I've started doing test automation for my employer with Visual studio express but very soon realized that it does not have good plugin support. Now i'm planning to move away from it and after reading about Community version I think this is the best option to go.
However, I'm not really sure on the licensing terms, it does say that I can't use it for commercial purposes but I'm just doing test automation for my employer which I'm sure will not be sold, does it still gets counted as commercial development ?
If not then can I use Visual studio Community version ?
From the website:
An unlimited number of users within an organization can use Visual
Studio Community for the following scenarios: in a classroom learning
environment, for academic research, or for contributing to open source
projects.
For all other usage scenarios:
In non-enterprise
organizations, up to five users can use Visual Studio Community. In
enterprise organizations (meaning those with >250 PCs or >$1 Million
US Dollars in annual revenue), no use is permitted beyond the open
source, academic research, and classroom learning environment
scenarios described above.
So you're allowed to use it in an enterprise if you're contributing to open source, research or teaching; or are a company with less than 250 PCs and under $1,000,000 in revenue and there are fewer than 5 users working with it
Related
I want to develop a commercial win32 desktop application using Visual Studio Community edition 2015. It's good to say that I'm the only developer. Nobody else is going to join me. And I don't want to sell it in the windows store. Rather, distribute it commercially in my own website. Am I allowed to do this? I can't fully understand the vs community license.
Additionally, if two of my friends join me(team of three), will that be allowed?
The following clause from the Microsoft Software License Terms for Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2015 is applicable:
Individual license. If you are an individual working on your own applications to sell or for any other purpose, you may use the software to develop and test those applications.
In other words, as an individual developer you can use Visual Studio Community 2015 to develop commercial software distributed through any distribution channel (including your own web site).
The next clause may be applicable, if you run a non-enterprise organization:
Organization licenses. If you are an organization, your users may use the software as follows:
...
If none of the above apply, and you are also not an enterprise (defined below), then up to 5 of your individual users can use the software concurrently to develop and test your applications.
...
In your specific case (team of 3) it would be legal to use Visual Studio Community 2015 to develop commercial applications, provided that you are a non-enterprise organization. An "enterprise" is defined as:
An "enterprise" is any organization and its affiliates who collectively have either (a) more than 250 computers or users or (b) more than one million US dollars (or the equivalent in other currencies) in annual revenues, and "affiliates" means those entities that control (via majority ownership), are controlled by, or are under common control with an organization.
More details are available in the Visual Studio 2015 Licensing White Paper.
What are the steps to implement DevOPs for a C# windows desktop based application.
What are the tools should be used to automate the manual process like testing, code review, code analysis, performance, build & release, deployment and change requests deployment
That is a very general question. It relies on specific needs, budget considerations, technologies, company size, and more.
You can try all sort of free offering out there, just to experiment. Since you're working on Windows with C#, so you're already have strong connection to Microsoft, I would say check out Visual Studio Team Services, it's a cloud-based ALM/DevOps tool, free for up to 5-users team.
I'd be the only one using the product, but I'll need to install VS on 4 different computers: My office Desktop, one virtual machine, my home desktop and my laptop.
I've been using the MSDN Operating Systems subscription for a number of years so I have a general idea of what I'm allowed to do, but I don't understand if a Visual Studio Professional with MSDN allows me to install multiple copies of VS Pro.
To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, I'm currently using Delphi 2010 Named User: this allows me to install Delphi on multiple computers, given I'm the only one using those Delphi installations.
The license is per-user, so you can install it on any number of devices, but it is licensed only for you to use. This is printed in clear text in the Visual Studio 2010 and MSDN Licensing White Paper:
Any team member can install and use
MSDN software on as many devices as
they like. The license does not
restrict where the device is located
(at work, at home, at school, at a
customer’s office, etc.). However,
each user of that MSDN software must
have an appropriate MSDN subscription.
Backgroud:
I am a board member of the Fox Valley .Net User Group. We are starting a Special Interest Group to do a software project from start to finish. We want to focus on having senior .Net members help junior .Net members learn tools and technologies. We want to learn how to use or better use the following software:
Team Foundation Server 2008 - Very Important to Learn
MS Build - Very Important to Learn
Visual Studio Team Systems 2008 - Very Important to Learn
SQL Server 2008 - Somewhat Important to Learn
My Plan:
Create different virtual machines for TFS 2008, Build Server, SQL Server 2008.
This project is planned to assist all who participate to learn the tools and practices needed to stay atop the .Net development world. We find that lots of members of the user group are still using VB 6, .Net 1.1, SQL 2000, non agile practices and other legacy things in there daily job.
My Questions:
Where can I host these VMs so everyone has access and keep the cost low or zero?
If hosting is not possible, does CodePlex offer TFS access? Does it offer agile? Work Items? Reports?
Does anyone have any better ideas?
Thanks for the help and ideas!
Have you looked into the available virtual labs Hosted by Microsoft?
That would eliminate your responsibility for hosting anything. You would also not have to be concerned about any licensing issues with the software that is installed on the Virtual Images.
There are a number of labs for Team System on the Microsoft site.
You can also go to the root Virtual Labs Site where there is a complete listing of available labs. Ths way the responsibilty for hosting is not yours, Microsoft has taken care of it.
Also don't forget to look at Microsoft Learning, there are frequently free offerings for newer technologies that give someone a basic overview, you won't be an expert but it will give you a basic understanding. There are also more indepth offerings but they are usually pay for access.
Good luck and hopefully this helps.
Now that sounds like an interesting project.
1) Perhaps one of the local hosting companies will sponsor a box to host the VMs, or ask one of the ISVs for a host in the DMZ. It is hard work to rein in a sponsor but it will also give you a lot of contacts in the industry.
2) I doubt Codeplex will be a solution for this project as it is very TFS-centric.
3) Have you asked the local Microsoft office? The office here in Copenhagen, Denmark have often helped a lot, even with issues that they knew nothing about but they have always found just the right guy.
Looks like the best way is to use CodePlex.
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.