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While developers are busy this week digesting the new features and upgrades in Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft Corp. already is looking ahead to the next version of the product.
Rick LaPlante, general manager of Visual Studio 2005 Team System at Microsoft, said that because Visual Studio 2005 is shipping this week, the company has begun working on a prototype of the next version of Visual Studio, code-named Orcas.
And while there is much planning and work to be done before ramping up development for Orcas, one area Microsoft is clearly looking to cover in the next version of its Visual Studio Team System life-cycle development suite is testing, said LaPlante.
Microsoft has long partnered with members of its Windows and .Net ecosystem, such as Compuware Corp. and Mercury Interactive Corp., to provide testing solutions. And although these partnerships will continue, Microsoft also will be looking to address the testing needs of enterprise developers on its own, LaPlante said.
“I think when we release the next time around, well continue to look at what … our segments [are] and where well make investments,” LaPlante said. “And a big investment for us will be around the testing space in Version 2.”
Indeed, LaPlante said Microsoft has “a great foothold in the testing tools market today, but thats a very interesting market around quality and secure development life cycle. Thats a big investment for us. And we think we do it really well.”
Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., has begun making its internal PreFast and PreFix code analysis and error detection tools available to outside users. Earlier this year, the company released process templates with Visual Studio 2005 Team Systems Microsoft Solutions Framework to help enterprise developers get started with various development processes.
Meanwhile, at the launch event for Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk 2006, Microsoft will host several partners announcing products in support of the new platforms.
Detroit-based Compuware will be on hand to announce Version 8.0 of DevPartner Studio and Version 1.5 of DevPartner Fault Simulator.
Jurek Makowiecki, president of Maze Computer Communications Inc., in Whitehouse Station, N.J., and a Compuware DevPartner Studio 8.0 beta tester, said he used the technology in development of the latest version of a .Net-based solution for his company. “DevPartner Studio 8.0 is an indispensable tool for catching the hardest-to-find problems, which is a must when your code might expose the host machine to a security compromise,” Makowiecki said.
Teamwork
Key areas of partner investment in Visual Studio 2005 Team System
- Requirements management
- Testing tools
- IT governance
- Portfolio management
- Software modeling