Vista Beta 2, WinFX Beta 2, Office 2007 Beta 2 (updated 9 June)

If you've been waiting (with beta'd breath) for the ideal moment to start exploring the upcoming Microsoft developer technologies, that moment has arrived.  Yesterday saw the release of three different Beta 2s:

 WinFX Beta 2, Vista Beta 2, and Office 2007 Beta 2.   Here's what you need to know to get started.  (Updated June 9 with new links.)

 

WinFX site on MSDN WinFX Beta 2

WinFX Beta 2, which includes the Windows Presentation Foundation ("Avalon"), Windows Communication Foundation ("Indigo"), Windows Workflow Foundation and InfoCard, is now available for public download.  These represent four of Microsoft's most strategic developer technologies. 

There is a new WinFX site on MSDN with all the information you need to download, learn about those technologies, and get connected to the community.  If you're a developer, visit https://msdn.microsoft.com/winfx/

Over the coming weeks, you'll see a wealth of training resources that will target WinFX Beta 2.  Therefore, if you plan to work with WinFX (and learn WinFX) between now and launch, and even create an application that is ready to launch with Vista, this is the Beta to work with.  If you want to hear about training resources as they arrive, you should sign up to the Beta Experience program at this link: https://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/default.aspx  

 

 

Vista site on MSDN Windows Vista Beta 2

The latest public build of Microsoft's new client OS is now available to MSDN and Technet subscribers - and (UPDATED) now available for public download through this link .  New information on Vista Beta 2 is at this link: https://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

and developer information is available here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

 

 

My first impressions: I'm writing this blog entry from the Beta 2 build.  Compared to previous builds (which many of you have seen me demo with) this build seems significantly more stable.  If you are currently using the February Community Tech Preview, this is night-and-day different.  Vista's overall speed could still use a boost, though.  I'm sure that's a focus of the coming months.

 

Vista Beta 2 has the added advantage of shipping with a build of WinFX which is aligned with WinFX Beta 2.  This means that applications built using WinFX Beta 2 will work on Vista Beta 2, as well as downlevel on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 running WinFX Beta 2.  I will be honest - the development experience using Visual Studio 2005 is significantly smoother and faster on XP and 2003. 

Therefore, working with the Beta 2 builds of Vista and WinFX represents a significant advantage: you can build WinFX Beta 2 applications on XP or 2003, and test them on XP, 2003 and Vista Beta 2.

 

 

Ofice site on MSDN Office 2007 Beta 2, and VSTO June CTP

Office 2007 has reached Beta 2 as well.  Visit the Office site at this link to find out more about Office 2007: https://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx, and here's a link to sign up to the Beta 2 program and download Office 2007 Beta 2: https://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/getthebeta.mspx

Visual Studio Tools for the Office System (VSTO) allows you to develop extensions to Office in any .NET language.  They represent an excellent opportunity to leverage the complete power of the .NET Framework and languages, and build applications that fit into an Office-based workflow.  VSTO version 3 allows you to extend Office 2007, by doing things like customizing the new "ribbon" interface to Office 2007.

VSTO v3 has just had a June CTP released as well.  For more information, videos, tutorials, and to download, please see the Office Developer Center here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/future/default.aspx

 

 

What you need to do right now

Here are quick links to the things you can do to start exploring these technologies:

Vista: Public download link is here.

Vista & WinFX: Read about and find download links for the latest Vista and WinFX technologies here.

Vista & WinFX & Office 2007: Sign up to the Beta Experience program here.

Office 2007:  Download Office 2007 Beta 2 here andstart your Office 2007 developer exploration here.