Does anyone know when solidworks 2009 is coming out or is it already out? Thanks guys.
Unless you have $5k+ to spend on a license, you won’t be able to get a legal copy of it.
the 2008 educational version would likely be released somewhere around then though.
I’ve always found it best to be one revision behind whatever is current-then you miss out on most of the bugs and other initial release problems.
The commercial version of SW2009 should come out early October (based on the dates of the launch parties). More info here: http://www.solidworkslaunch.com/
the 2008 educational version would likely be released somewhere around then though.
The '08 Student Edition is available since June or July, which is when it is usually released (in time for the upcoming school year).
While I agree with Cory about always staying one revision behind major software releases, you don’t have to buy a license of SolidWorks to get one for personal use provided that you are employed by a company which uses SolidWorks.
The commercial license of SolidWorks stipulates that for every license you buy, you get to install it on two computers used by the same end user. E.g. you get one copy for the workstation computer and a second copy to install on a personal computer to use at home.
Now while this may not apply to many of the high school students, engineering mentors can take advantage of this offer. 
One of the people we go through in order to buy MasterCam can get us a great deal on Solidworks 2009. But I was wondering if it was out yet or when it was coming out.
Here at FANUC Robotics we have been using SolidWorks since SW97 (SW95 was the first year in case you were wondering) and we have always found it best to be lagging in the revision year. For 2008, we just converted over in June. We usually wait for Service Pack 2 before installing. We are a Beta tester and we find that waiting until service pack 2 is best from a bug fix standpoint.