It's unfortunate as I scan through the messages on this board and I realize the number of independent programmers out there that are trying to make do with the tools provided in VB or Studio.

Is anybody aware I of any resources in where people can get hold of 3rd party tools at reasonable prices ? For example, the general consensus is that the Package and Deployment wizard in VB sucks. However, the good tools (Installshield, Wise, etc..) all cost in the hundreds of dollars. It seems to me there would be a good market for older version of these packages, even if they didn't have all the new bells & whistles. Microsoft has the academic additions which allow students to get cheap copies of VB and Studio, however I don't see any of the 3rd party vendors stepping forward to do the same thing.

You would think that these companies would realize that these students will soon be in the corporate arena making software recommendations.

Just my 2 cents