home | archives

Opinari.net

Opinari - Latin term for Opinion. Opinari.net is just what it seems: a cornucopia of rants, raves and poignant soliloquy.


Thursday, March 31, 2005

For any of you out there who are into Microsoft-centric development, you might be interested in the new MSDN pricing structure:

MSDN with one of the Team Edition products will go for $5,469, and as I already mentioned, the whole Team Suite with MSDN is $10,939. In addition to those new products, there's also the Team Foundation Server, which provides the source code control server for the Team Edition products, and which is a separate $2,799 license.

I almost choked when I first read about the new MSDN prices. There is no way I would be able to invest that kind of money in a development tool. That was until I found out that the Team Editions were incorporating CASE tools into the package (a la Rational Rose/ClearCase/etc.)

More palatable pricing includes:

At the bottom end Microsoft has added a series of Express Editions at $49 each, which introduce new programmers to Microsoft tools. These editions lack basic amenities such as source code control, and they're not suitable for professional use. Next up is the $299 Standard Edition, followed by the $799 Professional Edition. These are the versions the Microsoft anticipates most Visual Studio developers using. The difference between Standard and Professional is that Standard has a "streamlined" user experience and lacks high-end features like remote debugging, SQL Server 2005 integration, and SQL Server Reporting Services support (Professional bundles SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition).

If you're an independent developer who wants Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, plus the other MSDN content that you've grown to know and love (the operating systems, productivity tools, and servers for development use) then you can sign up for the Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition with MSDN Premium subscription at $2,499. This is going to be the appropriate level for a lot of developers moving forward.


Now, those prices are more in line with what I am accustomed to seeing. Also, the Express versions at $49 are nice, especially for the recreational coder.

Labels:

.: posted by Dave 9:29 PM





Need ASP.NET, VB, VB.NET, or Access development?

Contact me through Guru.com.




Opinari Archives


Recommended Reading


Blogroll Me!












Proudly blogging on a Treo 650 using Vagablog 1.9.

This page powered by Blogger, and yours should be, too!