As far as I know express CDs will contain Microsoft Visual Studio Express Edition. This is a step-down version of the original Visual Studio. Its available free on Microsoft website. It is for students and light weight developers.
Desktop calenders are nothing but wallpapers with calender in foreground. The calender can be customised to mark important and present dates. There are various kinds of desktop calenders available. Which one microsoft will send is still a mystery? So keep guessing. That's the thing we can best do now.