It's been so long since I've developed on the Microsoft stack, it comes as something of a surprise that their tools are so dang hard to install.
I want to use their HealthVault SDK. Well, it requires Visual Studio. Not, apparently, any of the free versions (though they don't say that), but the real one. The one that costs bucks. And is like 4 GB to download.
So first I had XP in a Parallels VM. I made sure it was up-to-date with patches, etc. Then I downloaded the HealthVault SDK. Didn't install. Oops. Turns out it needs a .NET install. OK. Done. Then I start HealthVault. I figure I'll click "Create Sample App." It fails, because no Visual Studio (sure would have been nice to have a link to the download). They don't tell you in the various docs which Visual Studio. So I tried a variety of the free ones, of version 2005 or later. Couldn't install. Need XP SP3. Installed that. Got Studio Express 2000-something installed. But HealthVault won't work with it.
Now installing the full-blown Visual Studio 2010. Doubtless there will be some cruft from the earlier installs that will screw this all up.
Ruby/Rails developers complain sometimes about the pain of getting their systems all set up . . . How they have forgotten!
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