Yes you are right but who knows what will be available in 3 years. I am working on a version for the free Atmel studio which is also a version of Visual Studio (but not as functional as vs pro).
3 years is a long time, it would seem a shame to miss out on an easier and more fun environment just because it might not be free in a few years. To be honest, if I hadn't of written the plugin I would have moved away from Arduino a long time ago. It has been a lot of hard work but the end result is great fun and removes much of the constant need to look for Arduino reference guides.
I do see your point, I used to make a big thing of the three year time limit but in the end decided it is not a reason to avoid using the tools and that the 3 year limit is always clearly shown on the page that I link to.