[Logomachist]

I'm about to take the plunge and buy Visual Studio 2012. Any suggestions where I can buy it cheap? So far I have only been able to find it on Microsoft's own web store (for $500).

Edit: Since it looks like I'll be buying it directly from Microsoft, anyone have (or know where I can get) coupon codes for Microsoft's webstore?

This post has been edited by Logomachist: 22 September 2012 - 09:56 PM

[modi123_1]

Are you sure you need pro and not just Express?

Amazon: $451.99

Google shopping area has it at: 374.89.

[Logomachist]

Visual Studio Pro is probably overkill for what I'd need/use but I'm going to buy it abyway (for reasons I won't get into).

Do you have a link to Amazon? All I find when I search is VS 2010 and various programming books.

I tried Froogle (a.k.a. Google Product Search) too, but I don't trust their sellers for this and I want to buy it from a brand name store.

[derrellgore]

If you are a student go to DREAMSPARK.COM and sign up to get it for free. This is a Microsoft program for students. ALso found that your school doesn't have to participate for you to qualify. Just need to send them proof that you are a student in high school or college.

[stackoverflow]

I have 2012 Professional. I have an MSDN subscription and got it free-- I have been loving it so far. If you can, buy it.

This post has been edited by stackoverflow: 23 September 2012 - 08:06 PM

[tlhIn`toq]

stackoverflow, on 23 September 2012 - 09:06 PM, said:

I have 2012 Professional. I have an MSDN subscription and got it free-- I have been loving it so far. If you can, buy it.

Is paying for an MSDN subscription really make VS free? More like one of the things you get as part of that subscription, which costs how much?

[Skydiver]

If one were unscrupulous and used the other software that one could download and use as part of the MSDN subscription for everyday use instead of just for development purposes, then the price of a subscription maybe worth it. If I recall, you can get 5-8 license keys for each of the programs that require keys. Just look at Windows 7 Ultimate at $240 retail. Multiply by 5 to get $1200. This is the same price as the MSDN Professional subscription.

But if one did have scruples, then tlhIn`toq is quite correct about his point about price vs. what you get.

[Logomachist]

Thanks for the advice everyone but as an unforseen expense has robbed me of the money that would have gone to VS I no longer have to worry about the best vendor to buy it from.

[stackoverflow]

tlhIn`toq, on 24 September 2012 - 04:02 AM, said:

stackoverflow, on 23 September 2012 - 09:06 PM, said:

I have 2012 Professional. I have an MSDN subscription and got it free-- I have been loving it so far. If you can, buy it.

Is paying for an MSDN subscription really make VS free? More like one of the things you get as part of that subscription, which costs how much?

My company pays about $10,000 per-year per-developer for our MSDN subscriptions... it's not "free" but it's free to the developer.

You get 10 serial keys per-software item for the most part (operating systems included).

I use it mostly for Windows OSes and Visual Studio. It's certainly not worth the subscription for personal use, but it's a nice perk at work that carries over to home.

This post has been edited by stackoverflow: 25 September 2012 - 05:53 AM

[Skydiver]

Are you sure that it's $10K/dev/year? I thought that the renewals were dramatically discounted for "loyalty".

Here's the current rates: https://msdn.microso...ns/buy/buy.aspx
For VS Ultimate+MSDN: $13.3K/dev for the first year, and then $4.25K/dev renewals.

I know somebody whose primary development work is dealing with MSSQL servers and Active Directory, but he uses his MSDN subscription so that he can get and run Windows Ultimate at home to get some of the Media Center features. He claims that the use of Ultimate is for "development purposes". I don't know. Maybe he watches YouTube videos on how to write better SQL queries on his big screen.

This post has been edited by Skydiver: 25 September 2012 - 12:42 PM

[stackoverflow]

Ahh, that seems more like it. I was unsure how my manager "calculated" it. He may have dramatically rounded up the renewal.

It's certainly useful for development. I need to build/test our software on a variety of Windows systems and architectures so it's pretty useful. Once I download one copy I just make a VM... then I have a whole bunch of leftover serial keys. I have been using them at home for all of my systems.

It's probably way over priced but as long as it's a "perk" it's cool with me.