It’s official, Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 are on their way to becoming final products!
Today Microsoft reached a significant milestone by releasing to manufacturing Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005. The RTM milestone is here!
While a year ago representatives were seriously stating that the products would be released by their fiscal year end (the end of June), that milestone was missed. Microsoft had noted since it began development of these products that they would ship when the products were ready. Today’s RTM milestone is an indication that Microsoft believes its customers have given the “OK”!
Microsoft’s own S. Somasegar, Corporate Vice President, Developer Division, stated in his blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/) today, ” This is by far the best Visual Studio and .NET Framework release that we have ever done.”
Time will tell if it is the best, one thing is sure; the changes in the overall products were extensive. While specific changes in languages may not have been evolutionary, the changes to the overall Visual Studio product help to extend its reach to both the more novice developer with the Express Editions and to the most hard-core enterprise developers with the Team System Editions.
What’s next? The launch events start on November 7th. After that, work will continue on Visual Studio “Orcas”.
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