I guess my developer's toolbox has grown slowly as needs have arisen, but over the past few months as I put the final polish on a couple of saleable applications, acquisitions have become a more frequent event. As a software developer who has only recently thrown off the shackles of "real" employment to go it alone, there are several tools I've not previously had cause to use which have become indispensable.
For those of you who may be in the process of acquiring a suite of developer tools or updating their existing arsenal, here's what I use.
Primary development platform: C#, using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional SP1
Databases: Microsoft Access, SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition, SQL Server 2005 Express, SQL Server Compact Edition 3.0
Integrated help: Microsoft HTML Help Workshop
UML and Data modeling: Enterprise Architect
Desktop virtualisation: Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
Version control: VisualSVN/Subversion
License key management: Infralution Licensing System
Purchasing: PayPal
Automated license key generation: IPN.NET
Application installation: InstallAware Express
FTP client: FileZilla
Web forum: AspNetForum
Please feel free to suggest any other items you feel no Windows desktop developer should be without, keeping in mind that as a fledgling micro-ISV I've chosen affordable - if not free - products out of necessity. I'm pleased to note some Australian products in the list!
Cheers
Pete
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