Soooo, some years ago, Microsoft allowed you to download their C/C++ compiler(CL.EXE), linker (LINK.EXE) and resource compiler (RC.EXE) for free. I would very much like to get my hands on those again – anybody has ideas how to accomplish that?

It seems you can get them if you get one of the Visual Studio Express editions, but those are a smidgen too new. Preferably, I’d like the VC6 (1998) version, but I believe that 7 (2002/2003) works as well. Around 8 or thereabouts things get problematic, and the actual working compilers this side of the C99 standard won’t work at all.

Of course it’d have to be legal and preferably not too expensive. It has to be the Microsoft compiler and linker (gcc cannot make and link compatible binaries).