Express Editions Permanently Free, and New Starter Kits

Hot off the presses, teh Visual Studio Express Editions will be permanently
free: http://forums.asp.net/thread/1262185.aspx

This is great news for programmers of all stripes.  Even better news are
some of the cool starter kits:

Beta: Skype Wrapper for .NET Starter
Kit

The Beta of the Skype Wrapper for .NET Starter
Kit is a managed code wrapper with samples that enables to programmatically
connect and consume Skype services from Visual
Basic, Visual
C#, Visual
J#, or Visual
C++ Express.

Teacher Starter
Kit

The Teacher Starter Kit is a rich client
application for keeping track of students, course rosters, and assessments or
grades using Visual
Basic or Visual C# Express.

Maker Faire Demo: Skype Home
Automation

The Skype
Home Automation extends the Skype Starter Kit to show how
you can use an instant messaging application to communicate with a home server
for the purposes of automation and monitoring, like checking if the lights are
on, or even play your favorite music.