's section of the MSDN website or its downloads.
MSDN2 was opened in November 2004 as a source for Visual Studio 2005 API
information, with noteworthy differences being updated web site code, conforming better to web standards and thus giving a long awaited improved support for alternative web browser
s to Internet Explorer
in the API browser. In 2008, the original MSDN cluster was retired and MSDN2 became msdn.microsoft.com.
In 1992, Bob Gunderson began writing a column in the MSDN Developer News (an actual paper-based publication) using the pseudonym "Dr.GUI". The column provided answers to questions submitted by MSDN subscribers. The caricature of Dr. GUI was based on a photo of Gunderson. When he left the MSDN team, Dennis Crain took over the Dr. GUI role and added medical humor to the column. Upon his departure, Dr. GUI became the composite identity of the original group (most notably Paul Johns) of Developer Technology Engineers that provided in-depth technical articles to the Library. The early members included: Bob Gunderson, Dale Rogerson, Ruediger R. Asche, Ken Lassesen, Nigel Thompson (a.k.a. Herman Rodent), Nancy Cluts, Paul Johns
, Dennis Crain, and Ken Bergmann. They were the best developers that could also communicate well in writing at Microsoft. Nigel Thompson was the development manager for the Windows Multimedia Extensions that originally put multimedia into Windows. As lead of this small team, he often took them rock climbing. The short climbing routes on exit 38 of I-90 provided inspiration for some and fear for others. All-in-all, it was a good place to from which to put all MSDN tasks in perspective. Ken Lassesen produced the original system (Panda) to publish MSDN on the Internet and in HTML instead of the earlier multimedia viewer engine. Dale Rogerson, Nigel Thompson and Nancy Cluts all published MS Press books while on the MSDN team. As of August 2010, few around Microsoft remember Dr. GUI and only Dennis Crain and Dale Rogerson remain employed by Microsoft.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
(OS), developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
and scripting languages of Microsoft's applications. The relationship management is situated in assorted media: web sites, newsletter
Newsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
s, developer conferences, trade media, blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
distribution. The life cycle of the relationships ranges from legacy support through evangelizing potential offerings.
Websites
MSDN's primary web presence at msdn.microsoft.com is a collection of sites for the developer community that provide information, documentation, and discussion which is authored both by Microsoft and by the community at large. Recent emphasis on and incorporation of applications such as forums, blogs, library annotations, and social bookmarking are changing the nature of the MSDN site from a one-way information service to an open dialog between Microsoft and the developer community. The main website, and most of its constituent applications below are available in 56 or more languages.Library
The MSDN LibraryMSDN Library
MSDN Library is a library of official technical documentation content intended for developers developing for Microsoft Windows. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network. The MSDN Library documents the APIs that ship with Microsoft products and also includes sample code, technical articles,...
is the centralized repository of official developer-related documentation. Document sets are published by various user assistance organizations within Microsoft, and the community has the opportunity on many of the pages to add their own annotations. Community Content contributions can be edited by anyone.
Forums
MSDN Forums are the web-based forumsInternet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
used by the community to discuss a wide variety of software development topics. MSDN Forums were migrated to an all-new platform during 2008 that provided new features designed to improve efficiency such as inline preview of threads, AJAX
Ajax
- Mythology :* Ajax , son of Telamon, ruler of Salamis and a hero in the Trojan War, also known as "Ajax the Great"* Ajax the Lesser, son of Oileus, ruler of Locris and the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War.- People :...
filtering, and a slide-up post editor.
Blogs
MSDN has their own blogging platform, which hosts the blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s of only Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
employees.
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarkingSocial bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....
on MSDN Social was first launched in 2008, built on a new web platform that has user-tagging
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...
and feeds at its core. The goal of the social bookmarking application is to provide a method whereby members of the developer community can:
- Contribute to a database of quality links on any topic from across the web. By filtering on one or more tags, (e.g. ".net" and "database") users can discover popular or recent links and subscribe to a feed of those links.
- Find and follow experts' recommended sites. Each profile page includes a feed of the user's contributions. Users can be discovered through a drop-down menu on each bookmark.
- Demonstrate their expertise through the links displayed in their profile.
- Store their favorite links online.
The initial release of the application provides standard features for the genre, including a bookmarklet
Bookmarklet
A bookmarklet is Unobtrusive JavaScript stored as the URL of a bookmark in a web browser or as a hyperlink on a web page. The term is a portmanteau of the terms bookmark and applet, however, an applet is not to be confused with a bookmarklet just as JavaScript is not to be confused with Java...
and import capabilities. The MSDN web site is also starting to incorporate feeds of social bookmarks from experts and the community, displayed alongside feeds from relevant bloggers.
