Is a MSDN subscription worthwhile?

Question

Sure you get the OSs and Visual Studio, however:

• Do you need anything more than XP and Vista for most development?
• Visual Studio Express is fine for me.

Are there any other benefits that you actually use as part of your MSDN subscription?

Answer 1

For small companies and startups there are two cheap ways of getting an MSDN subscription.
See the empower and bizspark promotions

Answer 2

Yes, you get upcoming releases for future operating systems, as well as early betas for development products. Stuff you need if you want to be on the cutting edge of the Microsoft Technology stack.

Answer 3

Most apps don't have to run on Server 2008 or 2003. Most apps don't have to work on Windows language versions that differ from the developer's version. Therefore most developers don't need MSDN.

Most != All.

Answer 4

I use SQL Server Developer Edition instead of the Express version. There are also some canned VM images that I've found useful. I've also had to open a couple of issues with some apps that I've developed -- very useful in tracking down some interesting interactions between my app and the OS.

Answer 5

I find the most valuable part, all the OS licenses. So I can create Virtual Machines with various operating systems to test things on.

I even run one of my development environments in a VM so I can snapshot it.

Answer 6

I'm not sure. But once you subscribe, you won't want to unsubscribe because it's much cheaper to renew your license than to let it expire and purchase a new subscription again later should you actually need it.

This year will be the second year I've renewed my subscription - one day I hope to build an app which actually makes me money so I don't feel like such a chump for spending hundreds to renew it each year, lol.

Answer 7

I don't know what kind of development you do... but if its non web apps, how do you test on all of the different OSes your app might be running on if you only have XP and Vista. You need to test on 32b and 64b variants, Windows 2003, 2008 (maybe 2000, NT), etc.

MSDN makes this a lot easier, IMO. Also, if you are a Microsoft shop, MSDN gives you access to the best tools for the platform.

Answer 8

My company bought Premium subscriptions for most of the devs in my group, and it's been pretty sweet. It's just cool to be able to legally download the majority of Microsoft's software library. It's also fun to play with and learn apps/OS's that you wouldn't have been able to otherwise. Oh, and it's occasionally handy for work-related things as well :)

Answer 9

It's certainly worthwhile if you can easily spare the cash. If $600 (or whatever it would cost you) would be a sacrifice, I'd say don't sweat it.