MSDN Universal (-ish)

Rob Caron and Buck Hodges discuss a newsgroup post by Ajay Sudan discussing how Microsoft subscribes to one of the multiple-universe theories... That is, MSDN Universal subscriptions will become “most” of the software a developer needs, and then you can buy additions to make it complete.

Huh? Let me look up the term “Universal”.

Now, I'm not whining about the cost (well, maybe I am) - I pay for a universal subscription out of my own pocket because it's worth it to me - I know that with that yearly fee, I can go into any client site and have the software I need, with a valid license. I know that if I need to learn something about BizTalk, I can do it at home over the weekend because I have a universal. I know that I'd hate paying for this software “ala carte”.

So what's this? Can you not just bump the price of the universal and keep it ...um... universal? (I'd rather no price bump, but it's still better than the cafeteria style plan). This is exactly why I pay for a universal - to get the newest stuff and be on top of the game - to be able to demo it to clients and sell both my knowledge and your software. So you don't want me to help sell Team System?

Also, in the interest of goodwill, can you let us know why you think that universal subscribers - people who pay a premium to have access to all MS's dev and IT software... who are probably evangelizing MS software because it's what they have and are familiar with - why you think that we are not interested in having all of Team System?

Please let us know how you can possibly think that people who are used to being able to get anything they need from sub downloads when they need it are not going to be upset when you take the newest, shiniest jewel in the microsoft development world away from them after dangling it in our faces for more than a year?

Who will you make angry with this? Developers. I guess Steve Ballmer didn't say “developers” enough times for it to sink in.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005 4:19 PM

Your Comments.

# Links of Interest: locals on a roll

Links of Interest: locals on a roll

Left by Enjoy Every Sandwich at 1/26/2005 11:11 PM

# re: MSDN Universal (-ish)

I also purchase out of my pocket the MSDN universal every year (it has always been cheaper for me to get a new license than to renew) but it doesn't directly earn money back, I just do it to have access to everything so I can be the most flexible. Regardless whether I purchase the subscription, I still get my paycheck everyday from work (as a Sr. Developer). I also do it because I'm passionate about what I do and live, drink, eat, and sleep this stuff.

To be fair, I've never used UML tools (they mostly are too expensive for me and simply put, caveman or not, I am comfortable doing things by hand or w/Visio as well). Apart from the free Perforce or SourceGear (which I seem to prefer) license, I haven't used a quality source control system. Apart from CompuWare, I haven't used a decent profiling/memory leak detection system (I don't like Ants for some reason). Apart from Rational Robot, I haven't used a decent functional tester.

Concerning the new MSDN, I'm dissappointed when I read the details of the licensing. Of course, the MSDN Professional prices dropped, but the dropped prices don't get your Office or the Business Solutions tools or a decent SQL Server (unless I misunderstood something there). So you have to get the Profession with Premium Services edition instead, which is exactly identicle to todays Universal but seems to cost slightly less money.

Now, about my point above, all those 3rd party things, I've lived without them from MS for some time and have only used them at work if the work funded it, but never at home, as a result, I never recommend or personally care whether I have access to a good profiler, defect tracking, source control (sourcegear and SCC are fine, but sourcegear is better), or UML or whatever. I've done just fine without them.

But, now that MS offers them as an integrated solution, all of the sudden, I'm going to want them especially since everybody is going to be writing articles regarding them and showing all the cool stuff you can do with them and how simple it makes your life and how potentially 3rd parties can extend the client versions of the Team Ssytem tools I'm going to feel left out unless I can come up with an additional $4k /yr - $7k a year for access to those technologies (not any different however, than if I had to purchase them seperately from a 3rd party but much more integrated).

What disturbs me truly the most is that they divided the Team System tools into 3 categories. At any point in time, every place I've worked, even now with over 50 developers, we are all at some point very frequently an Architect, a Developer, and/or a Tester by the defininition of the 3 roles in TS.

