Microsoft has announced the availability of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Beta 2 to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers.Microsoft has announced the availability of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Beta 2 to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers.
The software giant on October 19 announced that beta 2 of both Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4
were available to MSDN subscribers and that the technology would be
generally available to the world at large on October 21. In addition to
availability of the new beta versions, Microsoft announced a simplified
product lineup and pricing options for Visual Studio 2010 as well as
new benefits for MSDN subscribers, including what the is calling the
Ultimate Offer, available to all active MSDN Premium subscribers at the
official product launch on March 22, 2010.
Microsoft will shed more light on Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework
4 and all of its other developer technologies at its upcoming Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) to be held in Los Angeles November 17-19.
With the Ultimate Offer, active MSDN Premium subscribers will be
transitioned to a higher-level Visual Studio 2010 with MSDN
subscription at launch. This provides access to an unprecedented amount
of resources, including test and development rights for Microsoft
server software (including Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft SQL
Server 2008), Microsoft Office, and premium Visual Studio tools.
"The 2010 wave is not only about innovation but about helping our
customers get significantly more for their investments," said Dave
Mendlen, senior director of developer marketing at Microsoft. "The
Ultimate Offer and new MSDN subscriber benefits combine to give
developers access to high-quality tools, training and community support
while at the same time providing organizations with an immensely better
value for their money."
Essentially, "if you decide to make a purchase before March 22, you
will get the next higher version of Visual Studio at launch," Mendlen
told eWEEK.
According to Microsoft:
The Ultimate Offer is a promotion to help customers upgrade to
Visual Studio 2010 while getting the most value possible. The Ultimate
Offer is available to customers who have purchased the following
products on or before March 22, 2010:
Visual Studio Professional 2008 with MSDN Premium
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition with MSDN Premium
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Architecture Edition with MSDN Premium
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Edition with MSDN Premium
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition with MSDN Premium
Meanwhile, S. "Soma" Somasegar, senior vice president of Microsoft's
Developer Division, said developers should start checking out the new
innovations in Visual Studio as the product nears final release.
"This is a big day for developers," Mendlen said. "This is the
biggest release we've done in many years. And we've hit a key milestone
with beta 2."
Indeed, new testing options in Visual Studio 2010 will help ensure
quality code, Mendlen said. Enhancements to the integrated development
environment (IDE) mean that whether modeling, coding, testing or
debugging, developers can use existing skills to deploy a growing
number of application types. Other key features include built-in tools
for Windows 7 and Microsoft SharePoint 2010, new drag and drop bindings
for Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), and
interoperability with innovative technologies -- such as those for the
database, ASP.NET model view controller, unified modeling language,
Expression, and multicore -- allow developers to bring their visions to
life.
With the .NET Framework 4, developers can experience smaller
deployments with an 81 percent reduction in the framework size when
using the Client Profile. Other .NET Framework 4 developer benefits
include additional support for industry standards, inclusion of the
Dynamic Language Runtime for more language choice, new support for
high-performance middle-tier applications -- including parallel
programming, workflow and service-oriented applications -- and backward
compatibility through side-by-side installation with .NET Framework
3.5, the company said.
"Developers face demanding, complex and fast-paced environments
today; this next wave of tools and technologies will help simplify the
development process from design to deployment and will enable
developers to use their existing skills and knowledge to build better
software, faster," Somasegar said. "Now is the time to test drive the
new functionality and features in these releases, which address
everything from Windows 7 and SharePoint support to collaboration and
lifecycle management."
Somasegar said Microsoft is doing two primary things with the new
release. "One is that we're delivering a modern IDE. Because developers
spend so much of their time in the IDE, we want to make your experience
productive. So we have a brand new editor and we have code-focused
development features. The second thing we're doing it supporting all of
our new platforms coming out of Microsoft, including Windows 7, Azure,
SQL Server, SharePoint, etc."
Microsoft has also simplified the product lineup for Visual Studio
2010 and announced pricing details. In the next version, customers will
be able to choose from three main versions of Visual Studio 2010:
Microsoft Visual
Studio 2010 Ultimate with MSDN. The comprehensive suite of application
life-cycle management tools for software teams to help ensure quality
results from design to deployment
Microsoft Visual
Studio 2010 Premium with MSDN. A complete toolset to help developers
deliver scalable, high-quality applications
Microsoft Visual
Studio 2010 Professional with MSDN. The essential tool for basic
development tasks to assist developers in implementing their ideas
easily
Pricing for the software starts at $799 for Visual Studio 2010
Professional to $11,924 for Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate with MSDN,
according to Microsoft documentation on the new packaging.
"What we've heard from customers is the products is great, but there
was some complexity in the way we offered it, so we wanted to look at
how to simplify that packaging and make it easier for customers,"
Mendlen said.
In an FAQ on the new packaging, Microsoft said:
"After hearing from our customers, Microsoft decided to introduce a
simplified SKU structure in Visual Studio 2010 which will make
purchasing decisions more straightforward. Customers can expect greater
value in their purchases of MSDN and Visual Studio 2010. Each level has
benefits depending on the specific developer need. Going forward,
customers will be able to choose from three main versions of Visual
Studio 2010: Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate with MSDN, Visual Studio 2010
Premium with MSDN, or Visual Studio 2010 Professional with MSDN. We
encourage developers to find more information on product specifics by
visiting http://microsoft.com/visualstudio to find out which version of
Visual Studio 2010 is best for their needs."
In addition, Microsoft unveiled new benefits for MSDN subscribers, including:
Unlimited access
to Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 (upon release), a server
product that drives down the risks and costs of developing software by
enhancing team collaboration
Azure Development:
MSDN Premium subscribers will be able to develop on the Windows Azure
platform (Microsofts cloud services platform) with compute hours,
storage, data transfers, SQL Azure databases and .NET Services.
Complimentary e-learning, up to 40 hours per year, per subscriber
To help developers access the wealth of online resources in a more
streamlined fashion, Microsoft has also updated the MSDN Web site,
which now features an updated user interface, a faster version of the
MSDN Library and more community resources.
Those interested can download Beta 2 at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx.
Meanwhile, for those developers currently using Visual Studio Team System, Microsoft said:
Customers will find that Visual Studio Ultimate includes all of the
concepts and capabilities of Visual Studio Team System. Visual Studio
2010 Ultimate provides a robust solution for ALM, including all role
SKUs from Visual Studio Team System 2008, in addition to other
significant innovations, including the following:
New architecture
tools (including new UML assets) that transfer your architecture from
whiteboard to living assets
New tools that
enable testing teams to capture rich and actionable bugs at different
points in time
New testing tools
that bring business users, test generalists and others into the process
A world-class
integrated development environment that enables the development across
cloud, on-premises and multiple platforms
With the highest level
of MSDN subscription, all of Microsofts server and client applications
for development and test usage
Application Development 
