First, many of the enterprises don't pay all that much for Visual Studio. And, having previously been in the compiler business, I don't think very many compiler producers make any money at that game. If you could see the internal cost numbers for what it takes to put Visual Studio together and to maintain it, it would be hard to see how they could anywhere near profit from it. Back in the day, there was a report that they had 50 programmers on the C++ compiler alone.
Perhaps Walter Bright can make money writing compilers, but that would be an exception. I think that you will find that compilers and other language tools are sold in conjunction with something else.
Comments
First, many of the enterprises don't pay all that much for Visual Studio. And, having previously been in the compiler business, I don't think very many compiler producers make any money at that game. If you could see the internal cost numbers for what it takes to put Visual Studio together and to maintain it, it would be hard to see how they could anywhere near profit from it. Back in the day, there was a report that they had 50 programmers on the C++ compiler alone.
Perhaps Walter Bright can make money writing compilers, but that would be an exception. I think that you will find that compilers and other language tools are sold in conjunction with something else.