.NET developers in awe of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4 and Silverlight 4

With Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft is also taking the opportunity to scale back the number of different versions it sells, cutting the number of subscription options from seven to three. In a telephone interview, Microsoft Vice President S. “Soma” Somasegar said that move came from customer requests.

.NET Framework 4 adds additional support for industry standards, more language choice, new support for high-performance middle-tier applications including parallel programming, and side-by-side installation with .NET Framework 3.5. With the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile, the size of the runtime has been decreased by over 80 percent, making it easier for .NET developers to get .NET applications, and therefore users, up and running faster.

Silverlight 4, which will RTW ( Release to Web ) later this week, offers powerful media and business application capabilities that enable .NET developers to deliver compelling application experiences on or off the Web. New features in Silverlight 4 include extended out-of-browser capabilities, enhancements for enterprise application developers, and more than 60 customizable pre-written controls to quickly build rich, interactive applications.

Participants of the three-day summit that kickstarted on Monday were more than pleased with the IT giant’s new package of development tools. And the gaming freaks were all eyes as the package would help them develop games for the upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series right from Microsoft Visual Studio.

“We had seen videos online showing .NET developers using the same code to develop games for Windows Mobile and Xbox Live. Even though I’m not much of a game developer, this is something I might try out,” said Rajesh, a participant. “The Microsoft Visual Studio and .Net Framework combination is a very rich feature… something that I have been looking forward to,” said Sanjeev Kumar, a .NET developer.