>> I think you are looking at this wrong. The SDK is FREE, the VS.Net is
>> 100% NOT free.

Hi Chris:

I never said Visual Studio is free ... nor implied it ... sales to developers doesn't seem to be a big business ... sales to enterprise users is a much bigger revenue stream. I said the .NET framework is free. Big difference.

>> I think MS are happy knowing that any professional developer will
>> virtually have to buy VS.Net to be productive (or at least one of the
>> competing IDEs available) and allow students etc. to continue using the
>> SDK and tools like WebMatrix (www.asp.net) free of charge (just to get
>> them addicted to it).

That's only one facet of the diamond ... the bigger picture may be in licensing of the framework ... I'm not saying that this is the predicted path ... just one thing to consider.


>> This is exactly the same as what SUN does with Java - Free SDK but VERY
>> expensive IDEs. And I don't think we will ever see Microsoft charging for
>> the Runtime itself, that would be the equivalent of them making us pay to
>> redistribute vfp6r.dll etc.

Who knows really ... MS is now approaching a mature industry (if my Management 485 hasen't failed me). Licensing is the key to new revenue growth (one key anyway). Do you really think that the developer base is the source of MS revenue like this post implies??? I don't think it is ... but that's just me.

Respectfully,

CTBlankenship