>I don't really know much about MSDN. Does it allow you to use all the versions? How much is the per-developer cost? That may be the cheaper route since we have some other MS licenses we need to buy as well.
Hi Michelle,
You can read more about MSDN subscriptions at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/prodinfo/levels.asp. You buy one license per developer, for development and testing ONLY, except you get one copy of Office for personal/business use.
That means something like the following scenario: Your main PC came with an OEM OS license from Dell so you're legal for anything you do on that machine. You get one copy off Office to use for things like email. You use the MSDN OS licenses to set up your test lab one machine with each OS so you can test your stuff. You can put the development tools on as many machines as you personally use. You can use copies of Office on your test machines to test things like automation.
I'm not a lawyer, but the above is my understanding of the MSDN EULA.
Microsoft wants to sell MSDN subscriptions more than they want to sell individual products.
By the way, select Beta versions are also included in MSDN!