Sharepoint Designer Gratis

Tenia un tiempo de saber esta muy buena noticia para todos los que estamos en sharepoint pero por NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) no podia publicarlo hasta el dia de Hoy.

A partir del 2 de abril la descarga de Sharepoint Designer sera completamente gratuita, es importante mencionar que esto no implica que el producto dejara de ser producido o sera abandonado, todo lo contrario ya que la nueva version que aparecera con sharepoint 14 tambien sera un download gratuito, asi como el frontpage 2003 para los que trabajan en Sharepoint 2003

Pueden descargarlo del siquiente link

Les dejo la nota oficial y el preguntas frecuentes sobre esta muy buena noticia

SharePoint Designer 2007Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Licensing ChangesApril 2, 2009
SUMMARY
· Customers tell us that a significant part of the customization capabilities of SharePoint Designer 2007 are seen as an extension of what SharePoint already does.
· In order to continue promoting custom solutions built on SharePoint, and based on this customer feedback, we are making SharePoint Designer 2007 available as a free download starting on April 2, 2009.
· Customers on active Software Assurance as of April 1, 2009 will get rights to Expression Web.

GENERAL

1. What is Microsoft announcing?One of the key aspects of the SharePoint value proposition is its ability to support customized solutions built on our platform. Our strategy is to facilitate the creation of these customizations and allow our customers to make the most of their overall investments in SharePoint. In addition, we hear more and more that customers want to be able to create dynamic web sites on SharePoint. Based on this feedback from our customers, we are making SharePoint Designer 2007 available as a free download starting on April 2, 2009. To “make it right” with our Software Assurance (SA) customers, those customers on Software Assurance for SharePoint Designer 2007 as of April 1, 2009, will be granted rights to Expression Web.

2. What exactly are “SharePoint customizations” and why are they important to Microsoft’s strategic direction?Our different SharePoint server offerings provide a number of capabilities that can help improve organizational effectiveness through comprehensive content management and enterprise search, support for shared business processes and workflows, and capabilities for information-sharing and better business insight, across intranet, extranet, and internet-facing applications, all within one platform. SharePoint customizations include sophisticated no-code solutions such as Data Views, reports, and workflow tracking built by our customers quickly and easily using menus, task panes, and templates. In addition, our platform provides IT professionals and developers with the building blocks and tools for interoperability and extensibility that they need to build customized business solutions on SharePoint.

3. What is the value of this to me as a customer? SharePoint delivers great out-of-the-box functionality. However, the majority of our customers use SharePoint to create custom portal solutions, extranets and intranets, internet-facing sites, collaboration solutions, social networking sites, business processes, and internal applications on top of the extensive capabilities of SharePoint to fulfill their specific business needs. In addition, through SharePoint customizations, customers can integrate and extend their existing enterprise applications to improve the productivity of an organization, increase its agility, and to obtain higher returns on these application investments.

4. Is this product change in reaction to our competitors or other external circumstances, such as the current economy?

As part of Microsoft’s regular strategy reviews, we consulted with many of our customers. Their feedback consistently stressed the value of SharePoint customizations for their business. They also expressed to us how many of the capabilities of SharePoint Designer are seen as “natural” capabilities of SharePoint.

5. What are they key things I should know as a customer?You should know the following:
o Our strategy is to ensure that customers create more and more customizations on SharePoint. We want customers to see the value of SharePoint Designer through their overall investment in SharePoint, and we want to continue helping our customers create dynamic and sophisticated user experiences in SharePoint.
o SharePoint Designer will be available as a free download starting on April 2, 2009.
o Customers should not be purchasing any more licenses of SharePoint Designer, but instead download the product for free at our site (http://www.microsoft.com/spd).
o Customers on active Software Assurance on SharePoint Designer as of April 1, 2009 will get upgrade rights to Expression Web.
o Future versions of SharePoint Designer will also be available as a free download. The next version of SharePoint Designer will ship simultaneously with the next version of SharePoint.
Additional resources and information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/spd.
ROADMAP, PRICING, LICENSING & SUPPORT

6. What will happen to SharePoint Designer? Customization is a critical capability and significant component of the value of SharePoint and Microsoft will continue marketing and R&D investment in this area in future product releases. As a product available for free, however, SharePoint Designer 2007 will no longer be a standalone item on the Microsoft price list as of April 1, 2009. Organizations interested in SharePoint Designer 2007 can obtain it via download for free from http://www.microsoft.com/spd starting on that date. Future releases of SharePoint Designer will also be free. The next version of SharePoint Designer will be available simultaneously with the release of the next version of SharePoint.

