Thanks Barbara (and Erik),

I am now certain that MSDN is a suitable (though significantly more expensive) alternative to VS.

Cheers,

JimN

>Yes, the disks are almost always labeled the same as in the 'production' sets.
>
>And yes, we DO get a lot of CDs. It's a family joke that between TechNet and MSDN my husband brings me home CDs every week. However, you don't get the full set every quarter. You get it when you first subscribe and then you get quarterly updates. I think they reissue the full set every 2 or 3 years.
>
>Betas are often included, but you don't HAVE to install them....
>
>Barbara
>
>>I see.
>>
>>So basically MSDN is a collection of *individual* sets of product CDs/DVDs.
>>So each version of each OS would be in its own set? And a beta of VS would be a separate set from the "production" VS?
>>
>>Can I also assume that each set is labeled similarly to the 'original' product CDs/DVDs?
>>
>>Finally, that must make for hundreds of CDs/DVDs in an annual subscription!
>>
>>Thanks Erik,
>>
>>JimN
>>