Ok i have somewhat of a grasp on C++, however i dont have the software at home....Which brings me to this question:

Where do i get Visual Studio .NET 2003 (i have googled and searched and looked evreywhere)

Is there a trial of it? If not is there a legal free copy??

or am i stuck buying it or going underground to search for it........

Any links apprieciated! thanks fellow developers!

C'mon can't you figure that one out yourself?

1- buy it
2- get a pirated version

I can point out a store for point 1, no problem, but nobody will help you with point 2...

Looks like im going to have to do that...

Damn its going to take 15 days!

Then maybe to kill time, you could download a copy of Visual C++ 2005 Express for free from the MS site and start experimenting a bit (no 2005 won't run XDK)

lol, i actualy did download that previously before posting, but i later found out that i need specificly 2003

and my new download time is around 3.5 hours so thats not too bad..

Please do not allude to downloading software.. its just plain not necessary..

http://search.ebay.com/visual-studio-2003

I was wondering a few things...

Lets say I simply want to compile my own XBEs from things like the XBMC CVS, a friend told me that the 2003 .NET compiler is avalable free from MS, and it's only the IDE that costs money. Is this true? Or would I be able to do it if I had just VC++ .NET 2003, not the entire VS. NET?

You can buy it online, from ebay. Or some other online stores.

I know where I can get it, but I want to know if it is true that MS doesn't charge for the compiler, only the IDE.

EDIT: Well, I found the VC++ Compiler & Toolkit on the MS Site: http://msdn.micr-o-soft.com/visualc/vctoolkit2003/ (replace "-o-" with "o" duh!)

This is what I'm after if I want to compile things correct? Or is this only for use with apps coded in C++? XBMC is Python, right?

XBMC is coded in C++, and only uses the Python language for executing scripts (like the quicktime trailer thingy etc). It runs perfectly well without the script interpreter.

Strictly, you don't need any version of VS for compiling xbe's... all the tools for that are included on the XDK disc... compiler, linker, .exe -> .xbe converter and headers+librairies.

However, only the VS.NET IDE supports .sln/.vcproj files... without it you need to develop a Makefile (or .bat file in Windows ) yourself.

Having been around MS products since the start, I would say that NO the compiler isnt free. Its the core engine behind Visual Studio and essentially Windows itself was written with it.

In one way or another, considering the price you pay for the O.S., nothing is ever free from MS.

You cant use the Visual C++.NET 2003 Toolkit. I was messing around a few days ago trying to get it to work.

So far, I've manually installed the SDK's lib's and headers and imported the project files into #Develop. I dont remember what error I got but it didnt work. Feel free to carry on from there.

My advice is, go download buy it from ebay or something.