Visual Studio 2005 Express: now free!

[TheMelodyMaker]

(Yes, I am perfectly aware of how Microsoft is well-hated by many of you -- but I still figured this worthy of a post. )

Apparently, as of April 19th Microsoft has made the Express editions of its Visual Studio 2005 components permanently free for download. Whether you'd like to develop web applications, games, or whatever -- go check it out!

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/

[TurkishMonky]

i got visual studio 2005 Pro for free from microsoft (legally too)

but i would say check it out if you're into hobby programming - 2005 has some nice features.

[Warrior4Christ]

It's worth checking it out if you're interested in programming. It has a high quality interface.

I've downloaded VB and C# (haven't used that one yet...). My understanding was that they were making available for free download for a year, then they would only make it available by purchasing it after that... unless they've changed it...

How did you obtain the professional version for free, TM?

[TheMelodyMaker]

I'm going to have to train myself to use Visual Basic 2005, I see -- even though I've been using Visual Basic 6 for years. Not only have the program features changed, but the language elements have changed a bit as well. When I tried importing my project files for The Traveller's Guide over from VB6 to VB8 (the actual version number of Visual Studio 2005 is 8), I received almost 180 upgrade warnings -- most of which I had no idea what it was talking about! @_@ So for now I think I'll be sticking with VB6 for that until I know what I'm doing with VB8.

[TurkishMonky]

It's worth checking it out if you're interested in programming. It has a high quality interface.

I've downloaded VB and C# (haven't used that one yet...). My understanding was that they were making available for free download for a year, then they would only make it available by purchasing it after that... unless they've changed it...

How did you obtain the professional version for free, TM?

I went to the Visual Studio Launch party in detroit, by signing up on microsoft events months in advance. tons of free food (everything you could want - it was crazy), they hand everyone VS 2005 pro, SQL Server 2005 std., Biztalk 2005, and a free tshirt. there's a bunch of different sessions you can pick from to learn about programming, as well as even more giveaways and drawings for stuff like computer books. all in all, a nerd fair.

anyway, microsoft events is worth checking into occasonally, if you're into stuff like that.

I'm going to have to train myself to use Visual Basic 2005, I see -- even though I've been using Visual Basic 6 for years. Not only have the program features changed, but the language elements have changed a bit as well. When I tried importing my project files for The Traveller's Guide over from VB6 to VB8 (the actual version number of Visual Studio 2005 is 8), I recieved almost 180 upgrade warnings -- most of which I had no idea what it was talking about! @_@ So for now I think I'll be sticking with VB6 for that until I know what I'm doing with VB8.

But once you've changed over, you'll never look back. it's much easier, and many of the oddities of VB6 have beeen fixed (like the set command is gone, since everthing is an object, strings are now objects, and give a host of extra properties that are really useful, form designing is simplified immensely, and much much more.)

[TheMelodyMaker]

I tried yesterday making an "empty" application (that is, a blank form that didn't do anything) in VB8 just to see if I could get it to run successfully under Windows 98. Said empty application kept immediately crashing on startup and thereby freezing the system. -_-;

For that reason, (that is, to maintain desired compatibility and stability with OSes as early as Windows 95) I'll stick with VB6 for The Traveller's Guide since I've already got the engine pretty much done and figured out -- but maybe try VB8 for anything new I come up with.

[Warrior4Christ]

I'm going to have to train myself to use Visual Basic 2005, I see -- even though I've been using Visual Basic 6 for years. Not only have the program features changed, but the language elements have changed a bit as well. When I tried importing my project files for The Traveller's Guide over from VB6 to VB8 (the actual version number of Visual Studio 2005 is 8), I received almost 180 upgrade warnings -- most of which I had no idea what it was talking about! @_@ So for now I think I'll be sticking with VB6 for that until I know what I'm doing with VB8.

But once you've changed over, you'll never look back. it's much easier, and many of the oddities of VB6 have beeen fixed (like the set command is gone, since everthing is an object, strings are now objects, and give a host of extra properties that are really useful, form designing is simplified immensely, and much much more.)

Yeah, I had to work out the new changes to language for a few things when I made my first VB8 program (ie. not adapting an old program). But the changes are for the better, because the language is more consistent now and has fewer oddities.

I went to the Visual Studio Launch party in detroit, by signing up on microsoft events months in advance. tons of free food (everything you could want - it was crazy), they hand everyone VS 2005 pro, SQL Server 2005 std., Biztalk 2005, and a free tshirt. there's a bunch of different sessions you can pick from to learn about programming, as well as even more giveaways and drawings for stuff like computer books. all in all, a nerd fair.

anyway, microsoft events is worth checking into occasonally, if you're into stuff like that.

Why do they not have anything like that here?

[TurkishMonky]

Why do they not have anything like that here?

They did! (well, sorta close) Sydney 11-29-05 (says so on my tshirt)

they had about 200 different launch major launch events all around the world.

[TheMelodyMaker]

Earlier this week, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2008 (includes Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++ and Visual Web Developer) and the Express Edition is still free. I just thought I'd bump this thread for the benefit of those developers who don't hate Microsoft's guts.

[By the way, could I trouble a staffer to please edit the "2005" out of the thread's title, and then this thread could be used to talk about both and any future versions of Visual Studio Express? Thank you in advance. ^_^ ]