Social Bookmarks was discontinued on October 1, 2009
Gallery
The MSDN Gallery is a repository of community-authored code samples and projects. New in 2008, the purpose of the site is still evolving to complement Codeplex, the open-source project hosting site from MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
.
Software subscriptions
MSDN has historically offered a subscription package whereby developers have access and licenses to use nearly all Microsoft software that has ever been released to the public. Subscriptions are sold on an annual basis, and cost anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000USDUnited States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
per year per subscription, as it is offered in several tiers. Holders of such subscriptions (except the lowest library-only levels) receive new Microsoft software on DVDs or via downloads every few weeks or months. The software generally comes on specially marked MSDN discs, but contains the identical retail or volume-license software as it is released to the public.
Although in most cases the software itself functions exactly like the full product, the MSDN end-user license agreement prohibits use of the software in a business production environment. This is a legal restriction, not a technical one. As an example, MSDN regularly includes the latest Windows operating systems (such as Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
and Windows 7), server software such as SQL Server 2008, development tools such as Visual Studio, and applications like Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
and MapPoint. For software that requires a product key, a Microsoft website generates these on demand. Such a package provides a single computer enthusiast with access to nearly everything Microsoft offers. However, a business caught with an office full of PCs and servers running the software included in an MSDN subscription without the appropriate non-MSDN licenses for those machines would be treated no differently in a software licensing audit
Software licensing audit
Software Asset Management is an organization process, which is outlined in ISO/IEC 19770-1. It is also now embraced within # ISO 27001:2005 Information Technology - Security Techniques - Information Security Management Systems - Requirements and ISO/IEC 17799:2005 Information Technology - Security...
than if the software were obtained through piracy.
Microsoft's MSDN license agreement makes a specific exception for Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
, allowing the subscription holder to personally use it for business purposes without needing a separate license — but only with the "MSDN Premium Subscription" and even so only "directly related to the design, development and test and/or documentation of software projects" as stated in the MSDN licensing FAQ. As would be expected, any software created with the development tools (like Visual Studio), along with the runtime components needed to use it, isn't restricted in any way by Microsoft either — such software can and regularly is used for business production purposes. The license agreement refers to several other items in the subscription and grants additional similar exceptions as appropriate.
An MSDN subscriber is entitled to activate as many copies as needed for his/her own development purposes. Therefore, if a computer enthusiast somehow has 20 computers at home which he uses himself for software development (and aren't acting as part of a business, for example, a server farm), one subscription allows all 20 of those computers to be running their own separate copy of Windows, Office, and any other Microsoft product. After a few installations, the activation keys will stop allowing automatic product activation
Product activation
Product activation is a license validation procedure required by some proprietary computer software programs. In one form, product activation refers to a method invented by Ric Richardson and patented by Uniloc where a software application hashes hardware serial numbers and an ID number specific...
over the Internet, but after a telephone call to the Product Activation hotline to confirm that the installations are indeed legitimate and consistent with the license agreement, the activations are granted over the phone.
Even though an MSDN subscription is on an annual basis (for retail subscriptions—volume licensing subscriptions can be multi-year), the license to use the software, according to the agreement, does not terminate. The individual just isn't entitled to any upgrades after the subscription has expired. An MSDN subscription also allows access to obsolete software from Microsoft's past. Although they aren't included in the regular CD/DVD shipments, subscribers can download old software such as MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
5.0 and Windows 3.1 from MSDN Subscriber Downloads. Such software usually comes in the form of ISO
ISO image
An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...
or floppy disk image files that allow the subscriber to reproduce the original installation media after the download.
Information service
The division runs an information service provided by Microsoft for software developerSoftware developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
s. Its main focus is on Microsoft's .NET platform, however it also features articles on areas such as programming practices and design patterns
Design pattern (computer science)
In software engineering, a design pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem within a given context in software design. A design pattern is not a finished design that can be transformed directly into code. It is a description or template for how to solve a problem that...
. Many resources are available for free online, while others are available by mail
Snail mail
Snail mail or smail is a dysphemistic retronym—named after the snail with its slow speed—used to refer to letters and missives carried by conventional postal delivery services. The phrase refers to the lag-time between dispatch of a letter and its receipt, versus the virtually instantaneous...
via a subscription.
Depending on subscription level, subscribers may receive early editions of Microsoft operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s or other Microsoft products (Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
applications, Visual Studio, etc.
