Are there any changes in the licensing of Visual Studio 2013 Express editions?
- by Ramón García-Pérez
As was going through reading the license.htm file provided as part of the VS2013_RTM_WebExp_ENU.iso offline installation media for the Visual Studio 2013 Express for Web, section 6 reads as follows:
6. PACKAGE MANAGER AND THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE INSTALLATION FEATURES. The software includes the following features (each a “Feature”), each of which enables you to obtain software applications or packages through the Internet from other sources: Extension Manager, New Project Dialog, Web Platform Installer, and Microsoft NuGet-Based Package Manager. Those software applications and packages are offered and distributed in some cases by third parties and in some cases by Microsoft, but each such application or package is under its own license terms. Microsoft is not developing, distributing or licensing any of the third-party applications or packages to you, but instead, as a convenience, enables you to use the Features to access or obtain those applications or packages directly from the third-party application or package providers. By using the Features, you acknowledge and agree that:
you are obtaining the applications or packages from such third parties and under separate license terms applicable to each application or package (including, with respect to the package-manager Features, any terms applicable to software dependencies that may be included in the package);
MICROSOFT MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES AS TO THE FEED OR GALLERY URL, ANY FEEDS OR GALLERIES FROM SUCH URL, THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN, OR ANY SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS OR PACKAGES REFERENCED IN OR ACCESSED BY YOU THROUGH SUCH FEEDS OR GALLERIES. MICROSOFT GRANTS YOU NO LICENSE RIGHTS FOR THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS OR PACKAGES THAT ARE OBTAINED USING THE FEATURES.
Are there any changes in the licensing of Visual Studio 2013 Express editions?
If so, does this means that Visual Studio extensions installation in Express Editions is now allowed?
PS: Previous versions of the Express editions did not allow the installation of extensions as per "EULA/TOS" discussed here: Limitations of Visual Studio 2012 Express Desktop
