Microsoft made available .NET Framework 3.5 concomitantly with the RTM of Visual Studio 2008 at the end of 2007. Almost a year later, the Redmond giant is now already looking to the future of its developer tools and platform, and has announced that .NET Framework 4.0 will be released concurrently with Visual Studio 2010.

A deadline for the availability of the final versions of .NET Framework 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 has yet to be announced but, judging by the availability of the previous versions of the company's integrated development solutions, the end of 2009 or the start of 2010 could both be targeted.

“With Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0, we are focused on the core pillars of developer experience, support for the latest platforms spanning client, server, services and devices, targeted experiences for specific application types, and core architecture improvements,” said S. “Soma” Somasegar, senior vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. “These pillars are designed specifically to meet the needs of developers, the teams that drive the application life cycle from idea to delivery, and the customers that demand the highest quality applications across multiple platforms. You can expect to hear a lot more about Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0 in the coming months.”

Microsoft has started talking .NET Framework 4.0 at just 10 months since the RTW (release to web) of .NET Framework 3.5, and only two months since the availability of .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1). A key element of .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 was the introduction of ASP.NET Dynamic Data, streamlining the data-driven development by circumventing the process of writing code.

“At a high level, here are the key areas that we are focusing on with Visual Studio 2010 and .NET FX 4.0: significantly improve the core pillars of the developer experience; support for the latest platforms spanning the client, web, server, services and devices; targeted and simplified developer experiences for different application types; [and] architectural improvements to the tools platform for better modularity and extensibility,” Somasegar added. 

.NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is available for download here.