SharpDevelop
Most .NET developers use Microsoft Visual Studio as their IDE, and despite its (many) flaws we’ve mostly come to love it, in a way - or at least feel comfortable with it. I had never really thought about alternatives, but I recently downloaded SharpDevelop, an open-source IDE for developing .NET applications. I am now developing my first ASP.NET web application free of Visual Studio - and it’s liberating. The SharpDevelop team have done the right thing and kept the interface very familiar - menus and shortcuts almost exactly mirror VS - while cutting out some of the fat and keeping to the basics. Overall, it’s easy to use and it works.
Given that Microsoft still insists on hefty licence fees for Visual Studio - more than $1000 for VS 2008 Pro, for example - the open-source alternative is certainly attractive for smaller companies and stand-alone commercial developers. SharpDevelop looks like it might exactly fit my requirements. Another step forward for open source software!
