[cm2187]

Free, community editions of visual studio have been around for a long time now and are nearly as good as the more expensive pro version. I don't think the dev station side is still true. But on the server side, Windows Server and SQL Server still cost a fortune and I believe they raised their prices recently.

[fj39dkf]

For students and researchers. If you're operating a business you still have to pay for VS licenses, or violate the free license and hope you get big enough fast enough that it's not a problem.

[cm2187]

No I believe a company can use it up to 5 developpers. Which should cover the vast majority of start ups. Then you can buy a pro license for $500 which isn't that expensive if you have the financing for more than 5 devs.