Aiming to reach a larger audience of software developers, Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced slimmed-down “Express” editions of its Visual Studio developer tool for specific programming ...

Microsoft Wednesday said that an entry-level edition of its Visual Studio tools will remain free and available for use without restrictions for developers.

The vendor will offer Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop, allowing users of the free version of the development tools to build software with the traditional Windows interface.