Hi,

 Until the release of the visual studio beta last year I was using visual web developer because of the cost, but I downloaded and started using VS 2008 Beta 2, which I believe expires in 19 days. So I've been having a look at the optaions available to me and the costs involved. As far as I can tell I have the following options available to me.

 
1) Go back to using the free editions - Free

2) Buy a copy of Visual Studio 2008 Standard from Amazon - ?248.99

3) Buy a copy of VIsual Studio 2008 Pro from Amazon - ?679.99

4) Buy an MSDN subscription - Visual Studio 2008 Professional with MSDN Professional Subscription - ?805

5) Buy an MSDN Subscription - Visual Studio 2008 Professional with MSDN Premium Subscription - ?1677

Microsoft don't make this easy do they ?

I've found a comparison table between the various MSDN subscriptions but still can't decide what I really need. Does anyone know tht answers to the followign questions....

1) What is the advantage of having an MSDN subscription over just buying the boxed version. Is it just the other software that comes with it. Do you get updates ?

2) I have a PC at work and at home. Do any of these options allow for 2 installs ?

3) What do you miss out on if you just buy the cheapest "standard" edition ?

4) Do all version come with everything I will need to develop with new technologies such as Silverlight ? 

Any help would really be appreciated. I have about a week to make a decision and I really don't want to spend a lot of money on something I don't need.

Thanks, Jon
 

I have an MSDN subscription and I have Pro at work.

What I find surprising is that the only thing the free editions don't do that I need is "Attach to process" when debugging and using the WAP format.

The MSDN subscription comes with all the Microsoft software (hundreds of programs and operating systems). However the licensing does not allow you to use most of the programs in production... You can of course use the Visual Studio 2008 in production.

Anyway, "Visual Studio 2008 Professional with MSDN Professional Subscription - ?805" is the best value for your money.

1. You get a lot more stuff, like Operating Systems. MSDN comes with most OS's, like Server 2003 / 2008, XP, Vista. It also comes with other nice things like Office 2007, etc.
2. VS is a per user EULA, not a per-computer. That means you can install it on as many machines as you have, so long as you are the owner of the PC. Edit: This is true of VS only, not the OS's that come with MSDN.
3. 4. See this page for a detailed comparison of VS editions: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/products/cc149003.aspx

Hope that helps you choose.

 1) The msdn subscriptions come with operating systems also.  You will get any new software released (that is included in the subscription) during the year the subscription is active.

3) http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vs2008/products/cc149003.aspx

4) Yes but keep in mind there are new tools coming out for silverlight 2.0

You can uninstall the VS 2008 beta you had and install a trial edition of VS 2008 pro giving you an extra 90 days to decide

Thanks guys,

Our dedicated servers have windows 2003 server and SQL server 2005 installed on them and I have vista on my machine so I really don't think i need the extra software.

So, it looks like I would be better off just buying a boxed product. Would I still get any patches and minor upgrades ?

 
I looked at that comparison page and I really can't see anything in PRO that I would miss from standard edition. I don't do windows forms development or office development and I don't need crystal reports. So can anybody think of any reason why I couldn't just buy the standard edition ?

Ken, I assume by new tools you mean Expression Blend ? I'll still be able to do silverlight development by hand in Visual Studio Standard won't I ? 

Sorry for all the questions ..... Jon
 

jonhobbs:

I assume by new tools you mean Expression Blend ? I'll still be able to do silverlight development by hand in Visual Studio Standard won't I ? 
 

Visual Studio allows you to work with Silverlight but it is a Looong way away from what Expression can do. If you need to do any Silverlight you will want to use Expression. So now MSDN is your best value. I have done a bunch of Silverlight (see: http://www.adefwebserver.com/DotNetNukeHELP/Misc/Silverlight/ ) and the .XAML wont even load in Visual Studio. I had to use Expression for the .XAML for every singel one of my products. I only used Visual Studio for thr final codeing and deployment.

Really MSDN is a great value. You don't realize you needed all that software until you have it.

Thanks,

I assumed that Blend was more of a creative tool. I'm surprised VS can't handle a lot of XAML.

I was reading Scott Gu's Silverlight tutorial yesterday and I really want to explore it forther so I'm going to have to consider my options carefully I think.