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REDMOND, Wash.—Microsoft said it will soon release a new version of its Visual Studio toolset for Windows Vista development.
Jay Roxe, group product manager for Visual Studio, said Microsoft will introduce a new release of the Visual Studio targeting Vista development, known as Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista, as soon as March 5 but possibly as late as March 12 depending on when internal developers clear the code for general use.
While the code is generally ready, Microsoft wants to be completely sure of its quality before releasing it, company officials said.
The Redmond, Wash., company advised developers that it would be updating its toolset to address the Windows Vista release specifically, even though developers have already been able to create applications for Vista using both Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1. However, the new Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista adds a few features that will enable developers to create applications that take better advantage of the Vista operating system.
“Its not a large release in terms of things it addresses,” Roxe said. “This addresses things like getting a better IIS [Internet Information Services] experience on Vista. We also worked on making sure error messages are more concise and clear on Vista. And we worked on improving the overall developer experience.”
Roxe noted that when Microsoft released the beta for Visual 2005 Service Pack 1, the company asked the beta testers whether they wanted Microsoft to ship Service Pack 1 first as an upgrade before Vista shipped en masse or whether the company should wait until after the Vista release. Roxe said the customer base responded that they wanted an upgrade immediately and then another refresh after Vista became broadly available.
The enhancements, bug fixes and improvements in Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista are the result of Microsofts own internal use of the product and input from users who checked in through the MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) Feedback Center, Roxe said.
In addition to the update of the toolset targeting Vista, Microsoft also plans to release an interview with S. “Soma” Somasegar, vice president of the companys Developer Division, giving guidance on how developers can better develop secure and reliable applications for Windows Vista.
Service Pack 1 of the development platform shipped in mid-December and included more than 70 improvements for common development scenarios, including new processor support for code generation and profiling as well as performance and scale improvements in Microsofts TFS (Team Foundation Server.