Check out the Guide to buying Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. We need to recommend that Microsoft put a calculator on the webpage just like buying a house.

Now it gets better.  Here is the way I see it.  If you already have an MSDN subscription then you are ok, but if don’t now is your chance to spend $2,000 dollars to become ok.  You must act quickly though to give Microsoft your $2,000 dollars now this way your subscription will run out sooner, but you will be able to have VS2005 at a discounted cost of $2,000 dollars a year.

So now if you are an MSDN Universal subscriber you must pick what type of developer you are: Developer, Architect, or Tester.  With this model, MSDN subscriptions now fall in line with the Visual Studio product.  So my question is why are we still calling it an MSDN subscription, isn’t it just a Visual Studio subscription? 

Do you own a Standard edition of VS2003?  There do not appear to be any upgrade options for you today from what I can find.  You will most likely need to either get or purchase a copy of the express edition or move up to the professional edition of VS2005.

So how much does all of this really cost?  Well I don’t think they are going to say, but here is what I can tell from Microsoft’s web pages.  These are my guesses and might not be accurate when the final release comes out.

VS2005 purchased by itself:
Visual Studio 2005 Professional has an estimated retail price of $799.
Visual Studio 2005 Team Editions for Software Developers, Architects, or Testers has an estimated retail price of $5,469/year each
Team Foundation Client Access License has an estimated retail price of $499

MSDN purchased by itself (these are all 1 year subscriptions):
MSDN Universal – upgrade $2,299 full version Estimated Price $2,799
MSDN Enterprise – upgrade $1,599 full version Estimated Price $2,199
MSDN Professional – upgrade $899 full version Estimated Price $1,199

After the release of VS2005 MSDN pricing: Unknown at this point.

So if you want to know how much it costs for VS2005, I guess it depends on how many years you are going to use it for.

Don’t get me wrong I think the tools are great that Microsoft is coming out with.  I just think it is tough to figure out how much money you are going to pay anymore to create Windows applications.  I think that the unknown might start turning more people off from developing Windows based applications unless they do it as a job.  Tell me what you think and if the prices are too high or just right.

One last note not to forget you also have these costs.  Your guess is as good as mine on the cost.

"The Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server is sold separately on a Server/CAL basis. Each of the Visual Studio 2005 Team Editions for Software Developers, Architects, and Testers includes a CAL for the Team Foundation Server. To learn more about Team Foundation Server, click here."

--Brendon Schwartz