Microsoft Small Business Licensing Kick Start

Question

I seem to recall hearing at some point (I believe it was MIX09) that Microsoft has a licensing model of some sort where a business can consume licenses for up to two years, free of charge, until they reach a point where they are stable position and can pay their licensing at the end of two years. However, I can't find information regarding it online.

I want to say that possibly stackoverflow used this licensing model to kick start their site. Is anyone familiar with this?

Answer 1

You're thinking of BizSpark:

http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/

There is also the Empower program if you're an existing business, not a startup.

Answer 2

In addition to BizSpark (as per @paul) there are also WebSpark and, as of May 2010, the developer MAPS programmes.

Webspark information is here: http://www.microsoft.com/web/websitespark/default.aspx

Details of the Action Pack (MAPS) are currently here: https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40132997

I'm fairly certain that in all cases availablility varies by your location - but if you're producing stuff for/with/on Microsoft tools/platforms then they're all worth a look.