Do I need a paid-for version of Visual Studio to develop for the new Windows Phone 7 Series?

Question

Free Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone, Silverlight and XNA in all their glory...

But can I use them with a Visual Studio 10 version other than Express without paying for it? (My problem being that Express doesn't accept the addins/plugins I depend upon...)

Answer 1

I think i read something today of an express version for windows 7 phones... which would mean the answer here would be no. Not sure where I got it, though.

Ah, yes, here:

http://www.microsoft.com/exPress/

in more detail:

http://www.microsoft.com/express/Phone/

So, there will be an express version for the phones ;)