Software: Universal MSDN Subscription Transition

Nerd that I am, I actually had a Universal MSDN subscription. Yes it’s true. With the release of all the Visual Studio 2005 flavors, the Universal MSDN was discontinued so I had to choose some flavor of the “Visual Studio Team System roll-based subscription” (See “Transition Your MSDN Subscription”). Huh?

I had to decide between Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects, Software Developers, or Software Testers. I didn’t think it would be that big a deal, Microsoft would surely explain to me clearly what the differences between the three versions are...Nope. I searched everywhere and I called. Nothing. I finally just punted and went for Architect hoping that it would be all inclusive.

I would have been much happier if I had found Rob Caron’s blog posts on this subject earlier. This is the only place I’ve found any information on the subject and he has lots of nice little pictures and great explanations.

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Visual Studio 2005 Team System, Part I
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Visual Studio 2005 Team System, Part II
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Visual Studio 2005 Team System for Microsoft Partners