I maintain several old MFC applications using Visual Studio 7 and I was considering upgrading to Visual Studio 2008. After reading this question, I realise that the Express edition will not be able to do this.
Does anyone know if I will be able to compile old MFC apps with VS2008 Standard edition or will I need to get the more expensive Professional edition ?
Yes, the Standard edition includes support for MFC/ATL.
FYI you can compare the features
You'll have everything you need to build an MFC application with Standard edition. Be warned, though, if it is an application of any size or complexity it will not simply be a matter of upgrading the project/solution files and hitting F5. There are plenty of breaking changes between VS7 and 2008, most introduced in the V8 compiler. Roll up your sleeves.