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Yesterday, I posted https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7408039/upgrade-visual-studio-2008-professional-to-visual-studio-2010-professional-agai regarding purchasing Visual Studio. It was closed as off-topic.

Can anyone explain why Visual Studio is not considered part of "software tools commonly used by programmers," which is quite clearly marked in the FAQ as an acceptable question?

Is it just because it's about the commercial aspect of the software tool rather than its usage? IMO developers need to purchase development tools too.
I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything, I'm honestly looking for an answer so I understand SO better.

P.S. The point of my previous question was this: I found from Microsoft an "Upgrade" purchase from VS2008 Pro to VS2010 Pro. The problem with this is at least two other SO threads indicate such a product does not exist and that you must purchase the full version of VS2010 regardless whether or not you own VS2008.
I just wanted to know why those other threads say what they say, which directly counters (IMHO) what Microsoft's site says - I wanted to know who to believe, and if I should purchase the Full version or the Upgrade.

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  • Thanks, I didn't know that existed :) – William G Sep 14 '11 at 15:59
  • One thing to bear in mind is that not all the close-voters necessarily chose the "off topic" reason - when the close-vote threshold is reached, the system picks one of the (possibly more than one) reasons that have been given, according to... some algorithm... – AakashM Sep 14 '11 at 16:25
  • @AakashM The algorithm is a simple majority of votes (if only community members have voted) or the last chosen reason (if closed by a moderator). – Adam Lear♦ Sep 14 '11 at 16:44
  • @Anna what happens in the case of a 2-2-1 split? – Some Helpful Commenter Sep 14 '11 at 21:55
  • @ConradFrix The close reason from the last vote that resulted in a tie is picked. So for example, if it's 2 off-topic, 2 not constructive, 1 too localized, if a the second off-topic vote was cast last out of all off-topic/not constructive votes, the question will be closed as off-topic. – Adam Lear♦ Sep 14 '11 at 22:44
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Because it's not programming related. You are basically asking a support question on Visual Studio and that is off topic. It wasn't migrated anywhere and just marked off topic because there is no StackExchange site for Visual Studio Licensing/Upgrade questions. Yes, Visual Studio questions are asked and answered here but not the way you phrased it.

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  • It's not about how he phrased it, it's about what he asked (Licensing of a Software Product), that's off-topic. – Time Traveling Bobby Sep 15 '11 at 7:13
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It's true that the FAQ reports that questions about "software tools commonly used by programmers" are on-topic, but that doesn't mean that all the questions about that topic are acceptable on Stack Overflow. For example, these questions are questions that would probably not be acceptable.

  • Do you prefer using C++Builder or Visual C++?
  • What IDE would you recommend me to buy, between Visual Studio 2010, and Visual C++ 2010?
  • Visual C++ sucks, and it doesn't correctly understand my code! Am I right?

In the case of the question you are referring, what you are asking is not specific for a software tool, as you could replace "Visual Studio" with the name of another program, and the answer would not change.

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  • "Visual C++ sucks, and it doesn't correctly understand my code!" - That's not a question. – Andrew Grimm Sep 15 '11 at 6:50
  • I reported only the title of imaginary questions. – kiamlaluno Sep 15 '11 at 7:02
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    It's not an imaginary question either. – Andrew Grimm Sep 15 '11 at 7:10
  • It's in the category of the "rants disguised as questions." On any SE site there are some of such questions that, as they are asking something, are questions; the problem with these questions is that the OP is irritated by something he doesn't understand, or that he misunderstood. – kiamlaluno Sep 15 '11 at 7:25
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You're not asking how to use a tool effectively. You're asking how to buy it and install it. These are support questions that should go to the product vendor and have little or no value in a programming discussion site.

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