I work in the production team in a petroleum refinery, neither me or anyone i, the department works in IT or software engineering, but we love our VBA macros.
In order to go beyond what one can do with VBA, I started doing some small projects using Visual Studio Express and VB.NET
These projects are getting bigger and bigger, and I am starting to feel limited by VS Express and I am therefore building a business case for a VS Professional licence (my company is too big for Community).
I'll go with a stand-alone licence, since the subscriptions are way overkill for what I do, but even the stand-alone licence is divided in two parts (https://www.visualstudio.com/fr/vs/pricing/).
You can either buy a licence for a fee of $500, or subscribe for $45 a month. Since I plan on using the software for at least a year, the one-time-fee is cheaper, and the only difference between the two is access to older and newer versions. Hence the questions:
Is the inability to use the pro versions of previous iterations of Visual Studio a big downside? Will I be able to work without big issues?
Are newer versions a must-have when they come out, or can I sit on VS2017 for a couple years without issues?
Usage of older versions of visual studio like 2013-2015 depends on projects /solutions that for whatever reason can not be migrated to a newer version of visual studio. In my experience usually companies which do not wish to purchase new licenses. I see no reason why you need the older versions.
As for the newer versions. The main reason I have seen for a visual studio upgrade is the usage of newer .NET versions. A version X of visual studio can only run .NET up till version Y. When version Y+1 of .NET comes out this means if you wish to make use of the new features/changes in .NET Y+1 you would have to upgrade .
Related
I brought up a new VS2017 dev environment at work yesterday, which means I got the recently released version 15.3. I'm getting an internal compiler error on a VC++ project that nobody else in the organization is getting; everyone else is still on 15.2. To test my theory that the 15.3 update may have broken something, I want to install VS2017 15.2 (or even 15.1 or 15.0). But I can't figure out how to do that. When I run the 15.0 or 15.1 bootstrapper, it still tries to install 15.3.
I've already gone over this guide for creating offline installations but it doesn't say anything about getting an older release. I found a guide here that shows how to use a specific release with VS2015, but I can't find anything for VS2017.
My work gave me an MSDN account (Visual Studio Professional), which offers older bootstrapper downloads, but does not offer full offline installation downloads for older releases.
How do I install VS2017 15.2 (or 15.1, or 15.0) when 15.3 has already been deployed by Microsoft?
There is support for downloading a prior version, but evidently you have to contact support for the link. None of the links on any of the pages I could find within the VisualStudio.com site referenced it.
Installing an earlier release of Visual Studio 2017
Be sure to take the time to read the "[no]support policy" regarding "earlier" releases. Essentially, the day they released version 15.4, version 15.3.5 was no longer supported.
On another note, I have noticed many people seem to respond (here and on other similar postings) along the lines of "Why on earth would you want to reinstall the same version you were working with instead of the latest release?". Note that I am para-phrasing that to clarify the sentiments commonly expressed.
The reason is because TEAMS of developers need to be on the SAME version of the tool set. They have deadlines and cannot afford to drop everything and switch everybody to a new version of the tools that may or may not work correctly for them. Even if the developers were willing to take that hit to their productivity, usually their managers are not. This is why taking away the option to install the previous version the very same day you make a new release available is an unacceptable practice for Enterprise or Professional grade development software.
Another common reason is that when bugs have to be fixed in software, you often need to use the same, or very close to same, version of the tools to rebuild it after fixing the bug. The costs of regression testing after forcing a non-trivial upgrade on an entire software product or suite is unacceptable to most organizations. Upgrading may not even be an option due to contractual obligations.
It seems that based on this article that Microsoft do not offer a mechanism to download any version of Visual Studio 2017.
The https://my.visualstudio.com site offers bootstrap downloaders for 15.0 and 15.3 only. Intermediate versions such as 15.1 and 15.2 are not available as of September 2017.
I have a modest sized engineering team that would quite like to stay with 15.2 even for new starts and this is quite frustrating as we didn't capture an offline install of anything other than 15.0!
