I recently have had to do come C++ coding - not my usual play ground i must admit, but never the less, something I needed to do.

My first port of call was to download the Visual C++ installer, which I did. Fine and dandy I thought, it seemed to work ok. The GUI was typical 2007 style, so yes, I couldn’t find a thing.

I then set about doing some coding, only to find that even simple stuff like

#include <windows.h>

I was getting all manner of errors in the bottom console. I only then found out that without the super duper “Microsoft Platform SDK” you couldn’t actually do sweet f**k all. So, to another 500mb download, on top of the painful download and installation of the IDE, this was somewhat insulting.

<rant>

Microsoft, we the developers and end users of your software urge you to please plug your brain in before making these kinds of choices! I know you say VC++ is meant to only ‘give a taste’ for windows C++ development, but if you want that taste to be something other than bitter resentment, make sure your products work properly out of the box!!

</rant>