I remember last christmas I have been writing an entry in yet-my-another-blog on Microsoft’s softwares as I copy-pasted here:
A Christmas Gift Suite
Minggu, 25 Desember 2005 @ 23:23 WIB - Komputer & Internet
It might be late but these Microsoft products website are worth a visit, just in case you wanna play with it and/or dedicate part of your internet bandwidth to download it. They’re Microsoft Visual Studio 2005’s components that made available individually by Microsoft and released as Express Edition.
FYI, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 can cost you as low as US $800 and as high as US $5.000 depending on the features contained, but these Express Editions are all available directly from Microsoft for FREE!!!
And although Microsoft USA launched it on November 7, 2005 and Microsoft Indonesia launched it on November 29, 2005, I can still call it a gift for your Christmas.
So let’s check these out!!!
- Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
- Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
- Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
- Visual J# 2005 Express Edition
- Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
- SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
Well, at that time, they can be downloaded for free, but we’re encouraged to register ourself with Microsoft, and it has a one year lifetime. I’ve downloaded them all and get each of them installed on my system to give it a try, but I never registered myself with Microsoft I must admit.
Then on the second quarter this year, Microsoft has decided to make all of them an absolute free, without limitations!
Microsoft Brings Programming to the Masses
Company brings the power of code to growing community of hobbyist programmers who seek to integrate technology and software into their everyday lives.
Since the launch of the Visual Studio and SQL Server™ Express editions on Nov. 7, 2005, a strong community has built up around the products and the various editions have been downloaded more than 5 million times. Much of this excitement is due in part to the diverse range of partners that have chosen to take advantage of the Visual Studio Express editions to empower a wide range of software enthusiast communities and give them the resources to customize their experiences.
“Software has the potential to transform everyday lives. By making the Visual Studio 2005 Express editions available free of charge, we’re putting the power of programming into the hands of an exploding community of recreational programmers,” said S. Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. “This community has asked for it, and we are excited to provide it.”
Coupled with Microsoft SQL Server Express, the Visual Studio Express editions provide a tool that meets the needs of a wide range of software enthusiasts, including beginning Windows® developers, hobbyist Web developers, amateur game developers and even hardware developers. All the editions of Visual Studio Express will be offered as free downloads: Visual Web Developer™ Express, Visual Basic® Express, Visual C#® Express, Visual C++® Express and Visual J#® Express.
And now today, I’ve wandering around BEC (an electronic center in my town), visiting counter by counter, floor by floor, checking for new gadgets (without any intentions to buy one, however, hehe). Well, I’ll call it relaxation, you know, staring at the brand new mobiles, laptops, accessories, etc, and sometimes adoring the beauty of their sales promotion girls, haha. No, I’m no flirt.
Then I came to a software counter, a pirated softwares, counter, off course (well, I’m still in Indonesia eh :)). After a couple of minutes I found these softwares, I meant, the Express softwares above, available and sold for Rp. 50.000,- each.
Now I wonder that they’re not only a pirate (in this digital age), but also a cheater!
OK, they made illegal copies of thousands of dollars software and sold them at a price that’s really really far cheaper than its original price, so they’re doing piracy, thus, they’re pirate. But hey, they also sell free softwares! I meant, they sell us softwares that we can get it for ourself for free at no cost!
So, what word should I use to call them then? tricky?
For a moment I get angry inside, and laughing at the same time.
And then I remember Linux and its countless distros. Generally, they are also available at almost the same cost. Everyone knew that the Linux and GNU’s softwares and others free, open-sourced, softwares packaged within are available for free. But many software counters sell Linux everywhere nonetheless.
Well, in this Linux case, the money we must pay is the price of service provided by one who bring Linux distros to us. It can be a bandwidth cost and/or packaging, etc. Certainly, this is the same case with the Express softwares above.
Suddenly I lost my anger, leaving just a laugh.
I am laughing at myself for being dumb enough to realize that:
There is no such free thing in our life!
Or there is?
well, actually I’ve been with SF since 2001 