Visual Express 2005 is free forever!

Hi all,

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

Sammy
:)

Wow... I wonder... Is that Microsoft making up for upcoming Vista?

No, they're trying to market their products in such a way that the other products that you have to pay for will look less appealing. When you find you need something else like MFC or ATL (they aren't included in C++ Express), then you upgrade to full Visual Studio instead of Express.

They're, basically, trying to secure their development tools as the most used for Windows. Not a bad thing, since they are the ones making Windows, so naturally their tools will be best-suited for development on Windows.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.
After all, they're the ones who invented those horrendous Dropdown dropdown menus:

...isn't the fact that I have just clicked on a dropdown menu enough proof that I am ready to have my screen filled up by the thing? (You know... sort of like the Start menu... or every other dropdown menu not created by Microsoft).
Do they honestly think that there is a better chance that I want one of those 3 options as opposed to the other 16?
Is there something really important behind those menus that isn't already rendered inaccessible until I close them anyway?

This is really good stuff!

Are you serious?

Who knows? Maybe with the Professional and Enterprise versions of the Vista OS are out, MS may as well bundle VS Express in there, if that's how they're gonna be about it... IMHO, it may as well be in the Win XP Pro SP3 as well, if there's ever going to be another service pack for Win XP Pro.

What does that have to do with their tools being the best suited for developing on their OS?

I do hate those menus though, I've switched them all off!

This will be ideal for schools, especially private schools where budgets are always tight.

i told ya all that guy Bill was one helluva nice guy...

:)

--Mike

Well, they make no secret about express editions being designed for ease of use and learning, so I would assume it was an obvious marketing tactic to get you hooked. Afterall nothing is really free.

That said I have been using visual C# express edition for about a week and I really love it. Very slick and easy to use/learn, plus tons of tutorials etc.

A bit of much needed kudos for microsoft.

C# express + Truevision3d is as easy as Blitz3d and Managed DirectX is quite simple as well - plus you have the whole Windows native gui!! No need for the Max3d module after all !
All my future 3d projects will be based on this platform. Bye bye Blitz !

Yeah, I have been going down that route myself smiff, but if Gabriel releases his Truevision wrapper for Blitzmax I will definately try that out, if only for the cross platform support.

Plum straight, and if you use the paid version of C#, you can port your games into a Pocket PC, which would be rather cool... Of course, you really can't render 3D graphics into a Pocket PC, if I'm not mistaken, but it would be great for those BlitzMax games that you've converted.

Yes me too - it would also be interesting to see which combination was fastest !

Great news! I love VS.Net2005 soo slick!

Great dev environment, we code all of our tools in .net atm.

It's my understanding that the next beta version is due any day now, and it will include the GCC version. I'm ready to release my wrapper now and have been for weeks, but it's no use to anyone until the GCC version of TV3D is available. I'm doing a complete overhaul on my site at the moment, but I'll find some space on one of my sites when the beta arrives. Not sure if I'll need to make any additions or changes with the next beta, but if I do, I'll try to get it done as soon as poss.


Performance is pretty much equal in my tests, but that's not surprising since most of the work is being done by the DLL in the demos I've done. The big advantage for me ( and the reason I've decided to stick with BMax over C# ) is not requiring the .net runtime for my end users. I also feel that this version ( 6.5 ) of TV3D has been designed specifically for users of C++ and is a little more natural to use from C++ than it is from C#. Since BMax is working with it through C++, that means it feels a little more natural with BMax too.

Just my 2 cents, anyway.

People normally love to knock MS, but heck they are actively developing and promoting their product - what's not to like there?

Shall have to go grab a copy and experiment, souds far too good to miss from what others have said here.

I've always had enough trouble coding for one platform at a time as it is, who needs more? ;O) I'd not imagine it struggling to keep up with the OS or DirectX quite so badly either.

Only thing is that one is spoilt for choice as to which version of it to go with; as long as it's going to be an unfamiliar language anyway, then maybe it's time to dump BASIC altogether, as it's been a lot of trouble finding one I really like of late anyway.

Yes. Because the applications *remembered* that you used those options recently/frequently, and are therefore more likely to use them again.

The options that are hidden all haven't been used for some time (IIRC correctly, two weeks for the XP personalized start menu)... So you're less likely to use them than the ones shown by default.

Especially for inexperienced users, hiding the clutter they won't use anyway will greatly simplify the basic operation of the program, and make it easier to use. Others that know what they're looking for anyway may find it better to disable the personalized menus... But the idea behind the hidden menu's really isn't so backwards as you make it sound.

I like Visual Study - everything is cosy.

Hi all,

I have no experience of using truevision 6.2
(1) (VS C++/C# express) + (truevision6.2 dll) vs.
(2) (BMax) + (truevision 6.2 wrapper)

Which one is faster in speed and development time?

Thanks in advance.
Sammy
:)

The wrapper can only work with Truevision 6.5, as 6.2 will never work with GCC, and is not generally accessible except through COM.

Which one is faster in development time will depend which one you're most comfortable with. I'm more used to BMax, so that's the one I can work quickest in.

The execution speed should be about the same, I would imagine. C# is pretty fast, but I expect BMax is about as fast. The wrapper carries a tiny overhead, of course, but C# requires you to do some things in a slightly more roundabout manner with TV3D, so it should work out about the same.

Well, I've been writing my games in Blitz 3D and BlitzMax, I have the VS 2005 Standard Edition, but I just could never get into that. I've been wanting to develop games in VS 2005, and port them to Pocket PC with that built-in feature. However, it would be nice just to use VS 2005 instead of anything else. It just may take me more time to write a similar game, that's all...

(A bit off topic here, but knowing that the Sega Dreamcast uses Pocket PC infrastructure, would it be possible to port games into that from VS 2005, or would the Win CE on the Dreamcast be too much out of date for the .NET structure?).

I understood that the free version of express was only free for a year. Or am I wrong?

It's free forever now. Did you actually read the post title?

Because of the way vc# downloads forever may mean for the life of your computer.You only download the installer then THAT downloads vc#. When 64 bit kicks in Microsoft may end the free download.Or if you change your computer you can't just copy it to the new one ( As far as I know).

Eh?

Er.. nope. You can download full ISO's. A kindly soul from these parts downloaded them and put them on a DVD for me.

I downloaded the iso's so I dont know what your on about Gord,

Well I'll definetly give Gabriel's wrapper a try with BMax but for me, because I develop more tools than games, having the native Windows Gui with Visual Studio is an enormous advantage and will probably tip the balance.
The ability to use Managed DirectX is another big plus. If Truevision3d can't do something you can just create your own function using Managed DirectX - which is very easy to get to grips with - even for someone quite slow like me !
For anyone who is looking to get into programming professionally having a few demos or games written in a mainstream, and increasingly respected, language like C# won't do their CV any harm at all.