Hey, > > It is only the actual IDE that is commercial, with the Express > > Editions estimated to cost $49 per copy (although the betas are free, > > as Devanum pointed out). > > Right - but still - we can't force people to go buy Express. >
Just to clear up any confusion, the VC++ 2003 command line compiler and the required utilities and libraries are available as a free download, exactly like GCC. It is not necessary to have the Visual C++ IDE in order to make use of the compiler. There are a number of free C++ IDE's available that can integrate with multiple compilers at the backend, including the VC++ 2003 compiler. The Code::Blocks and Relo IDEs come to mind. Also, I believe that MS plans to release the compiler toolkit for the upcoming Visual C++ 2005 as a free download (once the product is officially released in the market). That's another standards compliant, optimizing compiler for us to play with. So i don't think there are any commercial dependencies that we have to worry about as far as supporting MSVC is concerned. - tanuj
