Can I buy the upgrade edition of Visual Studio 2008 without owning a prior version of Visual Studio?

Question

I'm confused. This page below states that to qualify for upgrade pricing of VS 2008 Professional (without MSDN) you need to be "a licensed user of any other developer tool (including free developer tools, such as Visual Studio Express Editions or Eclipse)". But obviously VS Express and Eclipse are free. So if I download a free version of Eclipse I can buy the upgrade edition of VS 2008? If so, great, but this seems too good to be true. Why would anybody buy the full version?
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-ca/vs2008/products/cc263904.aspx

Answer 1

No, you must buy the full version. The upgrade version will not install and you will have wasted your money. If you are in school, you can get the full version much cheaper at your school's book store or at www.schoolworld.com. Great pricing.

Answer 2

i have self assurance you're asking about upgrading seen Studio 2008 to 2010. it is unusual to unquestionably purchase seen Studio, maximum individuals receive it both free by skill of utilizing an exhibit version or by skill of having an MSDN subscription. links for both routes are lower than. i have self assurance the MSDN subscription course is the more low-priced course to acquiring the paid for variations of seen Studio.

Answer 3

The reason people would buy the full version is licensing issues. The Express edition prohibits government (and maybe educational or commercial?) use, so those users would need the full version regardless. Then the upgrade is a natural progression anyway.

Answer 4

You are right. It is hard not to qualify for the upgrade pricing. The software will install even if no qualifying product has been found.



Since Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft is giving away VS, but don't worry, they aren't losing money.