Microsoft announced the pricing today for Visual Studio Express and SQL Server Express. Total cost to you, $0.00
That’s right, free, nada, nothing. This is really an INCREDIBLE deal.
From the Microsoft FAQ:
We are announcing a pricing promotion for Visual Studio Express – for the first year after the products launch on November 7th, 2005, customers will be able to visit MSDN to download their copy of Visual Studio Express for free!**
Our customers are very excited about the release of these products, so this limited-time download is our gift to the hobbyist, student, and novice community – we’re excited to see the amazing applications they’ll build!
Note that SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is also a free download. The free pricing for SQL Server Express is not limited to the same one-year promotional period as Visual Studio Express.
[**We plan to launch the non-English versions of the Express products sometime within 2-3 months after the English version launches on November 7th. The same pricing promotion will apply to these products, and will remain in effect for one full year after their respective availabilities.]
Is there a catch?
The question that I have heard today — Do we have to pay later? Seems that that is covered in the FAQ too.
Do customers who acquire the Visual Studio Express products during the free promotional pricing period have to pay after the first year if they want to continue to use them?
If you acquire Visual Studio Express products within the one-year promotional period, you will enjoy the rights granted in the applicable license at no cost for the term of that license.
That answer is a bit vague. But if you look at the license, you will see that you ‘won’t’ have to pay a fee next year. The key point is, register your product as soon as you download it. That’s all.
Free does not mean useless
What can you do with Express? Anything that is do-able in .NET can be programmed with VS Express. Many of the advanced ‘enterprise’ tools are missing, but for many programmers that’s OK.
I expect to see thousands of applications written in the next year using the Express version. You’re essentially are getting Microsoft’s premier development tool for nothing. Yes, you have to write code in .NET. Sure it needs to run on a Windows machine. Do you care? Hey mister, it’s free. If you don’t use it –so what? Didn’t cost you anything. But if you do try it you’ll find that .NET is a great programming platform. Especially .NET 2.0.
Grab it today. Play with it. Go to the Coding 4 Fun website and see what you can make. Try programming again, if you’ve been busy doing other things. Remember, it used to be fun.