I can be completely wrong but I vaguely remember hearing from a podcast that according to Visual Studio’s license, a developer who works with Visual Studio professionally at their work place automatically has the license to use it in their personal life. That means a developer may not have to pay for Visual Studio to legally use/own it.
Again, I can be completely wrong but if I’m right, can someone confirm with a source?
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According to this whitepaper, a user with an MSDN license can use the software on any number of computers. Both MSDN and Visual Studio licences operate on a per-user basis.
The whitepaper provides the following example:
A developer with an MSDN subscription uses MSDN software at work during the day, but occasionally needs to develop at home as well, using a different computer. Under the MSDN license, there is no difference between a PC at work and a home PC; the home PC is just another device on which the developer is entitled use the MSDN software.
However, as user1100269 pointed out in the comments, your employer or your contract may state that anything you create with company property automatically becomes property of the company, so you may want to be careful.
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