The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - Visual Basic .NET Resource Kit

Visual Basic .NET Resource Kit - FREE

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/vbrkit/default.aspx

The kit contains Microsoft .NET controls, worth $899 US, from ComponentOne and other leading .NET component vendors. Technical content includes white papers, videos, and code samples to help you get the most from Visual Basic .NET. Download for free or order a CD for a small fee.

heads.up
Saturday, December 20, 2003

I received a copy in the mail. That is, Microsoft simply sent me this CD along with a 60 day trial DVD version of Visual Studio .NET 2003. They must have gotten my name off of some mailing list since I never requested the material.

While I haven't had time to look at the CD, I don't believe the .NET controls from ComponentOne are truly free. I skimmed over an October thread that was posted at the DevX Discussion .NET Discussion forum

VB.NET Resource Kit
http://news.devx.com/showthread.php?s=2ccdb92b8bf2e74f89bb6540db938356&threadid=95470

and it appears that there is some confusion as to whether you can legally convert the components over from trial to full version.

One Programmer's Opinion
Saturday, December 20, 2003

I read the license on these, and as I understand it, for the most part they're personal licenses only. You cannot distribute or deploy the controls in either a web or thick-client application.

That being said, it's a great opportunity to experiment with some great (and, to be honest, some not-so-great) components and learn the ins and outs of them a lot better.

Chris Tavares
Sunday, December 21, 2003

I have the CD and it's a bit deceptive. The Dundas Chart control is "promo-ware" where every chart generated has a "Dundas Chart" banner across it, the Infragistics component is only two controls, and the Sax comm control syntax is a bit obtuse (you have to Tx & Rx via byte arrays, rather than a simple string as has been the norm since the dawn of time).

(I'm new to .Net so take the above with a bit of salt.)

Mark Newman
Monday, December 22, 2003

http://www.componentone.com/microsoft/MicrosoftNK.aspx

Wednesday, December 24, 2003