You know, I've been using VS for so long and I've gotten it for free for the last 3 years since I'm a startup and a part of their BizSpark program that I hadn't even factored that in. That's a very good point.

My IDE consists of a few paid things that you can get for free elsewhere. I've tried using eclipse, but I'm just not as comfortable. But I'm sure I could get there if I jumped.

Things I pay for: * VS - quit expensive * Visual Assist X - $90'ish a year * PHP for VS - $100'ish (because it was cheaper and more efficient to buy a plugin than learn a new environment)

When I add it all up, I have spent quite a bit on the IDE. I don't necessarily agree that the IDE is being beaten by other IDEs. The extensibility is through the roof and I use a lot of tools that really enhance the "shortcomings" of VS. However, because of the plugins, VS is quite bloated and takes way too long to start up.

One of the best arguments I've seen, thanks for posting.