[sequence7]

The main value of an MSDN subscription is all the subscriber downloads and the Azure credits you get.

Want to try out or develop against any piece of MS software, just download it from the MSDN portal and off you go. Want to test out provisioning with Azure or fire up a server to test or dev against, just use your Azure credits. You can happily run a couple of small servers with the Azure credits.

If you just want Visual Studio you could always buy it on its own for much less than a subscription.

[badgersandjam]

I get bugger all Azure credits with Pro. £35 a month which isn't enough to spin up one VM with 1.75Gb of RAM for a month...

If I grab MAPS sub and VS community I'm well up on cash.

[sequence7]

£35 a month will get you four A0 Windows/Linux instances or a single Linux A1 and a single Windows/Linux A0 running full time for the month.

http://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/pricing/details/virtual-mac...

[badgersandjam]

Yeah I know. The A0 with windows server is painful. If I got an A1 for £30 I'd break even on renting a dedicated box. That's the big pain.