That is good thinking. My suggestion is to have a solid business plan. Many developers spend 100's or even 1000's of dollars on books - only to have the books collect dust on the bookshelves having never been opened. Sure, the best of intentions are there to get up to speed on the new and different technology. Yet more often than not, it never happens.

Therefore, if you are going to pop $2K for MSDN Universal, make it count. Otherwise, you are just pissing money away...

Best of luck to you!!

< jvp >


>Hi John,
>
>I guess the way I see it is that I should kind of have the products, and know how to configure and use them before I start offering the services. I went out and got NT Server and Windows 2000 Server to keep up my knowledge and troubleshooting skills before it becomes a trial-by-fire at a client site. Plus they have become necessary for development.
>
>I figured MSDN would give me the products to learn so then I could make the money back by offering services to install, configure and support the same products for future clients. But no doubt, after I know the product and can generate income, I have to charge enough to be profitable... or at least make the money back that I spent...
>
>- Brian
>
>>Honestly,
>>
>>Almost every thing you need is free anyway. All of the technical articles are available on the MSDN site.
>>
>>If there is an advantage to the Universal subscription, it is in the software you get. So, if you do a lot of work with SQL Server, Exchange Server, Windows 2000 Server, etc, it is nice to have. Then again, if you are doing this sort of work, you already have the tools - hopefully at the expense of the client - as it should be...
>>
>>If you are doing pure VFP work - then I would suggest you save your money.
>>
>>< jvp >
>>