Visual Studio 2010 and Unlimited Test Users!

This one came a bit out of the blue, which I found while reading Chris O'Brien's excellent article on Optimising SharePoint 2010 Internet Sites.

It basically mentioned the new Microsoft initiative where

"active Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN subscribers are provided a license key to generate UNLIMITED virtual users without having to purchase the Visual Studio Load Test Virtual User Pack 2010."

This is fantastic news, as previously that "Load Test Virtual User Pack" cost around £4000 per license and only added 1000 users at a time (this is on top of the already expensive £12,000 odd Visual Studio Ultimate license!!)

Note - all prices are approximate (read .. in my head)

More details can be found at the Microsoft article:

Visual Studio 2010 Load Test Feature Pack and Visual Studio Load Test Virtual User Pack 2010 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)