[SGVLUG] OT - MS VS studio free to attendees of launch event

[Emerson, Tom (*IC)]

I'm not 100% sure on that -- yes, the website says you will get a
"promotional pack" filled with releases of these products and "more
goodies", so there is a good possibility it will be just the "90-day
demo" version.  OTOH, at the drinks 2.0 event [which technically wasn't
Microsoft specific, but they picked up the tab so they got to call the
shots...] the 90-day demo's they gave out came with a code [unique per
copy] that supposedly gets a "full" copy once rolled out.

It's much the same as any other crack dealer -- giving out the first
taste "for free" -- but in this case they're hoping that your
"co-workers" will get the bug to buy [and/or enough people will
circumvent the security {testing} protocols at work and install the
"new" stuff, much to the chagrin of any IT department, and effectively
force a rollout of the "upgrade"]  At that point, those with a dozen or
more workstations to install will be on the hook, and they gain the
income of those dozen copies

It's actually not a bad business model -- companies with only a dozen or
so developers would likely "pirate" this software anyway (either by
"illegally" installing the legitimate free copy on all their systems, or
otherwise obtaining a cracked version "somewhere") so there is no
[expected] income change at that level. Companies large enough to be a
legal "target" for piracy would already have an existing (blanket?)
contract with Microsoft, so any "upgrades" will already be paid for.
(and again, no "expected" change from income levels)

Furthermore, anyone can download the "express" version [of visual studio
and the SQL server] for free in the first place, but I don't think the
express version works with the full-on SQL server, so anyone doing
development with an express version won't be producing much more than a
hobbyist programmer would.  However, by giving out full copies of the
entire tree [server OS, SQL server, and development environment], they
get the "hobbyist" to produce programs that /require/ the higher-end
servers, which in turn their /customers/ will have to buy (or pirate),
and it's that much larger (buyer) audience that Microsoft is after...

The chink in the armor, however, is that with the "full" version, you
should be able to develop apps that connect to MySQL or PostgresSQL
servers... :)

> -----Original Message----- Of Matt Campbell
> 
> Yeah, but keep in mind you are getting 'promotional versions' 
> of each of the products.  For the Vista/Office2007 rollout 
> which I attended the 'Vista' license was a time limited 
> trial, but the Office license was the real deal.
> 
> -----Original Message----- Of Dan Kegel
> 
> On Jan 24, 2008 2:29 AM, John E. Kreznar <jek at ininx.com> wrote:
> > [responding to Matti]
> > > also, I was thinking that VS could be used to make
> > > OSS licensed original code...
> > Can you do this under Xen, the Linux Hypervisor?  Remember, 
> Xen hosts 
> > even grease-ball operating systems like Winduhs.
> 
> Or wine, perhaps.  I'm probably going to go, just to snag
> a copy for Wine [in]compatibility testing.
> - Dan