If you are a new (less than three years old) startup or entrepreneur developing a software product there is a new program available from Microsoft you should know about. The program, called Bizspark, is designed to accelerate the success of early stage Startups by providing fast and easy access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools and productions licenses of server products, with no upfront costs and minimal requirements.
If you join the Bizspark program you will be provided with a MSDN Premiere license which gives you access to all of Microsoft development products including Visual Studio 2008 Team edition and production licenses for Windows Server 2003/2008, SQL Server 2005, Sharepoint Portal Server, and Biztalk server.
In order to be accepted into the Bizspark program you must be sponsored by a Microsoft Network Partner. Last week I applied and was approved on behalf of my department at Georgia Tech to be a network partner for companies located in Georgia. So if you are interested in participating in Bizspark send me an email or leave a comment (make sure you provide an email so I can contact you).