I have been using Visual Studio for the design and implementation of an online voting system for students in the higher institution.
CEO/Programmer at Tech Elight
The language syntax is great because it is similar to the human language
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
It has been a nice programming language. I love using it, and it has created a really great cordial relationship between my clients and me.
What is most valuable?
The language syntax is great because it is similar to the human language, very easy to understand and to work with.
What needs improvement?
A kind of tutorial page should be embedded in the software to enable first-time users learn more without the help of an expert. A page to explain most of the language syntax.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
May 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Visual Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Developer at a university with 51-200 employees
Visual Studio .Net is the Best IDE for Programmers and IT Students
Valuable Features:
It was in 2004 when I first experienced Visual Studio 2003 as an IT student. Now that I am working as a programmer, I used the newer version which is Visual Studio 2008. Here are the few reasons why I chose .Net for so many years:
• I can create console, Windows form, Web Forms, Smart device and mobile applications, XML web and windows services using different languages such as Visual Basic, C#, J# and C++
• I love the drag and drop ability of the items and controls using Visual Designers
• I love the Toolbox with many useful and unique items that even Netbeans or Eclipse does not have such as Timer, DateTimePicker, Process Dialog and etc.
• I adore the integrated, highly professional looking Crystal in VS 2008 and later versions
• Express editions are free and suitable for students
Room for Improvement:
• Visual Studio.Net is only used for Microsoft Windows Operating system.
• Other than the express edition, Visual studio products are not for free.
• Crystal Report is not included in Visual Studio 2010 and 2012 and requires a separate download.
Other Advice:
Being an educator and a programmer for 8 years, I can say that Visual Studio .Net is the best development tool for desktop and web applications. I am absolutely recommending Visual Studio .Net to my fellow programmers, web developers and even to students, hobbyists and new learners.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Visual Studio
May 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Visual Studio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Modern Data Center and Cloud Engineer II at IE Network Solutions PLC
Smooth running tool for mobile app development
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is how smoothly it runs."
- "Microsoft should add more visualization for analytical studies or research."
What is our primary use case?
I mainly use Visual Studio for mobile app development and searching libraries or different kinds of programming language.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is how smoothly it runs.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft should add more visualization for analytical studies or research.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Visual Studio for one to two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Visual Studio is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I've not found Visual Studio to be scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is a little complex - after installing Visual Studio, you may need to download the particular libraries you want to work with from their repository. Installation took around two to three hours.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You may have to purchase more hardware utilities like processors or RAM.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Visual Studio to other users and would rate it nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Software Designer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It's helpful when coding, but I would like to see more detailed error and failure reports
Pros and Cons
- "Visual Studio makes it easier to compile the code and shows me the errors upfront when coding. For example, it will tell me when a reference is incorrect or if there's a mistake within the function calls. I like how it highlights with a red underline so that I know there's an error at that point."
- "I would like to see Visual Studio improve reporting to give us more details on failures. When there are failures, it's difficult to debug. It would be helpful to have more error information to help us to identify the issue and resolve it. I want to know more about software failures and exceptions in the system."
What is most valuable?
Visual Studio makes it easier to compile the code and shows me the errors upfront when coding. For example, it will tell me when a reference is incorrect or if there's a mistake within the function calls. I like how it highlights with a red underline so that I know there's an error at that point.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see Visual Studio improve reporting to give us more details on failures. When there are failures, it's difficult to debug. It would be helpful to have more error information to help us to identify the issue and resolve it. I want to know more about software failures and exceptions in the system.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with Microsoft Visual Studio for around six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Visual Studio is quite stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Visual Studio is scalable. I can install the latest modules and run my software through them.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft support is good enough, though sometimes it could be more responsive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've been using CLion IDE on Linux. It's good, but Visual Studio is more intuitive, and Microsoft offers better support.
How was the initial setup?
Visual Studio is straightforward. It was easy to set up and use.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Visual Studio seven out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Works
Support for many languages and cross-platform development makes it highly versatile
What is our primary use case?
C++ desktop development.
How has it helped my organization?
It's easy to use and has a highly customizable IDE that is good for cross-platform development.
What is most valuable?
Support for many languages and cross-platform development makes it highly versatile.
What needs improvement?
Support for spell checking comments should be inbuilt and automatically installed.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Infrastructure Expert at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
.NET is great for business apps, editors, anything that doesn't require really optimized code.
Valuable Features:
It provides manageable code execution, it's object oriented, the .net framework comes with ado.net, it uses xml to transfer data between the various layers in the architecture, has error handling properties, automatic memory management, disconnected architecture, and is a multi-platform application. It is a consistent programming model, has multi-language integration, and ease of development.
Room for Improvement:
Needs skills, and some versions have less features.
One cannot run unsaved code or use generics and operator overloading.
It requires a .net framework which xp sp3 doesn’t have.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Yes, you are right Mark, by using functions the developer can get an improved performance.
Ingeniero de DevOps at Babel Software
WPF is helpful for rendering user interface, and there is a lot of information on the web about it
Pros and Cons
- "Windows Presentation Foundation or WPF is valuable. It's a tool to give clients a user interface for Windows applications. The summary for mobile applications is also very useful."
- "There could be some features for YAML pipelines in Visual Studio."
What is our primary use case?
I am a DevOps engineer. I work from Ecuador for clients around LatAm, principally banks. I work with the banks that use DevOps continuous integration and continuous deployment. I also work with Visual Studio.
What is most valuable?
Windows Presentation Foundation or WPF is valuable. It's a tool to give clients a user interface for Windows applications. The summary for mobile applications is also very useful.
What needs improvement?
You need a lot of RAM to run the applications with Visual Studio and Unity. For example, if you want to do work on a game, you need a lot of resources or RAM for Visual Studio and Unity.
There could be some features related to Azure DevOps. There could be some features for YAML pipelines in Visual Studio.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for 14 years.
How are customer service and support?
We can find a lot of information on the internet when we have any issues.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it a 10 out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Software Engineer at a tech services company
It provides me the ability to deploy applications directly from it
What do you like best?
- It is a multi-purpose IDE, where I can easily build C++, C#, and many other languages projects without any difficulty. I can develop mobile apps, desktop applications, web applications, etc.
- It provides me the ability to deploy applications directly from the Visual Studio.
- Its layout editor is pretty fast and easy to use.
- It is becoming the one and the only IDE which give us the ability to build cross platform applications at one place with Xamarin support.
- I can use my core code across Android, iOS, and Windows apps. I only have to set its layout. This is also in the IDE.
What do you dislike?
Its IntelliSense, while overall good, I think it can be improved by covering the local status. It should show local variables first in IntelliSense and other related variables afterward.
Recommendations to others considering the product
If you are student or new to programming, then I will recommend you use Visual Studio for development, because it is a complete IDE and easy to use.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Visual Studio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2025
Product Categories
.NET Development ServicesPopular Comparisons
Microsoft Silverlight
SharePoint Designer
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Visual Studio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Nicely explained article, I really agree with author on some points that are:
1) Provide great feature for creating User Interface with drag and drop functionality
2) Provides flexibility to use different computer languages for creating the windows based application
3) And the most beneficial feature of .NET framework is Intellisense which helps the developers to code in speedy and efficient way.
4) The applications written on .NET platform may appear or work differently on another Operating Systems i.e Not much platform independent.