How do we get free software without using torrent trackers

    When writing any service, you always first of all come across the question of choosing an infrastructure - which language to write, which frameworks to use, which hosting to choose, and so on. The selection criteria include an assessment of the necessary requirements for the technologies and products under consideration for the future service, their knowledge, as well as cost. The total cost of the technologies involved in the Edusty service amounted to more than 120,000 rubles . About what technologies these are and how we received them absolutely free of charge I will tell further.




    In the fall of 2012, when Edusty existed only in the form of an idea in our head, we did not think about what technologies we would use for the service. There was only an understanding that there should be clients for smartphones. On October 23, 2012, Microsoft held Windows 8 Summit in Moscow, a free conference dedicated to the release of Windows 8, after which I, like all other participants, was invited to the WOWZAPP hackathon. At this hackathon, everyone could write an application for the Windows Store in 3 days and 2 nights and get prizes. My idea of ​​an application that could be implemented in 3 days did not occur to me. I just talked with people, looked at interesting projects and as a result decided to join one developer. His idea didn’t reach the final, but for the stage performance we were given incentive prizes - a thematic circle and a Microsoft BizSpark Startup card. He took a mug for himself.

    Microsoft BizSpark Startup involves creating a startup page on the corresponding portal, as well as connecting up to 7 employees to it, each of which is issued a 3-year MSDN Ultimate subscription. This fact became the decisive factor in the choice of technologies for the future service, because it solved the problem of hosting (Windows Azure), test server (Windows Server 2012), database server (MS SQL Server), Windows for working PCs, version control systems, task accounting and bugs (TFS) and so on.



    The Windows Azure platform is not necessarily ASP .NET for web applications (any technology and operating system can be used on it), however, we decided to write the server part on ASP .NET MVC Web API, since, for example, none of us knew PHP , and I already knew C # and the Web API template made it quick and easy to start writing a RESTful service. In Windows Azure, we deployed a database server for storing service data and a BLOB container for storing avatars and attachments. Windows Azure allows you to conveniently create and configure services with which you can perform periodic actions. For example, we created a service to delete files from a BLOB container that are not tied to any records in the service.

    After starting the service, we needed to make a small advertising site to which we would link (including at the beginning of this article). Of course, the first thought was to place it in Windows Azure, in the same place as the service. However, if the domain azurewebsites.net is normal for the service , then the site would be more beautiful. After registering the edusty.ru domain , we tried to bind it to Windows Azure, but even following all the instructions and tips we still couldn’t do it. Making some changes and waiting for the DNS update, it took more than a week, and the site was already needed in working condition, so I had to place it on a third-party hosting.



    The Microsoft BizSpark Startup program, in addition to the MSDN subscription, involves promoting a startup and finding investors. To do this, you need to fill out a startup profile on the appropriate portal and describe the methods of monetization. When our participation in this program had just begun, we had just begun to work out the idea of ​​the service itself, which was supposed to be the sum of our master's work at the university, and therefore we were not bothered by the issue of monetization. After almost 2 years, we launched the service and are only now working on possible ways to monetize, and so we have not yet taken advantage of the promotion opportunity in BizSpark Startup.

    In less than a year, we’ll expire in the Microsoft BizSpark Startup program and in order to continue using the software that we received from the subscription, you must go through Graduation and pay $ 100 (you still have to pay). You also have to start paying for Windows Azure.

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