7. How do I acquire SharePoint Designer 2007?
SharePoint Designer can be obtained it via free download from http://www.microsoft.com/spd starting on April 2, 2009.

8. Does this mean that SharePoint Designer will be removed from the pricelist? Will that happen immediately?
As a free product, SharePoint Designer 2007 will be removed from the pricelist on April 1, 2009.

9. What about customers who have purchased SharePoint Designer up until now? How will Microsoft “make it right” with them?
Customers with Software Assurance active on SharePoint Designer 2007 as of April 1, 2009 will get upgrade rights to Expression Web.

10. But Expression Web does not currently support SharePoint sites. When will that change?
Expression Web does not currently support SharePoint sites directly. However, we are working to ensure that Expression Web becomes an excellent choice for SharePoint customization. This capability will be available in a future version of Expression Web. In the mean time, customers who receive this Software Assurance benefit should continue to use SharePoint Designer for their SharePoint needs, and can utilize Expression Web for other non SharePoint needs.

11. What value will Expression Web bring to SharePoint?
Expression Web and Expression Suite help professional designers create modern, dynamic and interactive sites that incorporate Silverlight applications and rich media, and it will be an excellent choice for creating great experiences and interactive SharePoint sites, especially as part of the full Expression Suite.

12. What about customer support for SharePoint Designer?
Our customer support policies remain unchanged. We will continue to support all SharePoint Designer customers per our existing support policy. Please visit http://support.microsoft.com/ph/11677.

13. Will customers get a refund if they purchased SharePoint Designer 2007?
No. Microsoft does not refund money on products purchased.

14. What about when SharePoint “v-next” ships? What will happen then?SharePoint Designer “v-next” will be available simultaneously with the release of the next version of SharePoint, and it will also be a free download.

15. What about legacy products such as FrontPage?Many legacy FrontPage customers transitioned to SharePoint Designer. If a customer is active on Software Assurance on SharePoint Designer as of April 1, 2009, it will get rights to Expression Web. Also, current customers of Expression Web are already eligible to use Microsoft FrontPage 2003 in place of Expression Web. Therefore, customers who get rights to Expression Web through these SA benefits of SharePoint Designer 2007 automatically receive that option as well.

16. Will customers still be able to purchase SharePoint Designer if they require more licenses for an existing deployment?No. Organizations should not purchase SharePoint Designer licenses. Organizations interested in SharePoint Designer can obtain it via download from http://www.microsoft.com/spd starting on April 2, 2009.

17. I am a customer of SharePoint Online or interested in it. What does all this mean to me?Microsoft SharePoint Online is a Microsoft-hosted solution that provides a single, integrated location where employees can efficiently collaborate with team members, find organizational resources, search your site, manage content and workflow, and leverage business insight to make better-informed decisions.Because SharePoint Online is based on SharePoint Server, SharePoint Designer can customize SharePoint Online sites. The customization capabilities that are not supported in the current version of SharePoint Online are primarily the use of code in workflows or forms, or modifications that require deployment and configuration on the server (for example, security policies, web.config changes, etc.) or that require changes to the database schema. More information about SharePoint Online can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/online/sharepoint-online.mspx.If I have additional questions, who do I contact?Your account team or Microsoft partner is there to assist you and can provide you with any additional information. Also, we will be providing resources and information at http://www.microsoft.com/spd

Noticia Oficial

One of the key aspects of the SharePoint value proposition is its ability to support customized solutions built on our platform. Our strategy is to facilitate the creation of these customizations and allow our customers to make the most of their overall investments in SharePoint. Based on the feedback from our customers, we are making SharePoint Designer 2007 available as a free download to all customers of SharePoint and Windows SharePoint Services products. This change takes effect on April 1, 2009. It is important to note that SharePoint Designer 2007 is NOT going end-of-life. The future release of SharePoint Designer will be released simultaneously with the next release of the next version of SharePoint. In addition, customers on SA will be granted rights to Expression Web