Microsoft has published a comprehensive product comparison guide for Visual Studio 2008. The guide is necessary when one needs to know what product to buy in order to make the best use of his/her money.
There are 11 products compared:
• Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
• Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition
• Visual C# 2008 Express Edition
• Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition
• Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition
• Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
• Visual Studio Team System 2008 Architecture Edition
• Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition
• Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition
• Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Edition
• Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite
There are hundreds of features compared across the product line and grouped in the following categories:
General: Languages, Project System, Extensibility, External Tools, Environment Options, Setup Experience, Help System
Basic Tools: Code Editing Tools, Refactoring Tools, Debugging Tools, Build and Deployment Tools, 64-Bit Development
Data-Related Tools: Data Tools, XML Tools, Reporting Tools
Platform Tools: Office Development, Smart Device Development, Web & WCF Development, Windows Development
Advanced Tools: Distributed System Design Tools, Database Development Tools, Code Analysis Tools, Code Profiling Tools, Code Quality Tools
The Express editions do not have Reporting or Office Development tools. The Distributed System Design Tools are available only in Architecture and Team Suite editions, while Database Development Tools are offered in Database and Team Suite editions. Only the Development and Team Suite editions offer Code Analysis and Code Profiling tools, which are so necessary for development.
The Visual Studio 2008 product comparison guide is available as DOC, PDF or XPS file.