Microsoft Technology: Answers for StartUps

imageIn one of the startup groups, there was a question on the commercials of doing a startup with Microsoft Technologies. Specifically, the question was:

“I would like to know the commercial implications on developing a solution on dotnet.
Is there a license one needs to purchase from Microsoft for developing a software on dotnet platform?
When the software is sold then does each commercial license of  software requires dotnet license to be purchased from Microsoft ?”

While many folks would already know about the above, I am reproducing my answer in order to help any startup out there looking for information on using Microsoft technologies. So here it goes:

Upfront, one thing should be clear as water -

.NET framework is completely FREE of cost to install.

The tools to develop on .NET is a IDE called Visual Studio may be needed to be bought. However, MS has come out with various programs that give out .NET Development tools for free. These options includes FREE Visual Studio and SQL Server Express products. The BizSpark program and WebSiteSpark program offers the development tools free for all startups. So, adopting .NET development tools may be made a  zero investment effort. 
.NET development shines out in the productivity boost it offers leading to quicker Time to Market for products/ solutions. In addition, the resources/ manpower on .NET can be hired for cheaper from the market. A certain degree of expertise can be assumed by folks who have .NET Certifications.

When your software is sold, the customer does need to buy infrastructure technologies supporting the solution (e.g. SQL Server, Windows Server). The customer doesn’t need to buy Developer tools (and I already mentioned that .NET is FREE to install for everyone).

Finally, costs to the customer on selling the software depends on the solution type you are building (e.g. if you are using SQL Server). There are free/ cheaper options available there as well. This would depend on the solution/ product you are building.

Are you a startup looking for any clarifications on .NET technologies? Please feel free to post a comment here and I will be happy to answer for you.

Comments

Srinath said…
hi this is srinath from hyderabad.how to configure smtp in widows7.when u was prepating for .net how many hours hours u spent to become such great mvp?
pls mail me to srinath.kaithoju@gmail.com
October 20, 2010 at 1:45:00 AM GMT+5:30
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Community Star Discussions and Future

In my continuing discussion with Community Stars across the country, I had a discussion today with Sadashiv. Though he works out of chennai and was here for a short trip, he found time today to discuss the opportunities for Community Star program to improve on. Some of thoughts we generated out of the discussion are as follows: 1. Community Stars are disengaged 'cause of lack of communication with them from MS. Better communication channels need to be developed. 2. Award experience and delivery of the Community Star benefits leave a lot to be desired. 3. Community Stars feel that MS is not laying enough importance on Community Stars and do not value their contributions much. More information needs to flow to CSs. From our end, we are doing the following: 1. Launch an extranet portal exclusively for Community Stars. We will host issue submission on this site. Also, we will share opportunities via this site e.g. beta opportunities 2. Re-launch the Community Star distributi
Read more

Making Vista Search your PST Files

Vista can index a lot of files and for some reason it doesn’t index the MS Outlook files.. maybe it is as Outlook is already doing the same.. in case you still want to search PST from Vista Search here is what you can do: Go to the Control Panel Choose "Indexing Options" Click on the "Advanced" button Click on the "File Types" tab Check the checkbox next to "PST" to include it in the search Select the bullet next to the option "Index Properties and File Contents" Click OK and OK again on the message that appears. This is especially useful for information workers like me who have large PST files and are forced to archive from time to time … indexing the archives would return the information from these forgotten folders as well :) Tip taken from On10.net Technorati tags: Outlook , PST , search
Read more

Technocratical Society

In the past days, I haven’t been blogging. A lot has happened in that time – terrorist attack in Mumbai, MNS lost track, global recession set in and Congress advanced in the country. Here’s an ode to the state of the society as viewed by my nephew, Shantanu Chandra who is in Class XII, Amity International, Gurgaon. The lines below capture the times prevailing and the need for us to drop the “chalta hai” attitude but with caution: This techie world of gizmo and gadget This eerie feeling of incongruous widget Which gives us pleasure and takes pain Along with it makes us insane; Absurdness to such a horizon from where one would never fall And still people call you “Microsoft—…That’s all” A teen like me can’t do without a mobile-call Even though I know it is killing my brain cells, after all; This techie world of gizmo and gadget Makes a non-techie guy weird and hollow The bureaucrat are more concerned about their Sunday meal Than to serve the poor people whose w
Read more