Microsoft's Express Idea!

BANGALORE: Microsoft is working on new, scaled-down versions of its upcoming Visual Studio 2005 languages and SQL Server 2005 offerings for enthusiasts, hobbyists and students. Said an online report.

The software giant is calling these as 'Express Editions' and will be announcing plans for SQL Server Express Edition, Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition, Visual C# 2005 Express Edition, and Visual J# Express Edition at Tech Ed Europe this week.

According to John Montgomery, director of marketing for developer tools, the company is expanding its product lines for the benefit of the non-professional developers. This is one more effort of the software giant to lure the vast student database, many of which are choosing the less expensive open source alternatives.

According to analysts Microsoft will charge $50 or less for each of the developer tools, compared to as much as $1,800 for professional versions.

SQL Server Express Edition will be made available as a free download at the Microsoft Web site and will include support for Common Language Runtime (CLR) and XML Web services. This edition is limited for use on a single processor machine and its size is limited to four gigabytes.