OT - Re: [SGVLUG] FYI - MS Heroes event in Anaheim 4/8 get MS sww/o paying

[Charles N Wyble]

seriously, a good developer friend of mine basically
implies that MS Visual Studio a "programming tool for dummies"

[Charles N Wyble] 

As a user of Visual Studio I take offense to that statement. How "Linux
slanted" is this friend of yours? I would have to say he isn't very
experienced with Visual Studio if he makes statements like this. It's an
incredibly powerful platform. I use Netbeans, Eclipse and Visual Studio (on
Vista Ultimate) on a regular basis. All 3 of them have their advantages and
disadvantages. Of course I have no problem spending my personal money on
software or hardware. :) If you really want to get the software then torrent
it. :) 



wish linux had easier to use tools....

[Charles N Wyble] 

All depends on what you are trying to do. Linux tools are incredibly
powerful as are the tools on Windows. If easy development is the goal then
use easy tools. 




== Licenses with the MS software ==

MS SQL server... there's a coupon code to get SQL 2008
when it ships.. have to submit by June to get it.
(special rules if you goto a launch event later than may)

[Charles N Wyble] 

For anything that needs to be done without a budget (hobbyist development if
you will) you can use the express editions of Visual Studio and SQL Server.
See http://www.microsoft.com/express/ for details. This is more than
adequate for the average hobbyist development needs. If you get big enough
to need the big boy versions then you should have the money to buy em. :) 



MS server 2008 is the enterprise edition both 32bit and 64bit
included. 1 year license (I hear you need to just renew
the CAL licenses.. MS licensing has gotten rather
confusing, so much so that they have a 1/2 day event
JUST covering licensing in April down in San Diego.)



MS has a LOT of versions of the server. The one included
in the package is actually the better one.
(they are still working on their HyperV version... think
virtualization server... to compete with EMCs VMware
server which runs on the hardware.)

[Charles N Wyble] 

Hyper-V is now in release candidate stage. I have played with the builds
that let you manage VmWare and Xen. Very powerful stuff. Light years ahead
of what VmWare and Xen offer in terms of management. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_System_Resource_Manager for just one
component of the management capability enhancements. 




MS Vista Ultimate included in the pack was only 32bit!
( blah can only see 3GB of RAM!!! )

[Charles N Wyble] 

If you can afford 4 gigs of ram you should be able to afford Vista Ultimate
64bit edition. :) 


THE NICE thing tho... I THINK THIS APPLIES TO ultimate
as well as enterprise, ... with MS Vista Enterprise you
have a license to run upto 4 Microsoft OSes within the
virtual machines (guess you still need to get the code,
but this will be nice for those of us having to do tech
support and QA.. tho you will still have to call MS
to activate the licenses.. blah... )

[Charles N Wyble] 

You can run 4 copies of the Windows operating system under Hyper-V and
Virtual Server/PC. I don't know if that applies to VmWare. As always check
with your corporate legal counsel.