Vb2005 Cost And Licenses

[TheBionicOrange]

Hello.

My company is about to buy 2 licenses for VB .NET.
I know NOTHING about VB.NET. We are all still using VB6.

Can anyone help with the following :

1. How much is it to buy as a development tool ?
2. How does the licensing work ?
3. Is there anything else we will need when rolling out apps to users ? Do we need the VB Framework installed on the client PC's ? I have no idea how this works.

I am based in the UK, so any pointers to buying need to be UK based.

Thanks in advance

Steve.

[18experience]

3. Yes, the users must have the .Net Framework installed for your app to run.

[Shaggy Hiker]

The cost depends on what you actually get. If it is a company, I would expect that you would be getting the whole deal. You might consider a Universal Subscription, which has a high initial cost, and a pretty good annual cost, but you would have to decide for yourself whether or not the things you get would justify the cost. For myself, I can't quite decide. The initial cost was around $1500-$2000 (US), and the annual cost is about $900 (US), though there may be some government discount involved there. For that you get all operating systems, all dev systems, and pretty much everything else put out by MS except games. This can be vastly cheaper than buying the individual items, but you have to decide whether you would use enough of the pieces to cover the cost.

As for licensing, I believe it works the same as VB6, so that shouldn't be an issue.

You do need the framework installed, but you just build an installer with the bootstrapper, and if the framework is not installed, it gets installed. The framework will already be there if they have one of the newer OSs with updates in place.

[TheBionicOrange]

OK that helps a lot. Thanks both.
I am now perusig the Microsoft site and have come across VB Express 2005.
I am led to believe this is a free cut down version, but don't know yet if that is true or not.
I should also have said that yes I am looking at this from a business perspective and not a home user one.
We having been using VB6 for the last 6 years, and have many apps out there within the company, and we are looking at .NET (or 2005 if you prefer) to take the next step with, and open up more web-based opportunites etc.
I know I am being a bit vague here, but thats because I don't really know anything about .NET so am on a steep learning curve.

[stimbo]

You will probably find this useful to help make comparisons of what you might need:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700921.aspx

[RobDog888]

If you are using it for work then I wouldnt recommend Express as you would definately outgrow it or need features and utilities that are only provided with Pro and above. Ie: MSDN Library, Crystal Reports, SQL etc.

Now unless your company is looking for real cost savings then maybe go Express until they can afford to purchase Pro or above.

[TheBionicOrange]

I have already come to that conclusion based on what I have just read Rob, but thanks for the input.
Their plan is to let a couple of developers get started first, me being one of them I think, and see where we go from there.
Looking across the various flavours of Studio, using the link supplied by stimbo, I would guess its the professional edition we would go for, but the licensing seems a law unto itself, so I might bounce this one back to our hardware guys to sort out.

Apart from having to have the .NET framework installed on client PC's, are there any other obvious differences that you guys know of that I would need to consider when stepping up from VB6 ?

[RobDog888]

Rewrite and dont try to do any utility conversion of VB 6 code as it never works 100% nor does it have the same performance as writting it from scratch using pure .net. Rewritting will actually save you time in the long run as you will actually learn the language letting your write your projects in less and less time each time.

[Andy_P]

Also, a point about the framework, is that it can be installed as part of the app installation routine, at least as far as Windows Forms apps are concerned anyway. (I can't vouch for the procedure for Web Forms apps.)

That way, if the client does not have it - it will be installed automatically.

[RobDog888]

In a webforms app, only the webserver needs the framework installed.

[TheBionicOrange]

Yeah I had heard trying to convert vb6 to .NET was a painful experience. That won't be something we would contemplate. Only new apps will be written, and like you said, existing apps will be revisited, whihc is no bad thing, as some of them that are 5+ years old are pretty shocking to look at even as they stand now !

AndyP - Thats a snippet of info DEFINATELY worth knowing.

Thanks guys. I'll shut up now, and resolve the thread.

[Andy_P]

In a webforms app, only the webserver needs the framework installed.

D'oh! Of course. Glad to see you spotted my deliberate mistake there.

[TheBionicOrange]

Rob I just noticed that we actually joined these forums at the same time. Looks like you have used them ever so slightly more than I have though ! ha ha

[RobDog888]

Yup, just a bit. I do remember you in the OD forum back in the day. Glad to see you are still around.

[Slaine]

TBO

If you are really confused about the licensing then give the guys at Greymatter a bell - they sorted me out when I was looking for some Visual Studio licenses last year. They have MS License experts and saved me a bucket of cash by suggesting I get an open license instead of a retail one.

They are really friendly and happy to help complete idiots who haven't a clue

http://www.greymatter.com

Another avenue you might want to persue is to become a Microsoft registred partner and then enroll on the empower programme. This basically gets you a free MSDN profesional subscription - there a few requirements, one of which is you have to agree to release a product within 12 months that runs on one of their server platforms - check out the requirements and if you don't find them too onerous you might find it worth a pop.

http://partner.microsoft.com/uk
https://partner.microsoft.com/UK/40011351?PS=3

[TheBionicOrange]

Cheers Slaine