The student license is valid for only one year.. but its a great opportunity for students like us to use these tools for free..

It's renewable as long as you're a student

Yeah, the idea is that you like the products enough to buy them after you graduate. Microsoft does the same thing with Visual Studio directly with many colleges.

Get people to use it when they're in school, and they'll ask their employers to buy it when they start working.

And? They make a tool that is useful and multiplies my productivity. If my boss wouldn't buy it I would, and then I'd start looking for a boss who is willing to spend a reasonable amount on my toolset.

doesn't microsoft have a similar program with colleges for the last 10-15 years or so?

Yes. We use Visual Studio at school, and I can get it for free from their website. But looking at how much do the premium versions cost, I try not to get used to any of the features too much.

You shouldn't let that scare you away. There's a good article from Joel on Software about how software is priced. It might be this (it's long enough and old enough it might be right): http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckie...

but essentially you're likely to find many models of software (from large software vendors) with a lot of different models for how you can try / use / own it. My sense is that most commercial software vendors want you to use their software and want you to get it legitimately and want to find a way where you can pay what vaguely seems like it should be mutually agreeable (if you're using it educationally, there are often ways to get it for free, if you're a developer for a large organization, they want that organization to actually pay for it and support the value they're getting out of you using it).

I worked on MS Office and I once remember Sinofsky (then in charge of Office) once talking about the pricing structure of Office and saying nobody paid the ~$400 MSRP. People get it bundled with new computers, pay substantially lower upgrade fees, or something else. I don't remember if he went so far as to say "at some level, people pirate it" but that's a reality that only the really oblivious would ignore. The point is - try stuff out, see what you like, and try to figure out what makes you the most productive without worrying about "some day I won't be able to afford this" (but by all means you should also rabble-rouse if you find the prices for the software you use are unreasonable and inflexible).

All jetbrains licenses have to be renewed yearly, AFAIK. Personal licenses certainly do (unless you don't want to upgrade)

When you upgrade you receive the latest version plus updates for one year. I have a personal license and can upgrade for USD 99.00 today. You don't have to upgrade -- the software will still continue to work, but obviously you won't typically get any updates.

I bought the IntelliJ when it was not free for students around March last year. I got an email saying I could upgrade to an individual license as if I had already purchased the individual license. If I want to upgrade to IJ14, would I need to buy an upgrade or do upgrades last for a year after my purchase?

As far as I remember, you should be able to upgrade for free if it's within a year of your purchase date.

I called them and there was a policy change or something. Customer service was really friendly. Now my choices include registering for an educational license or renewing as an individual.

I am a university student, but have never been able to take advantage of these kinds of deals because my country doesn't use '.edu' domains for educational institutions. How is it in other countries? Or are these offers specifically meant to be US-only?

You can request to have your school's domain accepted. My school in Canada has a .ca domain and I have the student license.