[Python-Dev] VC++ 2008 Express Edition now locked away?

[Terry Reedy]

Clicking this link
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14597
on this Developer Guide page
http://docs.python.org/devguide/setup.html#windows
now returns a
"We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be found."
page with search results.

The first search result
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/nl/Vsexpressinstall/thread/2dc7ae6a-a0e7-436b-a1b3-3597ffac6a97
suggests that one must first go to http://profile.microsoft.com
which forwards to the live.com login page. Logging in with my un-expired 
non-developer account did not make the original link work.

The mdsn page http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/
has Visual Studio / Download trial, which leads to
https://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads
which lists 2012 and 2010 but not 2008.

I suspect that an msdn account is required for most people to get 2008.

A later link leads to
https://www.dreamspark.com/Product/Product.aspx?productid=34#
which suggests that vc++2008 express is also available to verified 
degree students. I don't qualify so I will not try.

So it would appear that section "1.1.3.3. Windows" of "1. Getting 
Started" (setup.rst) needs further revision.

Or perhaps we could persuade Microsoft to let us distribute it ourselves 
so Windows versions of 2.7 do not become increasingly unusable.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy