visual studio 2003

[Fistandantilis]

is there much of a differencr between the academic version and the regular version, is it worth getting the academic?
thanks

jawshuwa

 

[DaveSimmons]

For what use?

 

[mugs]

Depends on which "regular" version you're referring to. There are several, each coming with a different set of supporting software (SQL Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Visual Sourcesafe, etc, all development-only licenses, meaning you can't run that copy of Windows Server 2003 or SQL Server 2000 on your production server). They're all pretty expensive, whereas the academic version most likely is not. At my school it was free, and it didn't come with any of the other software (most of which we could get for free anyway). Academic software = academic license though, so you can't use it to develop any software you intend to sell (or possibly even distribute, but don't quote me on that one).

 

[homercles337]

Yes, academic tends to be a "leaned down" version of "corporate" or whatever the hell they call it.

@mugs, academic does not mean the same thing as Open Source/Copy Left. Just look at all the software that starts in someones lab and ends up makin a buck. Can you say google?

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Originally posted by: homercles337
Yes, academic tends to be a "leaned down" version of "corporate" or whatever the hell they call it.

@mugs, academic does not mean the same thing as Open Source/Copy Left. Just look at all the software that starts in someones lab and ends up makin a buck. Can you say google?

I'm pretty sure the academic version really is the same thing, like Mugs said, just not licensed for "commercial" use. Of course, there's a ton of gray area there, but its mostly to keep a company from buying up a bunch of 'academic' software licenses instead of shelling out for the full version.

 

[notfred]

I have the pro version at work, and the academic version on my home PC. As far as I can tell, the only difference is that the pro version comes with a single-user copy of SQL server.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: homercles337
Yes, academic tends to be a "leaned down" version of "corporate" or whatever the hell they call it.

@mugs, academic does not mean the same thing as Open Source/Copy Left. Just look at all the software that starts in someones lab and ends up makin a buck. Can you say google?

Text

Visual Studio .NET 2003 Academic brings the power of Microsoft .NET Framework into the classroom. It combines all of the features of Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional with new tools and features, including Assignment Manager, student and faculty documentation, and sample code.

However, Professional is the lowest of the three versions of Visual Studio (Text). The academic version is a full-featured version of Visual Studio, it just doesn't come with all of the supporting software that the higher versions come with - like Windows Server 2003, Visual Sourcesafe, and according to notfred SQL Server 2000 (you can buy a development version of that for about $40 though).

As for academic meaning the same thing as open source, I'm a bit confused. You can use the Academic version to develop anything you want, but the license specifically prohibits you from selling applications you develop. I don't recall if it prohibits distributing or not. The point of the acadmic version is to learn (and from Microsoft's perspective, to get you to want to use it when you graduate and get a job). If you want to make money, you have to buy the professional version. Of course, they can't really enforce that license restriction any more than they can enforce the restrictions that prohibit you from buying one copy and installing it on every computer in the company. It's voluntary compliance.