The company will make one of three planned Visual Studio 2005 Team System (VSTS) clients automatically available to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) universal-level subscribers.
Customers will be entitled to Team Edition for Software Architects, Team Edition for Software Developers and Team Edition for Software Testers, which will be priced, once launched by the end of this year, for a $500 Client Access License (CAL).
Team Edition Foundation Server, which will manage source code and team collaboration, is not covered under the deal and will be priced $2,799.
VSTS is Microsoft’s first move into ALM and success for Microsoft will be measured on its ability to win and retain customers. Developers today use a combination of Microsoft products, like Visual Studio and SourceSafe, along with tools from ISVs that provide a better set of features for the lifecycle.
Prashant Sridharan, senior product manager for the .NET developer product management group, said Microsoft is combining VSTS with MSDN as an incentive to early adopters. We will reward those customers who bet on us now, Sridharan said. He expects early success to come from customers using SourceSafe.
Sridharan said Microsoft is also providing greater visibility into its pricing and product at a lower price, than rivals already occupying various sectors of the ALM chain, like IBM Corp’s Rational and Mercury Interactive Corp.
We look on [VSTS pricing] as a gateway into the platform. The more developers we have building for the platform [Windows] the more valuable the platform. We don’t want price to be a barrier, Sridharan said.
In a further step designed to appeal to developers working in small business who want enterprise-level features, Microsoft is allowing them to choose between professional- or premium-level MSDN subscriptions, with their copies of the planned Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition.
Professional MSDN comes with developer and tester licenses and a copy of SQL Server Developer Edition and access to news groups while Premium MSDN carries with it developer and test licenses for Office 2003 and Windows Sever System. Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, priced $799 new or $549 for the upgrade, will feature software tools previously available in Visual Studio.NET 2003 Enterprise Architect.
One thing we heard from small and medium business customers was they wanted access to the things the large customers get, Sridharan said.
In further pricing news, Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System will be priced $799, or $549 if bought as an upgrade, Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition will be priced $299, or $199, and Visual Studio 2005 Express editions, targeted at novices, will be $49. Sridharan said Express pricing could drop with products even being given away as Microsoft undertakes promotional work.
