Articles about Visual Studio

For over a decade, database developers have been begging for a kind of bridge that enables procedural language programs to access relational databases relationally. Now that bridge is coming. But are developers ready for LINQ? We asked Microsoft's Visual Studio general manager, Jason Zander.

LOS ANGELES (BetaNews) - The first genuine effort to create a uniform set of database drivers for Windows came in 1988, when an independent firm started as a consultancy called Pioneer Software launched a product and an idea called Q+E -- a tool for linking its own database editor, and later Microsoft applications such as Excel, to any number of existing databases through stand-alone providers. It was indeed a revolutionary concept, and it gave birth to a never-equaled database connectivity standard called ODBC.

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The mindsets of the dynamic language programmer and the classical, static language developer are practically different beasts. So can they share the same IDE? We spoke with the man in charge of what aims to be that one IDE, Visual Studio 2008.

Of the two dilemmas, one would probably prefer the type that Microsoft's newly appointed Visual Studio general manager Jason Zander faced this week, to the one facing the SQL Server team: holding a gala launch for a product that actually started shipping last November, as opposed to one that may end up shipping in July.

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Once again Microsoft redefines the concept of "launch," releasing today the retail edition of a suite that was said to have "launched" last November, though whose "launch party" remains scheduled for late February.

It's one of the guests of honor at a formal launch party still slated for February 27 in Los Angeles. But with one guest bowing out early -- specifically, SQL Server 2008, whose RTM may come as much as six months later -- Microsoft decided today to balance things out by moving up its retail release of Visual Studio 2008 to today.

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With a few years of noticeably hard development work now complete and with the next Visual Studio now being downloaded by MSDN subscribers, work can finally begin on the next edition.

Today, the curtains rise on the final release editions of Visual Studio 2008, and MSDN subscribers are looking forward to being able to use the new features they've actually been testing for about 18 months...and have an official reason to complain if this time they have problems. Once again, Express editions of VS 2008 that concentrate on individual development languages are available for free download.

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At the TechEd conference in Barcelona earlier this morning European time, Microsoft developer division corporate vice president S. Somasegar told attendees to expect the final Visual Studio 2008 to be shipped sometime in late November 2007. Since it is now early November 2007, that gives the company a pretty narrow RTM window.

But the "marketing launch" for the product is described as being set for February 2008, which means all the big parties will be delayed until after the holidays. Microsoft may have chosen to follow a Vista-like rollout model, making the next edition of its development suite available to volume license customers and MSDN subscribers first. The company had already slated a rollout party for SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 for February, and VS 2008's contribution to the champagne will apparently wait until then.

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No fewer than five major announcements in the development field are being issued by Microsoft this afternoon, the timing of which is by no means coincidental: On the top of the list, Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2008 -- which is quickly losing touch with its old code-name "Orcas" -- will be made generally available for download by this Friday, along with Beta 2 of .NET Framework 3.5.

But what developers have been itching to finally try is building applications for Silverlight - the company's new cross-platform graphical front-end module - under the auspices of Visual Studio.

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Microsoft will announce Thursday morning the release of Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2. According to Scott Guthrie, the general manager of Microsoft's Developer Division, the release will be nearly feature complete and will likely be the last major release before the product is released to manufacturing in preparation for its launch on February 27, 2008.

Beta 1 of Visual Studio 2008 -- code-named "Orcas" -- was released in April, and brings with it features aimed at development for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Version 3.5 of the .NET Framework will accompany the release. "VS 2008 and .NET 3.5 Beta 2 (which will be out later this week) are pretty much feature complete," said Guthrie. "We'll do some small features additions/chanegs based on new feedback on Beta 2, but 99% of the features are all there."

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On February 27, 2008, Microsoft will jointly release Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008, kicking off what it calls a "launch wave" with hundreds of events worldwide. Microsoft will pitch the products as a platform for next-generation Web service applications.

Windows Server 2008 is still expected to be released to manufacturing before the end of the year, with November as the rumored timeframe. Microsoft took a similar tack with Windows Vista, making it available to businesses in November before its public launch in late January.

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ORLANDO - Every so often, new products or tools from Microsoft that aren't always "front burner" projects have to be re-announced...and sometimes, even some big news doesn't find a proper place in the cycle. (We've been tripped up by this before ourselves.) This afternoon at TechEd, Microsoft architect evangelist "Chef" David Aiken (complete with white uniform) demonstrated a component called Visual Studio Management Model Designer. He described it as an essential component of .NET Framework 3.0 development, and it is downloadable from Microsoft's CodePlex, though it is probably as official a .NET component at this point as PowerShell was a component of Longhorn as of last year.

The concept of this component is to enable developers to automatically generate code that enables the reporting of their own health and status, based on standards in the midst of being set for Windows. Within a few minutes, applications become capable of producing their own text logs - an essential part of development that is often missed for the sake of compressing the schedule.

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After two community technology previews whose purpose was to warm up developers to the new foundation-based programming models intended for use with Windows Vista (although Vista's release ended up coming first), the next edition of Microsoft Visual Studio, code-named "Orcas," officially entered Beta 1 today.

At last, developers concerned over what they saw as a reticence on Microsoft's part to support Windows Communication Foundation -- the next generation of Web services -- will be gratified to discover Orcas Beta 1 will indeed support WCF.

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Microsoft plans to issue a service pack for Visual Studio on Friday, as well as a version of the update specifically aimed at fixing issues with the software for those running Windows Vista. The company said the updates will be available by midday ET.

The fixes come from customer and partner feedback, as well as the company's own internal testing. The companies responsiveness to customer comments could be measured in the percentage of bugs addressed, the Redmond company pointed out.

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Microsoft acknowledged Tuesday that developers looking to build applications on Windows Vista will need to upgrade to Visual Studio 2005 SP1, highlighting compatibility issues the company is dealing with as the new operating system nears release.

Both Visual Studio 2002 and 2003 will not work on Vista, and the most recent update to Visual Studio 2005, Service Pack 1, will likely have compatibility problems. Microsoft is working hard to resolve those issues before Vista ships. Developers can continue to use Windows XP to build applications that also run on Vista.

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In sync with today's public release of the Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh, the Developer Tools division at Microsoft has made available the first public beta of the second edition of Visual Studio Tools for Office 2005.

You might be thinking, "I don't remember an 'Office 2005."' Actually, think of this as "VSTO 2005," the second edition of the tools dated last year, that enables Visual Studio development directly for Office 2003 and Office 2007.

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Microsoft on Wednesday announced a new addition to the Visual Studio 2005 Team System: Team Edition for Database Professionals. The product is designed to promote collaboration when building database driven applications, and is another step on the road to Visual Studio "Orcas."

Orcas is the next release of Visual Studio that will tie together SQL Server 2005, Windows Vista and Office 2007. It will bring support for Microsoft's new .NET LINQ query syntax and integrate "Atlas," the company's new tool for developing Web applications using AJAX.

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Microsoft said Wednesday it had decided to extend the free availability of Visual Studio Express Edition indefinitely, citing the immense response from customers that amounted in the tool being downloaded over 5 million times. VS Express was initially going to be offered free for just one year.

A number of Microsoft partners have made use of Visual Studio Express to build developer communities around their products. The Redmond company cited examples of LEGO, eBay and Phidgets among those who are providing resources and code to software developers.

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