I didn’t realize that the Express Editions of Visual Studio 2005 are only free until November 2006.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/support/faq/default.aspx#pricing:

We originally announced pricing of Visual Studio Express at US$49. We are now offering Visual Studio Express for free, as a limited-in-time promotional offer, until November 6, 2006. Note that we are also offering SQL Server 2005 Express Edition as a free download, and that this offer is not limited to the same promotional pricing period as Visual Studio Express.