If you’ve been wanting to get into using ArcGIS but can’t afford the commercial price tag, Esri is offering a very cheap alternative. The ArcGIS for Home Use Program allows non-commercial personal use of the ArcView (soon to be called ArcGIS for Desktop Basic with the release of ArcGIS 10.1) and seven extensions including Spatial Analyst, Network Analyst, and 3D Analyst. The license costs $100 for a 12-month period. This annual fee allows for the home use or personal use of the ArcGIS suite of GIS software along with its most popular extensions.
If you’re a student attending an educational institute running a qualified Esri Campus-Wide Site Licenses, the deal is even better. A year-long license covering ArcView and associate extensions is free.
I’m actually using the Education edition right now, and it is actually a full ArcInfo license. Will that change when 10.1 is released?