Rating:  - To all those who give this product 1 star
I bought the product about 2 months ago just because I was curious to see what kind of things I could do with it. I immedeatly was amazed (I dare say, obsessed) with the amount of functionality this product provides, and how much power is in my hands when I fire up this awesome IDE.
Granted, there are some limitations. The Server Explorer only allows you to connect to the MSDE. BUT, if you are willing to drop $50 for Microsoft SQL Server Developer, install an instance, install Analysis Services, and just add the MSDE DB to your Server list. Problem solved. But if you are getting into connecting to remote servers and developing for mobile devices, then you're way ahead of me, and by then you should have enough saved up to drop $600 for the Studio.
One previous review said that this product is not for someone that does not have any programming experience. Well I have news for them: I am 19 years old (18 when I bought it) and have absolutely no programming experience (except for a couple of macros written in VBA for Excel, but i recorded those anyway), and after 2 months of working with this product, I've sold 3 applications to people in my home town for $50 a pop. And I'm still getting offers. And I'm not bragging about my abilities as a programmer, I'm bragging on this IDE.
(...)
And if nothing else, use up the 1.3GB for the MSDN Library and read the articles in it. If you can't build a simple address book program by then, well, read them again.
This product was the first step into my programming future, and I recommend it for anyone that wants to get started into the wonderful world of VB.NET.
Rating:  - Probably great for a programmer
I talked to a Microsoft Rep on the phone and explained my background and that I had no programming experience and he said I should have no problem with this program. Guess what - this program is not for anyone who doesn't have a programming background. If you've never taken a programming course - DO NOT BUY THIS SOFTWARE. The Microsoft Rep. also told me when I have questions to go to forums and ask questions - I tried that and was told several times to leave the programming to programmers and "that's why they pay us money, because programming takes many years to learn" and I've found they are probably right. So don't listen to Microsoft - they are just looking to make another sale. This is probably a 5 star item if you are a programmer. If you are not - it makes a decent coaster to set your drink on.
Rating: - Great Deal for the money - Just know what you need.
If you want to learn VB, you cant beat getting the standard edition. If you want to write stand alone desktop apps that dont need to connect to remote database servers, your gold.
If you dont need to be able to use your work commercially and are a student, pass this up in favor of the academic version of Visual studio and learn away.
But DO NOT buy the standard edition if you think you are going to use it to make a living with it. I got it because I need to write an app that reads a binary file and then outputs a certain type of script. Then Im pretty much done with it. I know Im not going to try to pay my rent next month with my copy of the standard edition. To make a living nowadays you need the features that the standard edition does not support.
If you know your just learning now, are NOT a student, and cant afford the Visual Studio, you still cant go wrong getting standard now.
You might not be able to connect to a remote SQL server, but you can still do a lot of database programming till you can afford to upgrade, and see your app work locally in the meantime.
So it dosnt compile class libraries in the interface, but the command line program (vbc.exe)that comes with it does. Its not as slick but it works.
You can still write all kinds of very serious applications, after all code is code, but the standard edition is not indended for a real production pipeline that will be profitable in today's world.
I paid $89 for VB Standard 2003 off of Amazon just to write one specific app and I got my money's worth.
Rating: - Microsoft Visual
This was great, I got it for a really good deal from one of the Amazon Sellers and I learned alot from it
Rating:  - Great marketing - short on delivery
Microsoft has once again succeeded in making a fairly uncomplicated programming enviroment, COMPLICATED. That is not, however, my problem with VB .NET, because after all, if you read up, you will quickly adjust to the platform. My problem is that if you don't buy Visual Studio, you will simply not have the tools to build advanced applications. As usual, if you want a robust MS product, get ready to shell out a weeks worth of pay.
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