Free SWAG Babies

Visual Studio Express Editions - Free For One Year

David Totzke — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:50:00 GMT

And we all love free stuff don't we?

Get the details here:

Dave
Just because I can...

Visual Studio 2005 Express Beta Products

David Totzke — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 08:32:00 GMT

That's right! Launched at TechEd Europe just hours ago. Go to the VS 2005 Express Homepage for all the details. You can also read the Express Team's Blog.

You can also check out the C# RSS Reader sample application that comes with the C# Express Edition.

How about an Express Edition of SQL Server 2005? You got it!

Oh, and did I mention that these are available to ANYONE! No MSDN subscriptions required.

Also announced at TechEd is the MSDN Product Feedback Center. Now that's cool!

Wow! What an exciting day!

Dave
Just because I can...

Getting the Hookup with Vendors

David Totzke — Sun, 23 May 2004 18:25:00 GMT

Code Diva and Marketing Gal Sara Faatz, just gave a facinating presentation on the best way to get your user group plugged into the vendor community. I think there are three main take-a-ways from this talk.

Look professional. Having a laid back meeting and group structure is great, but your public face to the vendor community should be as professional as possible. It doesn't take much. An up to date web site is a good start.
Give them some Ammo. The Developer Marketing people within the vendors need to be able to justify the expenditure. This can be as simple as providing them with so?me simple numbers about your group. How many members? What is the average attendance at your meetings? What is the cost per head?
Finally, feedback. Have the person or persons that got the swag send an email to the vendor thanking them for their contribution. Get someone to write a review. REGISTER the software. A lot of times the software is full working versions. Registration hooks you into free updates and all the priveledges that go along with a fully licensed purchase but you get it for FREE.

Stay tuned...

Dave
Just because I can...

Free CodeSmith License

David Totzke — Sun, 23 May 2004 18:15:00 GMT

Scott Hanselman is giving away a free license to everyone that attends his code generation BOF session. See the link below for more details.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=69d9d50f-4b56-4e56-b104-f574f8c48156