Microsoft has officially released the Visual Studio Express suite of products. And get this, There all free! But only until Nov 7, 2006. After that MS plans on retailing the software for about $50. And anyone who downloads it now does not have to pay for it afterwards. For more details Click Here...

I think this is a great opportunity for legacy VB6 developers to jump on the .NET bandwagon. I have been using VB Express since beta 1, and I have to say even though it does not support IDE Macros as well as some other Pro level IDE features it is still a very functionable IDE.

Here's the thing you really need to know about the new express editions. The Visual Studio IDE is just an application that helps you write your code. It has nothing to do with compiling your code. The .NET framework is responsible for doing the compilation of your apps. (IE the new MSBuild system) So even though you may not get all the bells and whitles in the express versions of the Visual Studio IDE that is not to say you will not be able to take full advantage of the power of the VB.NET, C# or other .NET languages.

Like I said I have been using VB Express since beta 1, and I think if you are as cheap as me, and don't want to have to dish out $2000+ CAD again to get a MSDN Pro subscription then I recommend you do what I am going to do and start using Visual Studio Express!