Currently I am using visual studio 2010 in a new Windows 8 machine and I am a Windows Phone developer. Windows Phone SDK works properly only in VS1012 on Windows 8. In case of Windows Phone, what's the difference between using visual studio express or add-in on visual studio 2012 ultimate?
2 Answers
Visual Studio Ultimate is a powerful professional and commercial tool. It offers you to install extensions, testing capabilities and all sorts of cool stuff that you may or may not need or even not know they exist. To compare editions in details, go here.
If you just wish to develop apps for Windows Phone 8, Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Phone will be fine - complete SDK is available to you, and in that sense it shouldn't be any different. You get the emulator(s), Blend etc. However, you will have to switch to other Express versions if you wish to develop for other platforms, too.
From an SDK feature perspective, there is no difference. If you already have VS2012 Ultimate, then you should use it with the add-in because of all of the extra capabilities that VS2012 Ultimate has over VS2012 Express. But if you don't have Ultimate already, it's worth noting that VS2012 Express is free and Ultimate is rather pricey - so if all you want to do is develop WP apps/games, Express is probably sufficient for your needs.