Et cetera
Et cetera is a Latin expression that means "and other things", or "and so forth". It is taken directly from the Latin expression which literally means "and the rest " and is a loan-translation of the Greek "καὶ τὰ ἕτερα"...
).
Universities and high schools can enroll in the MSDN Academic Alliance
MSDN Academic Alliance
MSDN Academic Alliance is a Microsoft program available to academic organizations, mainly colleges and universities, although there is also a high school version...
program, which provides access to some Microsoft developer software for their computer science and engineering students (and possibly other students or faculty as well). An MSDNAA
MSDN Academic Alliance
MSDN Academic Alliance is a Microsoft program available to academic organizations, mainly colleges and universities, although there is also a high school version...
account is not an MSDN account and cannot be used to access the subscriber's section of the MSDN website or its downloads.
MSDN Magazine
Microsoft provides the editorial content for MSDN Magazine, a monthly publication. The magazine was created as a merger between the Microsoft Systems Journal (MSJ) and Microsoft Internet Developer (MIND) magazines in March 2000. MSJ back issues are available online. MSDN Magazine is available as a print magazine in the United States, and online in 11 languages.History
The service started in 1992, but initially only the Microsoft Developer Network CD-ROM was available. A Level II subscription was added in 1993, that included the MAPI, ODBC, TAPI and VFW SDKs.MSDN2 was opened in November 2004 as a source for Visual Studio 2005 API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
information, with noteworthy differences being updated web site code, conforming better to web standards and thus giving a long awaited improved support for alternative web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s to Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
in the API browser. In 2008, the original MSDN cluster was retired and MSDN2 became msdn.microsoft.com.
In 1992, Bob Gunderson began writing a column in the MSDN Developer News (an actual paper-based publication) using the pseudonym "Dr.GUI". The column provided answers to questions submitted by MSDN subscribers. The caricature of Dr. GUI was based on a photo of Gunderson. When he left the MSDN team, Dennis Crain took over the Dr. GUI role and added medical humor to the column. Upon his departure, Dr. GUI became the composite identity of the original group (most notably Paul Johns) of Developer Technology Engineers that provided in-depth technical articles to the Library. The early members included: Bob Gunderson, Dale Rogerson, Ruediger R. Asche, Ken Lassesen, Nigel Thompson (a.k.a. Herman Rodent), Nancy Cluts, Paul Johns
Paul Johns
Paul Victor Johns is a former professional American football player who played wide receiver for four seasons for the Seattle Seahawks in the National Football League.-External links:*...
, Dennis Crain, and Ken Bergmann. They were the best developers that could also communicate well in writing at Microsoft. Nigel Thompson was the development manager for the Windows Multimedia Extensions that originally put multimedia into Windows. As lead of this small team, he often took them rock climbing. The short climbing routes on exit 38 of I-90 provided inspiration for some and fear for others. All-in-all, it was a good place to from which to put all MSDN tasks in perspective. Ken Lassesen produced the original system (Panda) to publish MSDN on the Internet and in HTML instead of the earlier multimedia viewer engine. Dale Rogerson, Nigel Thompson and Nancy Cluts all published MS Press books while on the MSDN team. As of August 2010, few around Microsoft remember Dr. GUI and only Dennis Crain and Dale Rogerson remain employed by Microsoft.
See also
- developerWorksDeveloperWorksdeveloperWorks is a free web-based professional network and technical resource center from IBM for software developers, IT professionals, and students worldwide...
- DreamSparkDreamSparkDreamSpark is a program set up by Microsoft to provide students with software design and development tools at no charge. The program was originally available for university/college students in Belarus, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the U.K....
- MSDN LibraryMSDN LibraryMSDN Library is a library of official technical documentation content intended for developers developing for Microsoft Windows. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network. The MSDN Library documents the APIs that ship with Microsoft products and also includes sample code, technical articles,...
- TechNetMicrosoft TechNetMicrosoft TechNet is a Microsoft program and resource for technical information, news, and events for IT professionals. Along with a website, they also produce a monthly subscription magazine titled "TechNet Magazine"....
- The Code RoomThe Code RoomThe Code Room is a half-hour long reality game show produced by Microsoft. The show is hosted by Jessi Knapp who is accompanied by a varying project expert...
External links
- MSDN Home page
- MSDN Blogs
- MSDN Social Bookmarks
- Previous version of MSDN Forums
- MSDN Events
- MSDN Magazine
- MSDN Wiki beta (Visual Studio, .NET -related documentation and software drop site. No talk pages yet - Comments are meant to go elsewhere, such as Channel 9.)