In-House Distribution - Xamarin and VS2019 Version - xamarin

I was wondering whether I need the Enterprise version of VS2019 to create In-House Distribution for Xamarin.iOS Apps or Pro would suffice?
Also, what would be benefit for Mobile when using Enterprise vs. Professional?
Thanks,
Alex

When we check Compare Visual Studio 2019 Editions,we will find each version has all the features of the previous version, as well as additional features.
With Visual Studio Professional, it’s an excellent choice for most developers. For software architects though, Visual Studio Enterprise might make sense, as long as you have plenty of budget. But if you don’t, a lot of plugins in the Visual Studio ecosystem can help you get VS Enterprise’s features in ala carte fashion.
For creating In-House Distribution for Xamarin.iOS Apps, the Visual Studio Community is suffice, let alone the professional version.

Related

Visual studio Express Edition vs Community

My question is What is difference between Visual Studio Express Edition for Desktop and
Visual Studio Community version?
I want use VS to create Desktop apps, currently I have ultimate version of VS2013, but I think mentioned versions are lighter and faster and FULL FREE for me because I don't use most of developing features like Team server or Testing tools or IntelliTrace, .... I want know the mentioned versions have full Windows API Support (Header files definition) like Ultimate/Enterprise versions?
Don't forget my first question: VS Express for Desktop vs Community, because both are FREE.
Community edition is the full fledged software, but you can't use it on enterprise (>5 users)
On the other hand, Express editions can be used in enterprise environments, but does not let you use plugins.
So in the end, as far as I can tell the choice is between plugins and enterprise. If it's just a product you are developing yourself, or an open source software, Community edition would be your best bet. On the other hand, if you want to try out the latest version at your work for free, then Express edition is for you.
Here is from the "source" :)
Differences between Visual Studio Community Edition and Express Editions
Here is a quote from that MSDN blog:
There are two main differences between Visual Studio Community Edition
and the Express Editions
1) Visual Studio Express Editions do not allow users to use extensions
(aka. plugins). There are over 5000 great plugins for Visual Studio
in Visual Studio Gallery. Plugins such as Developer Assistant can
boost developers’ productivity. Unfortunately, they are not available
to Visual Studio Express users. With Visual Studio Community
Edition, you can access and use All of them!
2) Visual Studio Express Editions are targeting specific platforms:
Express for Web allows you to develop Web apps; Express for Windows
allows you to develop Windows apps; Express for Windows Desktop allows
you to develop desktop apps. But with Visual Studio Community
Edition, you can develop projects targeting cross-platforms.
Community is like a full version of Visual Studio Professional, only they don't allow you to develop for commercial purposes (through the licence agreement). With the exception for developing apps that you sell in the Windows Store.
Why you would want Community (dito for VS Professional):
You can develop a mix of different projects in the same solution on the same IDE. With Express you develop asp.net and other web apps (Express for Web) in different IDE's than you would developing a Windows Forms applicaiton (Express for Win Forms).
You get full access to plugins that enhance the IDE, like code optimisation tools.
Other than Professional, Community is integrated with a lot of online collaboration sites. Like integration to GIT repos and Windows Azure hosting.
Express is like the old school express versions, if you used to use the old school express versions, you probably want to stick to it. It allows for commercial development, but they restrict the features of the IDE. And they make it harder to use by splitting the IDE to only handle Web Applications (like ASP.Net) in one IDE and a different IDE for handling Windows Forms. (In the past they also split the Win Forms IDEs to only handle one coding language like C# or VB).
Here is the official comparison
I think IntelliTrace is the most important part missing in the community edition. Cloning the repo some similar things are missing. but I don't think those are any real problems.

Is Xamarin free in Visual Studio 2015?

