Visual Studio Express 2010 license

41
votes

Can I use Visual C++ 2010 Express compiler for commercial use? As far as I know, it was always permitted prior to 2010 version, but now when I start IDE, it writes "For Evaluation Purposes Only". I can't find the full license file anywhere (not in installed files, not in Google), so I'm in doubt, should I use it, or should I downgrade to MSVC++2008 version.

5
visual-c++visual-c++-2010
BTW, it's not beta, RC or anything like that. – Mark
Not sure about the full license, but if you have/work for a smaller company in business for less than 3 years, you can get the full version almost-free through the BizSpark program. microsoft.com/bizspark – Eric J.
Wondering the same things. And I found this question via Google while the question is "asked 19 mins ago" that is fast indexing. – Mathieu Pagé
Duplicate: stackoverflow.com/questions/2660395/… – Nathan Osman
@George Edison that question you listed was closed for duplicating this one. – Chris Marisic

5 Answers

30
votes

I think you just need to register it. In the help menu click on register product. It will bring you on a web page where you can log in with a passport account and eventually you'll get a product key to enter into the application.

And yes, commercial use of the Visual Studio Express applications is allowed.

6
votes

I know, it's an old question but there is no clear answer to this and I asked myself the same question. I finally found an official answer on the german microsoft site: http://www.microsoft.com/germany/express/registration/faq.aspx

In the first point it states:

Alle Visual Studio Express Produkte sind grundsätzlich kostenfrei, dauerhaft verwendbar und können auch für kommerzielle Projekte eingesetzt werden.

Translated to English, this means: All Visual Studio Express Products are free, and it is allowed to use them for commercial projects.

The evaluation message dissapears if you register for free and you can use the express products free of charge for commercial use.

3
votes

I got this message in Visual Web Developer 2010 Express, also on Help About it said something like 29 days remaining.

You can register it for free though, just need a Windows ID / hotmail address then the message about "for evaluation use only" disappears off the startup splash screen.

2
votes

it is an evaluation license until you register. once you're registered, you can use it for whatever purpose you wish.

1
votes

Here is what I've found: http://www.microsoft.com/cze/msdn/vstudio/nejcastejsi-dotazy.aspx

You may need to translate it to English (you can use Chrome or something), but it's official, and it looks like it's updated to 2010.

(I figured it's updated by the last question on that page: "What are the hardware requirements for running Visual Studio Professional 2010?")