Free Software For Students
I no longer write new content at tenghamn.com, you can find my new web related content at GoPHP.io and my personal blog posts at Ma.rkus.io.
My favorite domain registrar is NameSilo and if you use the affiliate link here it helps me earn some money from my writing: https://www.namesilo.com/pricing.php?rid=ee81e92mn, thanks! If you are new to NameSilo you can use my coupon, MARKUSTENGHAMN to save $1.00.
This post has been migrated and imported into different systems over the years, I have not had a chance to format this post manually so it may be hard to read but I have left it here as a reference.
As a computer science student I have learned of many places where I can find software and resources to help me with my studies. Over time I have been able to compile a list of a lot of the free software that you can receive as a student. These are real offers from companies like Microsoft, Autodesk and more! Below is my list of where you will find free software for students.
Microsoft DreamSpark (https://www.dreamspark.com/)
Here you will find many different pieces of software directly from Microsoft. You will find things like Visual Studio, XNA Game Studio, SQL Server and more at no cost at all as long as you are a stundent.
[caption id=”attachment_5594” align=”alignnone” width=”300”](image removed) Autodesk[/caption]
Autodesk (http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/all)
If you want to get into 3D modelling as a student then Autodesk is your place to go, they offer software like their 3DS MAX for free which would otherwise cost you over $3000 if you were to buy it.
Github Student Pack (https://education.github.com/pack)
The Github Student Pack is a combination of freebies and discounts from Github and many other companies.
Free alternatives
Sometimes you may be in need of expensive software which you are unable to afford, however most of the time there will be free alternatives to this software which is just as good. Here is a list of some alternatives which I have used over the years.
OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/)
A great replacement for Microsoft Office.
GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/)
An alternative to Photoshop.
Blender (http://www.blender.org/)
A great alternative to software like 3DS Max and Cinema 4D. I actually use this for some of my own projects that I am working on right now. The Blender Foundation put together a pretty awesome video to show what Blender is capable of producing. Watch it below.
Inkscape (https://inkscape.org/en/)
Good alternative to Adobe Illustrator or other vector based editors.
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
Perfect if you need to record a few sound clips for a project.
Filezilla (https://filezilla-project.org/)
The best FTP client out there!
VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/)
Perfect for playing any kind of video files.
Microsoft Expression Web (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36179)
A great tool for making and editing simple html websites and prototypes.