Currently I explore the Visual Studio 2015 RC and realized that Xamarin Studio is integrated into Visual Studio and its installer. My Question is: Is Xamarin from now on free in Visual Studio?
Updated March 31st, 2016:
We have announced that Visual Studio now includes Xamarin at no extra cost, including Community Edition, which is free for individual developers, open source projects, academic research, education, and small professional teams. There is no size restriction on the Community Edition and offers the same features as the Pro & Enterprise editions. Read more about the update here: https://blog.xamarin.com/xamarin-for-all/
Be sure to browse the store on how to download and get started: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/pricing/ and there is a nice FAQ section: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/support/
Yes, Xamarin is now free in Visual Studio
I asked the same question to Xamarin support team, they replied with following:
You can develop an app with Xamarin for commercial usage - there is no extra charge! We only require you to comply with Visual Studio's licensing terms,
which means that in companies of less than 250 employees with less than $1million USD annual revenue, you may use Visual Studio completely free (including Xamarin) for up to 5 developers.
However after you pass those barriers, you would need a Visual Studio license (which includes Xamarin).
Refer the screenshot below.
Visual Studio 2015 does include Xamarin Starter edition https://xamarin.com/starter
Xamarin Starter is free and allows developers to build and publish simple apps with the following limitations:
Contain no more than 128k of compiled user code (IL)
Do NOT call out to native third party libraries (i.e., developers may not P/Invoke into C/C++/Objective-C/Java)
Built using Xamarin.iOS / Xamarin.Android (NOT Xamarin.Forms)
Xamarin Starter installs automatically with Visual Studio 2015, and works with VS 2012, 2013, and 2015 (including Community Editions).
When your app outgrows Starter, you will be offered the opportunity to upgrade to a paid subscription, which you can learn more about here: https://store.xamarin.com/
Seems like now it's free for small teams and students, according to Scott Hanselman post https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/715568774418595840
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/pricing/
Visual Studio Community
FREE
A free, full-featured and extensible IDE for Windows users to create
Android and iOS apps with Xamarin, as well as Windows apps, web apps,
and cloud services.
Students
OSS development
Small teams
and
Xamarin Studio Community
FREE
A free, full-featured IDE for Mac users to create Android and iOS apps
using Xamarin.
Students
OSS development
Small teams
If you go to the visualstudio.com Visual Studio 2015 RC cross-platform and mobile apps page, then read and scroll to the bottom, it appears that Microsoft is including Xamarin, and upon installing it you do have, as James said, the Xamarin Starter edition. In 2015 RC go to Tools, Xamarin Account to see your Xamarin license. I do not know the limitations, or any expiration date, of this Starter Xamarin Account.
Still, I don't know about you, but the Visual Studio 2015 RC "Community" edition I installed expires in less than 180 days. (Check the Help menu, go to "About...", and click on your license status to check.)
Let's say Xamarin Starter edition is free, but Visual Studio 2015 "Community" has an expiration date. So the bigger question might be whether Visual Studio 2015 "Community" will be free.
Without Xamarin though, Microsoft is offering C++ tools for cross-platform development, but scroll down to the bottom of the page and you might be surprised or confused at the download link description.
Visual studio community edition is bundled with xamarin and which is free as well.
No, it only contains a free 30 day trial. But I think there would be a package if you buy Visual Studio + Xamarin.
Xamarin is now owned by Microsoft So it completely free to use on Windows and mac as well.
Yes, Microsoft announced that xamrin is now free with VS15 and other latest versions.
Visual Studio is now including Xamarin also. You can download Xamarin Studio but this link
Make sure to get the Community Edition. it's Free to use

