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The New MSDN Subscriptions
About 5 years ago now, while I was at the start of being a consultant all on my own, I purchased an MSDN Universal subscription. I went with that level because it was the only one that included the database schema integration with Visio, which I was using to architect databases.
For a consultant, the price tag is high, but you definitely get a lot for your money. It made it a lot easier when I bought it from Vio Software which was recommended by a .NET trainer from a class I was in at the time.
This year, Microsoft updated their MSDN subscription offerings. If you had a Univeral subscription, you could choose between their 3 Team Systems: Architects, Developers or Testers.
Looking over the information, I found that what I really wanted was actually in the middle of the Architect and Developer editions. There were features of both I wanted, but I couldn’t choose both.
I had made the decision to go with the Developer version since it seemed better suited to an individual developer. When I went to Vio Software to place my order, I could only find 2-year subscription renewals. A pre-requisite for these was that you had to renew an existing 2-year subscription.
When I asked about the availability, I was told that since Microsoft restructured their plans, they no longer offered what I wanted through third party resellers.
Since this made the Team Systems more expensive for me, I finally decided to downgrade to the Professional version. I felt like I was backed into a corner and forced to choose between way too much or not quite enough, so I chose the lesser of the two, if nothing else, to avoid having my subscription lapse and having to pay the updated, very high prices for a new subscription.
