Given the recent release of VS 2010 I was shocked to see the pricing structure for the different versions of the product. I was lucky enough to receive free versions of VS 2005 and 2008 from attending various MS events. For the hacking I do at home I'm not sure I'm going to spend the money to purchase the IDE and wanted to see what others were using.
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7
+22
A:
As you mentioned, you could always try using a copy of Visual Studio Express. That is probably your best bet for doing Windows development - why not try it out to see if it meets your needs?
Justin Ethier
2010-05-07 19:11:34
Beat me to the punch. +1
Chris Lively
2010-05-07 19:12:57
Express editions really only lack the "power" features. For actual development (and assuming you're not reliant on some add-ins) express editions are really easy to get you going and compile software just the same as the full package.*Although you miss out on unit testing features i believe :(*
Aren
2010-05-07 19:13:34
@Aren: You can still do unit testing, but you might miss out on the fancy automated integrated feature-laden built-in unit testing.
FrustratedWithFormsDesigner
2010-05-07 19:19:09
In regards to paying for the upgrade, $300 isn't a bad price but in the past I only had to pay $150 for the upgrade of standard edition and according to Microsoft terms you could use the upgrade price if you were upgrading from free IDE's such as Express Editions, Eclipse, etc. Again, not that $300 is an awful price just pointing that fact out.
Eric Neunaber
2010-05-07 19:35:33
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Express editions will be the closest match to the pro versions. This is what I have been using myself for personal projects.
Oded
2010-05-07 19:12:32
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If you're talking about just playing at home, then why not just get the express edition?
Chris Lively
2010-05-07 19:12:34
I'm a very big fan of Resharper and not being able to use that or other Refactoring tools is a huge deterrent for me. For me one of the frustrating parts is A) to get the better IDE we have to pay B) to make the IDE as good as a free Java IDE we have to buy tools like ReSharper.
Eric Neunaber
2010-05-07 19:39:03
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The express editions are intended for 'hacking at home' and will probably give you the most value for the money.
The choice for one of the others would depend on your intended platforms.
Henk Holterman
2010-05-07 19:12:43
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I think that Express Edition is enough to test some .NET features at home. Obviously, if you need to use it to build a commercial solution, you must buy the IDE. Note that it is very powerful and I think that it is a good investment.
Maurizio Reginelli
2010-05-07 19:13:14
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Express editions for personal development. If you're doing professional development just go through the process to become a MS certified partner and get pretty much every professional software tool MS makes for free.
tloach
2010-05-07 19:15:23
If you make and sell software you can qualify for the ISV competency by going through the Windows 7 logo self-test process and getting three of your customers to give you testimonials on the partner site. You will then get effectively 5-10 copies of everything for less than the retail price of one msdn subscription.
Kate Gregory
2010-05-07 20:21:47
How could I forget BizSpark? If you're making software and your company is less than 3 years old (and has less than a million dollars a year revenue) you can have all of it for free for three years? And not Express, the real editions.
Kate Gregory
2010-05-07 23:27:32
+1
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There's an interesting post on Rob Conery's blog about using Vim for .Net development. I'm not certain I can really recommend this, but it's food for thought all the same.
Bayard Randel
2010-05-09 21:41:48