>Why not just go with the totally free Express Editions?
>
>>I thought he wanted it for learning dotnet and sqlserver newer versions. It is a great way to have the full versions available for teaching yourself after hours. In my mind, completely legal since you are a student and you are learning :o) That usage falls within the license.

You could, and I have, but for learning purposes, you might want more than these limitations of the Express editions:

VS2008 Express
No IDE support for databases other than SQL Server Express and Microsoft Access
No support for Web Applications with ASP.NET (this can instead be done with Visual Web Developer Express, though the non-Express version of Visual Studio allows both web and windows applications from the same IDE)
No support for developing for mobile devices (no templates or emulator)
No Crystal Reports
Fewer project templates (e.g. Windows services template, Excel Workbook template)
Limited options for debugging and breakpoints
No support for creating Windows Services (Can be gained through download of a project template)
No support for OpenMP
No Source control
No Add-ins and Macros
No Class Designer
No ClickOnce deployment
No Remote debugging
No Unit testing


SQL Server Express
Limited to one physical CPU
Lack of enterprise features support
One GB memory limit for the buffer pool
Databases have a 4 GB maximum size[13]
No Data mirroring and/or clustering
No profiler tool
No workload throttle
No UI to import/export data to table
No Server Agent background process