I can live without the Architect features, for the most port. But the Developer and Tester roles I will have a harder time living without but I only get an upgrade into one of the roles. I'll have to pick Developer and ignore the specail load balancing and unit testing features of the Tester edition. But since I do mostly only asp.net stuff, can I really live without the load balancing? I've never needed it before and my stuff sometimes scales and sometimes doesn't. But such is life.

Microsoft has a choice to do whatever they want with their products and I have a choice not to purchase any of them because of affordability, but then I'm also entitled to the consequances of not purchasing them by letting my skills stagnate in an ever increasingly competitive market where now, more than ever, I need to set myself apart from everyone else.

Time will tell how we'll adapt to the changing industry.

Thanks,
Shawn

Left by Shawn B. at 3/22/2005 2:18 AM

# Links of Interest: locals on a roll
Links of Interest: locals on a roll

Left by Enjoy Every Sandwich at 1/26/2005 11:11 PM
# re: MSDN Universal (-ish)
I also purchase out of my pocket the MSDN universal every year (it has always been cheaper for me to get a new license than to renew) but it doesn't directly earn money back, I just do it to have access to everything so I can be the most flexible. Regardless whether I purchase the subscription, I still get my paycheck everyday from work (as a Sr. Developer). I also do it because I'm passionate about what I do and live, drink, eat, and sleep this stuff.

To be fair, I've never used UML tools (they mostly are too expensive for me and simply put, caveman or not, I am comfortable doing things by hand or w/Visio as well). Apart from the free Perforce or SourceGear (which I seem to prefer) license, I haven't used a quality source control system. Apart from CompuWare, I haven't used a decent profiling/memory leak detection system (I don't like Ants for some reason). Apart from Rational Robot, I haven't used a decent functional tester.

Concerning the new MSDN, I'm dissappointed when I read the details of the licensing. Of course, the MSDN Professional prices dropped, but the dropped prices don't get your Office or the Business Solutions tools or a decent SQL Server (unless I misunderstood something there). So you have to get the Profession with Premium Services edition instead, which is exactly identicle to todays Universal but seems to cost slightly less money.

Now, about my point above, all those 3rd party things, I've lived without them from MS for some time and have only used them at work if the work funded it, but never at home, as a result, I never recommend or personally care whether I have access to a good profiler, defect tracking, source control (sourcegear and SCC are fine, but sourcegear is better), or UML or whatever. I've done just fine without them.

But, now that MS offers them as an integrated solution, all of the sudden, I'm going to want them especially since everybody is going to be writing articles regarding them and showing all the cool stuff you can do with them and how simple it makes your life and how potentially 3rd parties can extend the client versions of the Team Ssytem tools I'm going to feel left out unless I can come up with an additional $4k /yr - $7k a year for access to those technologies (not any different however, than if I had to purchase them seperately from a 3rd party but much more integrated).

What disturbs me truly the most is that they divided the Team System tools into 3 categories. At any point in time, every place I've worked, even now with over 50 developers, we are all at some point very frequently an Architect, a Developer, and/or a Tester by the defininition of the 3 roles in TS.

I can live without the Architect features, for the most port. But the Developer and Tester roles I will have a harder time living without but I only get an upgrade into one of the roles. I'll have to pick Developer and ignore the specail load balancing and unit testing features of the Tester edition. But since I do mostly only asp.net stuff, can I really live without the load balancing? I've never needed it before and my stuff sometimes scales and sometimes doesn't. But such is life.

Microsoft has a choice to do whatever they want with their products and I have a choice not to purchase any of them because of affordability, but then I'm also entitled to the consequances of not purchasing them by letting my skills stagnate in an ever increasingly competitive market where now, more than ever, I need to set myself apart from everyone else.

Time will tell how we'll adapt to the changing industry.

Thanks,
Shawn

Left by Shawn B. at 3/22/2005 2:18 AM

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