Apparently its possible to install a older version in parallel to a newer one. I just downloaded 15.6.7 from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/productinfo/installing-an-earlier-release-of-vs2017 and started the install - it didnt touch my existing installation 15.9.19
But the probably better solution is just to install the toolset which is available separately for each VC2017 release. See this intersting article:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/side-by-side-minor-version-msvc-toolsets-in-visual-studio-2017/
I currently have Visual Studio v2003, v2005, v2008 installed on my system. Things work fine...no issues.
I now have to install Visual Studio 2010 on my system and just wanted to know if anyone has a setup like mine or knows if there are any potential issues with so many versions existing on a system.
Really don't have a choice to remove older versions as we have a lot of legacy products written in these old versions and we are not upgrading them to new versions, only doing bug fixes on them.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
VS2010 supports targeting on multiple versions of .NET Framework (i.e. 2.0 or later), which mean it is designed to support the projects that were built with VS2005/VS2008 so-called backward-compatibility.
So I think no conflict here between these versions,
I've found a nice Myths and facts about VS 2005/2008/2010, check out this link here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/ee679805.aspx
It should work.
I have vs2003, vs2008 and vs2010 installed and I see no issue (but vs2010 is not yet used for production code).
M.
All these versions of Visual Studio are independent.
You should have no problem (other than lack of disk space!) installing VS2010 as well.
Just make sure you install the service pack as well.
They cohabitate fine, I have a similar setup myself.
You should at least push for migrating away from 2003 and 2005 though, they use some pretty old technology, and pretty much everyone these days has .net 3.5 on their systems.
If you are able to use VS 2010 I would highly recommend you do for all new projects - even if you have to target an earlier version of .NET framework.
Keep the old versions of VS installed only for maintenance of projects that cannot be migrated to VS 2010 version.
By the way, the migration to VS 2010 is often very trivial and well worth an hour or two of effort!
I really want to upgrade to Visual Studio 2010. But since I do a lot of development for the Pocket PC version of Windows Mobile I cannot. (I develop for a Symbol device that does not support Windows Phone 7, so that is not a option.)
Does any one know any kind of time frame of when Microsoft plans to add support for Smart Device Projects into Visual Studio 2010?
Update: Since this is looking less and less likely without intervention from the users, Please go here and vote for this feature.
Microsoft's current public statement says that, apart from Windows Phone 7 development, there will not be Smart Device Application Development added to Visual Studio 2010.
This obviously raises concerns and has implications for a lot of people, and there are more than a few of us lobbying Microsoft very hard to change that plan and to get them to include some sort of support for Smart Device programming outside of Windows Phone.
I'm hopeful, maybe even optimistic, that their stance will change and that we will get something - even if it's only CF 3.5 targeting actual hardware (i.e. no emulator support) - at some point down the road. Right now they've got all hands on deck trying to get Windows Phone out the door, and until that happens, I wouldn't expect much for resource allocation toward other device features.
So what does that actually mean? In my mind I wouldn't postpone installing VS2010 until they have device support. My guess is it won't happen until early next year at the absolute earliest and realistically I would say mid to late next year if it happens at all. Again, I'm optimistic that it will, but I'm also a realist, so I'm not going to base my business decisions and future on it happening.
Add your support to the following Microsoft Connect Item, it's had quite a bit of interest being the 3rd highest voted suggestion so far.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/595712/no-support-for-windows-ce-and-compact-framework-development-in-vs2010
Through private conversations I've had with the Customer Advocacy Team at MS it would appear that they are really digging their heels in over this. MS reneged on promises to include Smart Device Framework support in VS2010 early on in the product life cycle.
It is really frustrating because at some point the development tools will fragment and you'll end up with having to maintain separate development, source control and build systems for targeting Windows CE. Who is to say that the tools will even work on future versions of Windows either or even if they will live side by side with future versions of VS. Remember this lack of support also hurts people doing unmanaged code on CE too.
MS is doing a great job of remaining silent here, the silence is already causing people to look at alternative platforms. Without a statement of intent no business is going to invest in Windows CE development without knowing the future of the OS and the tools to develop on it.
All recent Visual Studio versions can be installed side by side. You could upgrade now for desktop development, then when smart device support is rolled out, migrate your projects to VS2010.
