Apart from free food, free beer, and free speech, the next best thing is software that you don’t have to pay for. Microsoft Bizspark program is for software startups where you can get Microsoft software for free, as well as some technical support for free too. According to the entrepreneur’s handbook, the support you get is:
Get Support: Get professional support from Microsoft and get connected to BizSpark Network Partners around the world who provide a wide range of support resources for software startups. Network Partners are incubators, investors, advisors, government agencies and hosters who are vested in software-fueled innovation and entrepreneurship. Also, get access to unlimited email support, online training and invitations to local technical events for entrepreneurs working with early adopter technologies, like Windows 7, Microsoft ® Silverlight, Windows ® Azure and SQL Server® 2008.
I’ve heard positive things about the program, but I don’t actually know of anyone in the Edinburgh startup community that is on it, so if you are, then do comment about your experience.
I have to confess, until Andrew Mitchell from Informatics Ventures contacted me, I had no idea that IV was even part of BizSpark. I caught up with Andrew who mentioned that IV joined Bizspark back in Nov 2008, and that he thought Scottish startups weren’t taking enough advantage of the opportunity:
Whilst Informatics Ventures are “vendor agnostic” demonstrated, for example, by our support for the Scottish Open Source Awards and our encouragement for startups to develop Apple iPhone/iPod applications, we are particularly excited about the support startups can gain from joining Microsoft’s BizSpark program. The commercial rationale from Microsoft’s side is clear and they are being upfront about this; they want more startups to build global blockbuster products and services on their platform. But with thousands of pounds worth of software being made available for free to startups, no catches, this is a great opportunity which ever way you look at it and even if your current offering is built on an open source stack.
Informatics Ventures recently attended the Microsoft BizSpark Summit in London, where a large number of startups on the BizSpark program were presenting, pitching and networking. With only one Scottish company there, this got Andrew Mitchell thinking that Scotland isn’t taking advantage of BizSpark as much as we could or should. So Informatics Ventures is starting a major push to raise awareness of this great opportunity for Scotland’s startups and get more companies taking advantage of the BizSpark program.
So, if you are interested and meet the criteria of being a privately held company developing a software product or service, which is registered in less than 3 years, with less than one million US Dollars in revenue, then you’re eligible. More info is available here: http://bit.ly/bizsparkuk
Oh and of course, it would be wrong not to mention Sun Startup Essentials too …
StartupCafe 
p.s. the Scottish company at the BizSpark Summit was Borders based http://www.moneydashboard.com/ One of the very early adopters of BizSpark out of the 20,000 or so around the world who have taken advantage of the program.
i’m on bizspark but so far i’ve used it for one purpose only: to get a win7 license. no matter how much free stuff they throw at me, i’m not going to switch from open source tools i know well and languages i’ve used for years to a proprietary format that will, in the long run, cost me money.
they do throw some cool events and the people there are cool, but just giving things away to startups isn’t enough imo. there’s zero incentive to switch IMO. so it’s great if you’re already developing on MS platforms or are starting from scratch and your developer/technical cofounder is a microsoft type, but if you’re a django/rails/LAMP shop, you’ll just use it for free versions of office and windows mostly. on the other hand, free versions of office and windows aren’t entirely to be sniffed at. even if you use linux/mac platforms as I do, people will still insist on sending you docx files…