The development tools are free. Visual Studio Express is free. They are all you need for most any development scenario.
If for some reason, you need another edition of the development, you can get them free if you're a student (DreamSpark), a startup (BizSpark), or cheaper than $700 (MSDN sub).
I'd be interested to know why Express doesn't work for you?
If for some reason, you need another edition of the development, you can get them free if you're a student (DreamSpark), a startup (BizSpark), or cheaper than $700 (MSDN sub).
I'd be interested to know why Express doesn't work for you?