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Visual Studio Express to Remain Free

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

April 19, 2006, 1:30 PM

Microsoft said Wednesday it had decided to extend the free availability of Visual Studio Express Edition indefinitely, citing the immense response from customers that amounted in the tool being downloaded over 5 million times. VS Express was initially going to be offered free for just one year.

A number of Microsoft partners have made use of Visual Studio Express to build developer communities around their products. The Redmond company cited examples of LEGO, eBay and Phidgets among those who are providing resources and code to software developers.

" All Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions including Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual J#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer Express will be free permanently," exclaimed Dan Fernandez, lead product manager for Visual Studio Express.

Fernandez also announced a number of new content "starter kits" for those using Visual Studio Express. Among those packages listed on his blog are LEGO Mindstorms, Skype, MediaShare Messenger, and a Classifieds Site Starter Kit.

Microsoft additionally launched a contest called "Made in Express" offering $10,000 in prizes.

"Our thanks again to you, the Visual Studio Express community, for making Express so successful and we hope to continue building great tools and samples to enable the next generation of developers," added Fernandez.

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By betanewsjunkie

edited Apr 20, 2006 - 3:19 PM

Now all we need is for Borland to follow suit with a "free" version of Delphi. Even better Borland, why not just release an older version of Delphi as Open Source, say version 5.

Score: 0

By joeljkp

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 2:31 PM

I'm not trying to brag with this, but surely I'm not the only one who saw this coming? When they announced the "free for a year" thing, my response was "yeah, right, they'll keep it free forever." If the goal of VSE is to cater to new developers without a big budget, it doesn't make any sense to charge for them at all, especially with the new competition from the likes of Python.

Score: 0

By kgs51

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 12:49 PM

I think this is great that they are going to keep it free. It's a good marketing tool for MS because it gives further access to MS products to individuals like myself who could not afford VS.NET.

Score: 0

By mrmatt

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 8:39 AM

Now id like to see MS make an express version of Windows for people who can't afford or don't want a full blown version of Windows.
as for the dumb arse comment By Gerwin
"Yeah, and make one of those horrible IE-only websites..."
A little research goes a long way

Score: 0

By templar™

edited Apr 20, 2006 - 4:37 AM

I still feel that ALL of their development tools should be free or at least sold cheaply.

But perhaps because I'm too used to being spoiled by awesome free Java IDEs, such as Eclipse. VS.NET still has a few years to go before it can catch up with Eclipse.

Anyway, VSE is still a great product in its own right.

Score: 0

By jshurst

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 1:40 AM

This is great news. I recommend any developer out there try these out if you haven't already. They are great products!

Score: 0

By zridling

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 12:35 AM

One word: Wow.

Score: 0

By iamtux

edited Apr 20, 2006 - 2:23 AM

sweet! thanks msft! i've been developing in vb.net express 05 since beta 2, and i've loved it. it actually makes me want to spring for the full version.

Score: 0

By amed

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 10:50 PM

hmm maybe i should stop using php and mysql and turn to VS

Score: 0

By templar™

edited Apr 20, 2006 - 8:55 AM

I dont think you should 'stop'. :)

PHP & MYSQL are two great free technologies. I'm sure it will be interesting to mix these with .NET.

Besides, it always looks good on CV to be jack of all trades and master of 'one'.

Score: 0

By darkxiii_ndp

posted Apr 21, 2006 - 2:04 AM

MYSQL is good but I dont like php cause it doesnt oo enough. Python better.

Score: 0

By Gerwin

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 7:08 AM

Yeah, and make one of those horrible IE-only websites...

Score: 0

By templar™

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 8:51 AM

That shows how little you know about .NET, if at all.

Score: 0

By jshurst

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 10:12 AM

Agreed. Has no idea what you are talking about. That comment has nothing to do with Visual Studio, but about a programmer's own choice of what how the page will function. Heck you can even serve up asp.net pages using Apache (probably not the easiest thing to do, but it can be done).

Score: 0

By fewt

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 9:22 PM

This is really cool, Thanks MSFT.

Can you tweak it a little so I can write pocket pc apps without having to shell out hundreds? I mean, it's not like I make any money on my hobby proggys anyway.

Score: 0

By deadmonkey

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 9:41 AM

Sadly not. Only the full blown Visual Studio has mobile application development support.

Not related to your question at all though is that you can tweak Visual C++ Express so that it can create Win32 applications. Install the PSDK and a few edits to some config files and you can develop full Win32 applications. Sadly VC++ Express does not include a resource editor though so you are stuck there.

Score: 0

By fewt

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 6:16 PM

Oh, I know it's not possible today. I was "asking" for it in a future release.

I'm looking into sharp develop w/ the portable .net framework now. Sucks though, I like the VS Express IDE.

Score: 0

By nickpowers101

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 8:59 PM

MS VS Express Editions are great development tools. This is very good news.

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 5:11 PM

I guess Ballmer meant it when he said, "Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers."

Score: 0

By ghammer

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 4:21 PM

Thanks Bill!

Score: 0

By DJOmegaRush

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 2:09 PM

Out freakin standing! I love the new VSE.

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 2:00 PM

NICE. So much for the evil materialistic Microsoft theory--

Score: 0

By ConceptJunkie

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 3:30 PM

Yeah, giving out their main development tool free would _never_ promote people to buy in to MS lock-in...

Of course, they are doing it to help convert people to Microsoft. This is not a bad thing, but they are hardly acting solely in the spirit of altruism.

BTW, I'd watch the license on VSE... last I heard you couldn't to produce commercial code.

Finally, free tools are free tools, which is good for anyone who wants to use them, and while I (and none of my clients) ever moved past VS6, I loved using it and found it to be a good development environment.

Score: 0

By deadmonkey

posted Apr 20, 2006 - 9:44 AM

As others have pointed out you can use VS express editions to develop commercial applications. One of the target audiences for the products, which Microsoft don't publically admit, is the person who writes a few small apps to make his job easier at work but the company won't pay out a few hundred dollars for the full blown VS license. So rather than them turning to Java or Python, etc. they can stick with Microsoft and use the express editions.

Smart move IMHO ;)

Score: 0

By hideki

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 7:56 PM

From their Frequently Asked Questions page

4. Can I use Express Editions for commercial use?
Yes, there are no licensing restrictions for applications built using the Express Editions.

http://msdn.microsoft.co...dio/express/support/faq/

Score: 0

By yohimbe9

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 3:52 PM

[quote]BTW, I'd watch the license on VSE... last I heard you couldn't to produce commercial code[/quote]

Never true, just sites spreading rumors. It might have been "undecided" early on but at release it was always legit to produce commercial apps.

Score: 0

By NEOBassDUDE

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 1:51 PM

Very awesome! The express products are a great thing for students and for developing small applications.

Microsoft++;

Score: 0

By deadmonkey

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 1:43 PM

Good move by Microsoft :)

Score: 0

By drumcat

posted Apr 19, 2006 - 1:43 PM

Bravo. Wise move.

Score: 0

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