Visual Studio 2005 versus Visual Studio 2008

[Clay L]

I am a retired engineer that writes programs that interest me. I suppose I would be considered a hobby programmer.
I am currently using VC++6.

My grandson just gave me VS2005 (new in the box) thinking he was giving me the latest version.
I think he can take it back and get VS2008.
Would it be worthwhile to make the change?

[Hack]

That would depend on what you are going to do with it.

For a hobbist I don't see any reason why 2005 would not suffice. If you were a commerical developer, then I would suggest 2008 for a variety of reasons not the least of which is to stay up with the latest technologys. But, how important is it to you to stay abreast of what is happening in the industry?

[Danny]

Yes it would. Visual Studio 2005 is a fine product, but it's somewhat behind the latest C++ standard so I would definitely replace it with the latest version, if that's possible. I happen to have both VS 2005 and 2008 installed on my computer and the latter is slightly better in terms of standard compliance, performance and support.

[Clay L]

For my purposes VC++6 is actually fine for what I do. It's not important for me to keep up with new technology. I am changing because I understand that VC++6 doesn't play with Vista and my old laptop will have to be replaced and the new one will have Vista.

I opened the package before I realized it was 2005 instead of 2008 and I am only assuming it can be exchanged.

It sounds like if I can't exchange it 2005 will suffice for me but it would be nicer to have 2008.
Thanks for the help.

[Hack]

There is no reason why you can't have both.

You can get the Express Edition of 2008 for free from Microsoft's web site.

Are you sure about VC++6 and Vista? VB6 programs are still "supported" under Vista.

[Hack]

Here is an interesting "discussion" that took place during the summer of '07

[jonnin]

The older compilers won't install under vista, or would not at one point there may be a fix. We could not get the older ones to work at all on vista, check the web to see what others have managed to get working I guess?

Its that same dumb check that has killed other programs... I was once given chessmaster X000 (forget which one) and I had NT 4.0. It would not install, wrong OS. I upgraded to windows 2000, would not install, wrong OS. Upgraded to XP, would not install, wrong OS. The silly installer checked explicitly against windows 98 or something and would not work on anything else, I gave up and sold it.

[Danny]

With respect to VC++6, the Help won't work under Vista and there could be other compatibility problems (such as the native sizes of pointers, ABI issues and so on).