Q&A: Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

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What do Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 include?

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and the .NET Framework SP1 include substantial enhancements. To highlight just a few of the new features:

The .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 delivers:

  • Performance increases between 20-45% for WPF-based applications – without having to change any code
  • WCF improvements that give developers more control over the way they access data and services.
  • Streamlined installation experience for client applications
  • Improvements in the area of data platform, such as the ADO.NET Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services  and extensive support for SQL Server 2008’s new features.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 delivers:

  • Improved designers for building WPF applications
  • Full support for SQL Server 2008 (formerly known as SQL Server Katmai)
  • ADO.NET Entity Framework and ADO.NET Data Services tooling
  • Visual Basic and Visual C++ components and tools (including an MFC-based Office 2007 Style ‘Ribbon’)
  • Improvements to TFS to respond to customer feedback on version control usability and performance, improved email integration with work item tracking and full support for hosting on SQL 2008.
  • Improvements for Web development including richer JavaScript support, enhanced AJAX and data tools, and Web site deployment.

Will there be additional service packs for Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5?

We plan to do appropriate servicing of both Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 during their product lifecycles. We are not commenting on further details or dates at this stage.

Is it compatible with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008?

Yes

Aren’t SP1s just supposed to deliver bug fixes? Why are you delivering so much new functionality?

We felt that the release of Service Pack 1 enabled us to significantly improve the developer experience with Visual Studio 2008 and the functionality in the .NET Framework 3.5. These additions cover a range of highly requested customer features and so we decided to take this opportunity to continue to make Visual Studio the best software development tool available.

You haven’t said much about improvements in Visual Studio 2008 – why is that?

As with any service pack, there are a number of product quality improvements specific to Visual Studio, such as performance improvements, bug fixes, etc.  However, most of the changes made to Visual Studio 2008 were designed to bring the application into alignment with the new features contained in the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and SQL Server 2008.

What are the supported operating systems for the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1?

Supported Operating Systems include: Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2008; Windows Vista; Windows XP and others.

How big was the .NET Framework 3.5 full redistributable package?

197 MB

How big was the .NET Framework 3.5 bootstrapper?

2.7 MB

How big is the .NET Framework Client Profile full redistributable package?

26.5MB.  That is an 86.5% reduction in the size of the package.

How big is the .NET Framework Client Profile bootstrapper?

Approximately 0.5MB.  That is approximately 20% of the size of the .NET Framework 3.5 bootstrapper.

 

Joel Reyes