Visual Studio Express any good ?

Question

We all know Visual Studio is one of the best IDEs out there but what about the free Express edition. Is it any good ? Would any of you use it for serious work ?

Answer 1

The wall I just ran into is that it won't take 3rd party extensions.

Answer 2

I don't use any add-ons in VS, so to me Express is just as good. I'd absolutely would use it for 'serious work'.

Answer 3

I have VB.Net Express, C++ Express, and C# Express installed on my home (and now work) and I am very pleased with them. They can do a lot of great stuff, and most of the more premium features I have not missed.

Would I use it for serious work: yes, I expect to do that until I can afford an MSDN license.

Answer 4

It's as good at the "regular version" and can readily be used for "serious" work.

The main differences center around team features and enterprise features. For a developer or small team just starting out there aren't too many things you'd miss.

Answer 5

I have Visual Studio 2005 Standard and the Express editions of the 2008 tools at home. (I use VS2005 at work; we haven't brought 2008 into the fold just yet.)

Here's what I like about the Express Editions:

• Free! (Face it, that's a BIG plus)
• Pretty powerful, for the price
• Very similar interface/L&F when compared with the "real" versions

Here's what I dislike about the Express Editions:

• No support for 3rd party extensions (not that there are many I need, but still ... )
• No support for integrating with Source Safe or other source code control systems (this kills me, even at home)

If you can live with the (very few) limitations, and you're on a tight budget, go for it.

Answer 6

The problem with Visual Studio Express is that it is crippled, as long as you only want to use it with what it comes with you are ok, but you cannot extend it. To be fair though, it comes with an awful lot, so maybe.

Another option for you is SharpDevelop, it's surprisingly good and it can be extended (in fact you can download the source for it) In fact maybe the best option is have both, they can run side by side and share the same project file format.

Answer 7

VS Express can be extended - and has extensions available. There is even a project type for specifically building Express extensions. What this means is that anybody making a VS extension would have to make two packages: One for VS and one for VS express. Nearly everybody just makes the VS extensions - could be a Microsoft licensing issue.

The most notable VS express extension: XNA Game Studio - works with VS Express 2005, but NOT full VS 2005.

The two weaknesses of VS Express are therefore: 1. The lack of extensions (but there are some available). 2. The inability to mix languages in a single workspace, because each language uses a separate IDE.

Answer 8

If it meets your needs it's a great tool.

See this question for details on what the VS Express editions do not have: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/86562/what-is-missing-in-the-visual-studio-express-editions

Answer 9

I've been very satisfied with VS Express, only thing that I miss from the full version at my office is the deployment package projects. No support for those in the express editions unfortunatly, but I was able to bypass that a tad with a 3rd party free deployment package builder called Install Creator.

Answer 10

Visual Studio Express is quite good and can be used for serious development. However, it does have certain limitations. You should really look at the comparison of all VS SKUs to determine whether Express will meet your needs.

Answer 11

It has been suggested that VS Express cannot be used for commercial interest:

See Microsofts FAQ page for VS Express - specifically question #7:

'7. Can I use Express Editions for commercial use? Yes, there are no licensing restrictions for applications built using Visual Studio Express Editions.

Answer 12

Yeah I think the Microsoft business plan around it, and what you should probably look into doing/using, is this:

1. Download and use Visual Studio Express Editions
2. Use Visual Studio Express Editions to learn .NET/Windows/ASP.NET development (there's a C++ version so it doesn't have to be .NET)
3. Make money using Visual Studio Express Editions
4. Outgrow Visual Studio Express Editions
5. Purchase Visual Studio 2008 with your newfound wealth and desire for more features.

Answer 13

I used VS Express as my primary development environment for about two years.

If I were using SourceSafe I'd probably have found the lack of source-control integration to be prohibitive, because if you need to check out each file before you can work on it, having to leave the IDE to do it really hurts. But I'm using Subversion and really never missed integration with the IDE.

I'd probably still be using it if I hadn't needed to use Resharper and Memory Profiler.

Answer 14

The C++ compiler supplied with Express is the same optomising compiler in all the other editions.
With vs2008 MS have a really quite nice and standards compliant C++ compiler. Herb Sutter must have some influence!

Answer 15

I use Visual Studio 2008 Express at work - absolutely brilliant as an IDE although we compile using various other tools..

Answer 16

We use express edition, but we found out (afx.h compile problem) that:
"MFC and ATL are not included with Visual C++ 2008 Express. MFC and ATL will be included in Visual Studio 2008 Standard and above editions" Se this link (question #32).

Answer 17

I use Visual C# and C++ Express Editions. Yes, there are features missing, like plugins and MFC. But as I don't need them, I'm not planning any upgrade to full version for now.

Answer 18

I had trouble with Visual Studio Express (C++) 2008 (with service pack 1) on Windows Vista, with debugging. Any time I did anything such as (a) break the program, (b) set focus from the app back to the IDE, (c) resume execution, the program hung for about 30 seconds. Task Manager showed "VSExpress.exe" consuming an entire CPU for the duration. Vista showed "Not responding" in the IDE's title bar during this time.

This was driving me bonkers so I bought a commercial copy of Visual Studio Professional 2008 ($150 from SoftwareSurplus) and this solved the problem.

Answer 19

Missing the reporting tools is a killer for me.

Answer 20

Missing Ghostdoc or other extensions is a disappointment for me. Guess I've gotta find some other documentation generator, as I don't want to pay for the full thing.

I miss java. Things like reference docs and customizing your IDE and stuff were much better in eclipse based environments. Unfortunately my current project requires C# and in that area VS is sadly still the best option.