" Here is the Amazon page for it. I still find it bizarre that there are computer programs out there that cost $500+. "
Yeah that's crazy. I could see $200, maybe $300 for a really impressive program. But $800 MSRP is ridiculous. Even the $500+ at Amazon is way too much. Well that's pretty sweet I can get it for free.
Yeah, it's way expensive. I took a computer science class in college and was given the program for free. A few months ago, I was debating whether or not to delete the program. I'll never use it again and ended up despising computer science more than any subject I've ever taken before.
Yep, Visual Studio was also free via my college and is currently free for me via my university. The thing with programs like these is that the high cost isn't necessarily just to pay for the program itself, but also often for the licensing. You're not only paying for a program that you can use to code but also the right to publish that code.
At least there is a free "express" version. I got my license through my job at the time, albeit a VS2005 license. I'm sort of hoping that the times for triple digit prices for software is going away, because I don't mind paying for the software I use if it's reasonably priced.
@Black_Rose: Since I use Visual studio almost every day, $200 would definitely be worth it for me. I wouldn't pay any more than that though.
I know that final cut studio is like $1000 and I can get free access to it at my school, well maybe not free because of tuition but yeah. The reason for this is because these programs aren't meant for just anybody. They are meant for people that do that kind of stuff for a living. For one person, yeah it's a lot but for like a small independent production house it's manageable. Which does suck because final cut is a pretty sweet program which I would like to have.
Well most of that is off the back of Office. Which is another over priced software package. But as others have said, its not priced for the individual and these companies in recent years have released free, feature limited or more commonly education licensing deals with schools for students. That or they dont care and are just happy you are pirating their software instead of a competitors.
The prices are paid by companies which can justify it as the cost of doing business.
I just downloaded the full version of Windows 7 Professional for free off of the same program. Does anyone know how many computers you are allowed to put each registered version on? My desktop could really use an upgrade from XP.
@eyehook: You're right. While I was working as a developer we were given any version of Visual Studio we needed without much questions (older versions are also needed for some projects). For a big software (or game) development company $1000 per developer is nothing, if it only provides at least one week of extra productivity. (And Visual Studio definitely does).
On the other hand, back as a student, I can get the most expensive ($2000) version for free to use in my research.
These prices are typically because this is what a company is willing to pay. Look at licenses for the latest complete, every-feature-available versions of Maya or AutoCAD. They cost thousands.
You can get the Express Editions of Visual Basic, Visual C#, and Visual C++ for free. The problem with these is that, for instance, with Visual C++ Express, it's missing a resource editor. It is very difficult to embed images, MIDI, .wav, and make dialogue boxes without the resource editor. I remember when you could score a fully featured introductory copy of Visual C++ 6 for like 50-100 bucks. The only problem then was that a dialogue box popped up every time you started an app. saying that the program was not allowed to be re-distributed.
I was working for a company in Singapore and they had up until I got there pirated every piece of software because they simply couldn't afford it. However, the government did a surprise raid on us and counted it all up. There were no legal actions, since piracy isn't exactly a rarity down there, but they had to get legal licences for everyone, and they did. I think the company owner sold a house or something to cover the costs. (This was a game company so it wasn't just Visual studio, it was everything. Photoshop, Maya, etc..)
$800? Try buying a copy of Pixar's Renderman. Even pirating that would probably cost a few $100K.
edit - actually, looks like Renderman only costs $2K or so yearly. They weren't so open about the pricing in the past which lead me to believe it was more expensive than it is.
Actually everyone who gets it for "free" from their school are paying for it out of your fees. I know at the university I attended $100 per semester was paid to MS for all their software except for Office. Larger schools get better deals.
" I just downloaded the full version of Windows 7 Professional for free off of the same program. Does anyone know how many computers you are allowed to put each registered version on? My desktop could really use an upgrade from XP. "
One according to the license. You may be technically able to put it on more, though, if you're willing to risk it.
Yeah a lot of photo/video editing software is incredibly expensive, probably because they know movie makers and photographers are willing to spend the money. It's so expensive they are just begging hackers to crack it, and so far hackers have won every single time.
" Actually everyone who gets it for "free" from their school are paying for it out of your fees. I know at the university I attended $100 per semester was paid to MS for all their software except for Office. Larger schools get better deals. "
I get it for free and my fees are paid by a grant :)
Yep, Visual Studio was also free via my college and is currently free for me via my university. The thing with programs like these is that the high cost isn't necessarily just to pay for the program itself, but also often for the licensing. You're not only paying for a program that you can use to code but also the right to publish that code.
"
Wait, our right to publish the code or the company's? The former is something we don't have and the latter is something they'd probably have under current laws anyway without any bullshit around it.
Any student of any university or college can get it free from Dreamspark.
The reason it cost $800 is because the software you can make with it can potentially make you millions. And you need, or at least should want, to have the right to that software.
Also why the hell are you people programming in Microsoft? Like to build walls around yourself much? I assume most of the people saying they have it/can have it don't actually use it?
yep, the thing you must remember that for corporation not the individual. There multiple way to get the software for less like student version and other way.
" I just downloaded the full version of Windows 7 Professional for free off of the same program. Does anyone know how many computers you are allowed to put each registered version on? My desktop could really use an upgrade from XP. "
One according to the license. You may be technically able to put it on more, though, if you're willing to risk it. "
I might give it a whirl. I'm not one to back away just because of a little risk. :P
Agreed with CoverlessTech. I'd recommend any developer stay away from closed source development environments. Advice comes from 5 years of professional .NET programming, after which I made the jump to ruby, etc. Not only do you save money (or avoid having to pirate stuff), you'll end up with way more opportunities and a wider base to build stuff off of.
This is normal. The pricing is for companies, not individuals, really. It's all part of how micro$oft makes a bajillion bucks a year.
"
Yeah, this structure is usually made for or to encourage volume licensing practices. Adobe Photoshop for 800 too is crazy considering I picked it up for 89 dollars through my school. Even not being a graphical design major, I still use PS quite a bit for other general things.
Student software is only meant to be used for school. If you want to make money off of your software, Microsoft requires that you pay the full price for their software. The whole purpose of MSDN AA is so that students don't have to pay hundreds of dollars of software just to be used for their education. Read the licence agreement when you install or download the software and you will see restrictions telling you that use of the software is limited to your education. They get your money when you get a career that requires use of their software.
I have a class specifically dealing with Adobe Dreamweaver and my school don't provide copies for it and it is only installed in one classroom on campus. At least I got a free 30 day trial for Creative Suite CS4 with my book purchase from school.
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