Eric Sink talks through the Team System pricing question.

Eric Sink discusses his views on why Team System is priced at its current level and also may set you straight on what you do and don't get with MSDN Universal.  MSDN Universal is a wonderful product and probably a great way to get pricey (more than $2000) server products into the hands of those who otherwise might not try them.  Unfortunately you will still need a client who can afford the licensing to purchase those server products for your applications.  This can often be a barrier to consulting shops who would otherwise like to gain real-world experience in technologies such as BizTalk, Microsoft Content Management Server and Microsoft Commerce Server.

In the meantime, small to medium size business will do what makes sense for their dollars and probably steer clear of products like Team System.

The plus side of this pricing announcement is that our tried and tested tool set including VS.NET, NUnit, TestDriven.NET, NAnt and NCover will continue to be relevant to a very large market in spite of Team System.