Microsoft sparks it up again

You’ve got to hand it to them. If you’re having trouble with the Web development market and Adobe is stealing your lunch, give stuff away for free.

Not only do I like the idea of helping businesses get off the ground especially in this climate, the choice of venue of the announcement was great too: PICNIC ‘09 in Amsterdam. Potato salad, Heineken, free software. It all makes sense to me.

Well, for the cursory sum of $100 that you can pay off in three years, Web design companies with 10 employees or fewer can join up in Microsoft’s WebisteSpark Program introduced today. Why?

You get free Microsoft Web design and development tools, including three licenses of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, two licenses of Microsoft Expression Web 3 and one license of Microsoft Expression Studio 3, and of course, plenty more.

Robert Miggins, senior vice president of business development for PEER 1, a Web hosting partner in the new program sums it up nicely: "BizSpark has been one of the best partner programs in the industry for helping startup businesses get off the ground, and the WebsiteSpark Program provides an even bigger opportunity for hosting companies and the Web community. We see a lot of Web developers and Web agencies choosing the Microsoft platform to build their Web applications and Web sites, and we are committed to help them be successful."