November 09, 2005

Visual Studio Express

Microsoft are providing free-as-in-beer development tools.

Is this enough?

And here's the interesting small print :


We originally announced pricing of Visual Studio Express at US$49. We are now offering Visual Studio Express for free, as a limited-in-time promotional offer, until November 6, 2006. Note that we are also offering SQL Server 2005 Express Edition as a free download, and that this offer is not limited to the same promotional pricing period as Visual Studio Express.


Translation : we don't have the courage (yet) to turn our back on the principle that software should be a product. This is just a free offer / loss leader.


Can I develop applications using the Visual Studio Express Editions to target the .NET Framework 1.1?

No, each release of Visual Studio is tied to a specific version of the .NET Framework. The Express Editions can only be used to create applications that run on the .NET Framework 2.0.


Translation : yep! This is still absolutely part of our forced upgrade policy. We want you all on .Net 2.0, now!!!

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