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/setupprerelease/thread/fce95ec7-728d-41d1-ab13-74a2fd3a4136
I am forced to have two VS installations side by side. However, another issue - that is causing me more pain is that TFS 2010 doesn't work with VS 2008 - there is a plugin, of course, but there are many issues with it which make it unusable.
So to have source control, I have installed SVN on my machine.
Microsoft once again, has proven that they have no concern for the devs at all. Their tools don't work together, backward compatibility is not there, all of which makes their dev tools a big load of crap.
MS replied to that connect issue:
Hi folks,
In the first quarter of 2013, we plan to provide tooling for Visual
Studio 2012 to create apps for Windows Embedded Compact v.Next. We’ll
be announcing more details in September, including the roadmap for
.NET CF. You can find more details this Fall in the Windows Embedded
Compact website at http://www.windowsembedded.com.
thanks, Doug Turnure Visual Studio PM
With the upcoming release of Visual Studio 2010, and all the lovely new features in C# 4.0, I would really love to update from 2008. However, over the last few years, I've managed to get student pricing, or even free versions via the MSDN Academic Alliance.
Now I am no longer a student.
I can't seem to justify the $AU500 pricetag of even the Standard version for what is at the moment, essentially a hobby. As much as I may like for it to be, it just isn't paying the bills.
So, I've read on the Microsoft site that there's no non-commercial clause in the Express version EULA which is good because I do the occasional bit of paid work in it. How much is missing from the Express version though, compared to Professional (what I use currently, and what the 2010 beta is)? Am I likely to go through withdrawal pains as I reach for something that just isn't there?
As far as addons go, the only one I've really played with is VisualSVN, and I can live with just using TortoiseSVN manually. Anything else I should be aware of?
Version comparisons can be found here: (For 2008) (Edit: A far more in depth document can be downloaded from here)
The things that leap out to me as features I wouldn't want to be without are:
Extensibility (no plugins like VisualSVN or Resharper)
Source Code Control
Remote debugging
64-bit compiler support (x64) (from the first link, though the document implies you can make 64bit apps...)
SQL Server 2005 integration
No setup projects (for making MSI installers)
Limited refactoring
Some missing debugging tools (especially the threads window)
If you can live without those (and the other limitations that wouldn't bother me personally) then I guess that you'll get by with Express just fine.
Final thought: Express isn't your only option for free .net development, there is also SharpDevelop which has some advantages (SVN integration, compact framework support) over Express. Though I'm sure it has many limitations too.
Do you do any entrepreneurial work? If you're building the next killer app, check out BizSpark: http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/
There is new program now available from Microsoft to allow web developers to access the Microsoft Stack similar to the BizSpark program.
It is called Website Spark. VS 2008 Professional Edition and SQL Server 2008 Web Editon are some of the tools available through the program.
Of all things I would probably miss the ability to install extensions. Especially tools like AnkhSVN and TestDriven.NET have grown invaluable to me...
I would seriously consider investing some money in purchasing VS especially if you can get some of that back by using it for jobs.
Maybe switching to Eclipse and Java is an option for you?
EDIT:
By the way, investing a few hundred dollars is common among ex-students. If you were a designer you would probably have to invest $1000 on Adobe software.
You won't be able to have solutions with multiple project types (so no mixed language solutions), or solution folders either.
The main thing that is missing is the ability to build an installer for a solution.
The work-around is to build the installer using some open source installer for .NET, e.g. WiX.
And multi-language solutions are more cumbersome (e.g. mixed C# and VB.NET).
I use the Professional version, but I didn't experience any problems with opening and building my project/solution in the Express Edition.
Does anyone have any experience with installing multiple versions of Team edition on the same machine? For example Team Developer and Team Architect at the same time? Is this possible? Do you have to open one version vs the other? Or do you end up with one installation with all the versions installed on top of each other.
You can happily install multiple versions. When you install the second one it simply add the features into the same Visual Studio 2008 instance meaning you get the features of both in the same instance of the IDE.
That said, the way licensing works it is usually cheaper to purchase Visual Studio Team Suite (which includes all the features) then purchasing 2 seperate SKU's.
My guess will be that each new installation will overwrite the previous in your instance. See this:
With Team system being on one level, my guess is only one can be installed.