If you currently use the standard version of Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Studio 2005, you’ll be able to upgrade to Visual Studio 2010 Professional for $299. (Microsoft isn’t offering a “standard” edition for the latest upgrade.) But you’ll have to purchase before October 12 to qualify for the deal.
In addition, everyone who purchases Visual Studio 2010 will get a one-year free trial of MSDN Essentials. That includes access to Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, and SQL Server 2008 Datacenter R2 for development and test use, and 20 hours of Windows Azure use.