VS 2010 / .NET 4 Beta 2 Now Available
This was big news yesterday (Oct 19). I was traveling so unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to see any of the official announcements. But as you can see from this article, Visual Studio’s logo has a new look and you’ll find that the MSDN site also has a new look.
We got feedback from sides of the .NET Development community about how complicated it was to figure out which version of Visual Studio is best for them. So what we’re doing with VS 2010 is simplifying the names which are more aligned with other Microsoft brands. So you’ll see VS 2010 Express, Professional, Premium, and Ultimate.
The DevDiv General Manager, Jason Zander, provides a pretty through run down what’s in Beta 2 in his blog as well as descriptions for each of the editions. On subtle thing he’s added to his blog sidebar is a widget that provides a countdown until VS 2010 launch. And that launch is March 22, 2010.
With VS 2010 / .NET 4 Beta 2 now being available for download exclusively for MSDN subscribers until 10/21, after which time, it will be made to the general public. For the first time that I can recall, this is the first time you’ll actually be able to download a beta version that you’re specifically interested in evaluating. What do I mean by that? Historically, the VS betas were usually the upper most version of the product, in this case Visual Studio Team Suite. If you wanted to test what a VS Pro users would have, you’d have to walk lightly and not try out things like the Data menu or go crazy with the Test menu because those features were for the Role Based versions or Team Suite version of the product.
Technical Evangelist, Brian Keller, has a really good article on how to download the bits for the beta as well as a Channel 9 video on installing it.
As I start getting my head around all the latest bits, I’ll start adding more of my perspective on all the new features. In the meantime, check out ScottGu’s blog on the VS 2010 and .NET 4 on the Beta 2 announcement and check out his series of blog posts that cover a lot of the new features.
Excelsior!