MTM2.com

Microsoft, publisher of the world renowned game Monster Truck Madness 2, is offering the new Visual Studio Express Editions for free.

Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
Visual J# 2005 Express Edition
Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition


http://www.windowsitpro.com/Windows/Art ... 48376.html

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

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

damnit, my class is just gonna learn .net and its already obsolete!!!

Wow, mucho gracias for the links, Link. Looks like I may be able to shelve my, uh, <i>extended demo</i> edition of Visual C++ 6.0 IDE now.

Oh my goodness. The download links on windowsitpro.com are just web installers. To get the whole shebang, you need the 'manual' installers which are about 450 megs each - and download at 20k/s only - a 6 hour download FOR EACH ONE.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/expre ... t/install/

They say the offer is for one year. I wonder if that means you can download for the span of a year, or will it expire after a year, or will they make it obsolete after that time.

Hardware requirements: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/expre ... rt/readme/

FAQ:

12. 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?

No, as long as you download Visual Studio Express on or before November 7th 2006, you will not have to pay for it.

13. Can I develop applications using the Visual Studio Express Editions to target the .NET Framework 1.1?

No, each release of Visual Studio is tied to a specific version of the .NET Framework. The Express Editions can only be used to create applications that run on the .NET Framework 2.0.


The .NET Framework 2.0 is a 23 MB download that requires at least 280 MB of drive space to install, .NET Framework 1.1 is similar. Best to mention that if you distribute anything that requires it.

This all seems to be bleeding edge technology with bloody steep requirements for the programmer and end user alike.

Good thing they have the offer open for a year, because it'll take that long to download the files...

strange, I went and downloaded all of them and installed, they all downloaded for me at about 400 kbps to 700 kbps depending on what else i was downloading.


It's pretty lame that you need the newest .net framework to use any apps produced, and its incredibly stupid because it makes the programs less portable and simply helps the compeition, such as Java which is very portable.