Limitations of Visual Studio 2012 Express Desktop

I'm in the process of deciding whether or not to use Visual Studio 2012 Express for Desktop or purchase a retail copy of Visual Studio 2012 Professional for my desktop program. The program is built using C# though portions of it may include F#.
From what I've gathered so far, the express edition supports NuGet, Unit Testing, and Code Analysis. It mentions a subset of Code Analysis rules are used but I'm unsure how they compare to the professional edition as well as FxCop/StyleCop.
I'm assuming the express edition lacks extension support but the only extension I really cared about was NuGet. I also assume it doesn't include a TFS CAL despite having the ability to connect to TFS. This again isn't an issue as I'm using Perforce for source control. I also understand that this version is limited to desktop style applications only, but have so far only seen mention C++ and C#. Does it support F#?
Can someone clue me in as to any other limitations of 2012 Express for Desktop? Are there any license limitations for developing a commercial application?
In the past, MS included express editions as part of their version comparison. But when they updated their site for 2012, they separated out the express editions and offer little to no detail.
There are few limitation I can gather :
First of all there are different IDE's for different use
Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web.
Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8
Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop.
Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2012
Express editions of the IDE omit the following features included in the Professional editions
Multi-unit testing framework and refactoring support
Static code analysis, profiling, and HLSL editing and debugging
Third-party extensibility support (though the Extension Manager feature is still present)
OpenMP support
But there are few positives I explore in 2012 :
Unlike previous version
Solution is allowed, you can create multiple projects in a single solutions.
64bit compilations support is there.
If working in single or less than 5 person team, express is the way to go.
It definitely bring much more new and unlock features than it predecessors.
As you receive a product key if you register I think it confirms that you then are free to use VS 2012 Express as you like.
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads#d-2010-express say:
"After installation, you can try this product for up to 30 days. You
must register to obtain a free product key for ongoing use after 30
days."
"Productivity Power Tools 2012" cannot be installed on VS2012 Express edition, hence such features like "Entity Framework Reverse Engineer Code First" won't be available, which is critical to migrate existing apps's DB into Model's classes.
Portable Class Libraries are not supported in express versions. (You can reference PCL dlls, you just can't work with PCL projects.)
F# is available for VS Express 2012 for Web
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/fsharpteam/archive/2012/09/12/announcing-the-release-of-f-tools-for-visual-studio-express-2012-for-web.aspx
Looks like NuGet worked with VS 2010 Express Web so I would expect it to work with 2012
http://docs.nuget.org/docs/start-here/nuget-faq
Professional gives you a lot of the profiling and static analysis tools. I couldn't find out how the FxCop rules differ.

Visual Studio 2010 Express Limitations

What are the limitations of VS2010 C# Express Edition compared with the paid for versions? I was mostly looking into what sort of applications I can build, in VS Express I only have the option of Console, Winform and DLL, etc. I read that you can build services and add - ins for office programs, is this functionality available in Professional/Ultimate etc versions? Thanks.
There's a comparison chart here - You'll need VS Professional to develop Office Plugins.
Although previous version, there is a definitive overview of the VS2008 Express limitations in in this SO Question
Wikipedia also explains the differences.
Edit
The comparison chart link is dead. For 2012:
Visual Studio 2012 (Web Only) comparison is here, and in this Programmer's post
This SO post addresses the Desktop comparison.
The Express edition does not come with, nor does it grant you permission to distribute, the Microsoft C++ runtime redistributable packages. So the users of the software you build with the Express edition will have to download & run the installers themselves.

Visual Studio 2010 target framework 2.0 vs working on Visual Studio 2005 pros and cons

I'm new to Visual Studio 2010 and have both Visual Studio 2005 and 2010 installed on my PC.
I need to work on a windows application that needs to run under the 2.0 .net framework, but I'm not sure which version of Visual Studio would be more suitable for developing this application. Please help me.
I'd go with 2010 - just due to the new refactoring support. And performance-wise my findings suggest that 2010 is somewhat better (especially if you have a decent workstation - especially graphics adapter).
Advantages
We can start taking advantage of the new tooling features, without having to immediately upgrade the clients and servers running our application’s to .NET 4.0.The improved multi-targeting support will ensure that this experience is even better and more accurate than before.
Disadvantages
If some of our team members still using visual studio 2005, there will be a problem when checking in project files.

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