Appendix: Visual Studio 2008 Pricing

This chart summarizes volume pricing for Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio Team System. The Open License price is the base price for a new license purchase through Microsoft’s Open License program. The MSDN Premium (Software Assurance) price is the additional annual price for a two-year subscription agreement that provides, among other benefits, upgrade rights to any new versions that ship during the term of the agreement.

VSTS is composed of a set of four client editions that target various roles in the development process along with Team Foundation Server (TFS), which provides collaboration capabilities such as source-code control and bug tracking. Team Suite provides the features of all four client editions in a single product.

The price list also contains a Load Agent that allows testers to simulate high loads on a Web site or application, and a five-pack of CALs. TFS requires a CAL for named users. The team editions of Visual Studio include a CAL, but users who access the server through tools such as Excel rather than Visual Studio must have a separate CAL.