Dotnet On The Cheap/Free

I was asked by the folks at barcamp to cut down on my workshops, so I decided to turn one of them into a blog post.

There is this misconception that using MS stuff is expensive. But this is not the case for development.

If you are a web developer for ASP.NET you've got it made. Look at the tools that they are giving away for free! Click To Download

1. Visual Studio Express
2. SQL Server 2008 Express with Management Studio (now comes with import/export)
3. Silverlight Toolkit, works on VS Express so you can design stuff in silverlight too
4. AJAX Control Toolkit (for all your ajax needs)
5. Silverlight Control Toolkit (for your silverlight needs)

I have this feeling that the good folks at barcamp got pressured into making me remove a workshop, I didn't see anyone else booking a slot at the time I vacated. Conspiracies abound!