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You are very much mistaken in two ways. Firstly, Visual Studio is not free. There is a free version that can only be used by learners, hobbyists, and those cre

You are very much mistaken in two ways. Firstly, Visual Studio is not free. There is a free version that can only be used by learners, hobbyists, and those creating free software. This is a cut-down version from the commercial product, which offers more features and is required if creating commercial software. Secondly, Microsoft do not finance VS from a 30% take. As I said above, if you want to develop commercial software you have to buy the commercial version. Instead, the free version is a "hearts and minds" exercise. Get people used to the free version when they are learning and when they are creating free software. If they then want to create commercial software their first instinct will be to plump for paying for the commercial version. On the other hand, some of those replying to you are also mistaken as VS is also available on subscription as well as standalone.

Eridrus 8y ago
You can use the community product to make commercial software: https://www.quora.com/Can-startups-use-Microsoft-Visual-Studio-Community-for-development-of-commercial-applications https://www.quora.com/Can-startups-use-Microsoft-Visual-Stud... The windows app store store does take a cut, though it seems to be reduced to 15%: https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2018/05/07/a-new-microsoft-store-revenue-share-is-coming/ https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2018/05/07/a-new-micr... But even if it was just a hearts and minds exercise - why do you want hearts and minds? As a strategic play to support other parts of your business, i.e. Windows, even if it's not the Windows store. In any case, it doesn't really matter the specifics are at MS now, you could look at Android or iOS instead, where the dev tools are free and they are definitely taking a 30% cut, and contrast that to a few decades ago where you had to shell out a few thousand dollars if you wanted MS' dev tools at all. Or take a look at Unity which has a subscription, which people are pretty happy with.

Eridrus 8y ago

You can use the community product to make commercial software: https://www.quora.com/Can-startups-use-Microsoft-Visual-Studio-Community-for-development-of-commercial-applications https://www.quora.com/Can-startups-use-Microsoft-Visual-Stud... The windows app store store does take a cut, though it seems to be reduced to 15%: https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2018/05/07/a-new-microsoft-store-revenue-share-is-coming/ https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2018/05/07/a-new-micr... But even if it was just a hearts and minds exercise - why do you want hearts and minds? As a strategic play to support other parts of your business, i.e. Windows, even if it's not the Windows store. In any case, it doesn't really matter the specifics are at MS now, you could look at Android or iOS instead, where the dev tools are free and they are definitely taking a 30% cut, and contrast that to a few decades ago where you had to shell out a few thousand dollars if you wanted MS' dev tools at all. Or take a look at Unity which has a subscription, which people are pretty happy with.