Cost effective MS/Adobe development tools

Question

Its getting to that time where we need to get some more up to date development tools. There seems to be so many schemes, subscriptions and memberships out there which promise to offer discounts on various development tools etc. Which ones are best in terms of cost and usable software.

We are a web based company and our software is creeking its getting that old. We are looking to upgrade our Microsoft (Visual Studio, Office, IIS7, etc) and Adobe/Macromedia (Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Flash) products. Off the shelf prices are simply scary!

How can we get the gear at a sensible rate? We are only a small team of 4.

Edit: Signed up for the WebSpark membership, thanks for the pointers guys. Anything similar for Adobe. Tried googling but it seems these things are buried away with funny names!

Answer 1

Have you considered the Visual Studio Express Edition? It's feature-limited, but free. Conversely, full versions of Visual Studio are costly, but they're an investment in your team's development, and are -- hopefully -- but a fraction of your development budget when you consider software engineer salaries.

Answer 2

If you qualify Microsoft's BizSpark program might be for you.

Answer 3

For MS software, have a look at WebsiteSpark program. You can receive up to 3 licenses for VS, Expression Blend, Windows Web Server 2008 (4 CPU license) and SQL Server (4 CPU license). Program is designed for small (<=10 workers) web developing companies and works for 3 years, though. After this period MS requires to buy this software providing discount.

Answer 4

In terms of MS products: If you're developing with Microsoft tools and for Microsoft Platforms then the two "spark" programmes mentioned - probably WebsiteSpark in your case. Also the Microsoft Action Pack for non-dev tools.

Aside from the above, Visual Studio with MSDN pro seems, to me, to be about the best "value" of the dev tool offerings - you need to find a local licensing guru to get the best price.