A total of four new releases of Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 are available as free downloads from Microsoft. At the start of this week, the Redmond company began delivering no less than four different virtual machine images built around Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server SP1. All the VPC releases have been time-bombed and are set to expire come December 31, 2009. However, throughout 2009 the releases can be used to testdrive Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server SP1 in Virtual PC 2007, Virtual Server 2005 R2, or Hyper-V.

“A VSTS 'all-up' image with Team Foundation Server, Team Build, Team Explorer, and Team Suite. And a TFS 'only' image with just Team Foundation Server, Team Build, and Team Explorer. What’s different is that we’ve produced both Virtual PC 2007/Virtual Server 2005 R2 compatible images AND Hyper-V compatible images. Download the ones that make you happy,” Brian Randell, who built and maintained the virtual machine images for Microsoft, explained.

The new VHD images contain not just an updated expiration date, but also fresh bits. In this regard, all of them now feature Windows Updates released as of December 1, 2008, but also the latest MSSCCI provider, and the last releases of virtual machine additions or integration services components, as well as Process Explorer, Process Monitor, and Background Info. Via the downloads, users will be able to access Team Foundation Server 2008 SP1, Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite SP1, Team System Web Access 2008 SP1, also Team Explorer 2005, and GDR for the product (formerly Visual Studio 2008 Database Edition).

“VSTS 'all-up' Virtual PC/Virtual Server image (6 GB download, expands to 15 GB); TFS 'only' Virtual PC/Virtual Server image (3 GB download, expands to 8 GB); VSTS 'all-up' Hyper-V image (6 GB download, expands to 15 GB); and TFS 'only' Hyper-V image (3 GB download, expands to 8 GB). The Virtual PC 2007/Virtual Server 2005 R2 compatible images provide VMC files for Virtual PC 2007 SP1 and Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Update. The VMC file that ends in –V7 is for Virtual PC and the one that ends in –R2 is for, well, Virtual Server. The Hyper-V downloads only contain the VHD. You’ll need to configure them yourself,” Randell added.

Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server and Team Suite SP1 VPC Image is available for download here.

Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server SP1 VPC Image can be downloaded from here.