14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will launch Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4 and Silverlight 4 in the week of April 12, 2010. As it was the case with Windows 7, the Redmond company paid close attention to customers, devs and partners with the perfecting of its next-generation development platform and tools and the successor of Silverlight 3. Eddie Amos, general manager, Developer Division, indicated that, with the availability of Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4 and Silverlight 4, it was providing devs with the necessary resources to build applications both for existing and emerging platforms.
“In the new versions of Visual Studio .NET, and Silverlight, we’ve packed hundreds of new features and benefits that improve the development lifecycle from design to deployment. With these new tools, developers can get to where they want to be without getting bogged down in the process. They’ll be able to easily create compelling user experiences both on and off the Web,” Amos stated.
In the video embedded at the bottom of this article, you will be able to see a range of people that have helped build the products enumerated above, delivering a glimpse behind the scenes. One topic of focus is the delay of Visual Studio 2010. The successor of VS 2008 was initially planned for availability by the end of March 2010. However, at the start of 2010, Microsoft revealed that it had taken into consideration the launch of a Release Candidate following the Beta 2 build, in order to deal with performance issues that had been highlighted by tester feedback.
“Over the past year the team has shared details about the specific benefits being released in Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4 and Silverlight 4. And we have received a great deal of crucial feedback from our customers and the development community to ensure we are delivering the best products possible. I am very much looking forward to hearing from customers on how we’ve done in the final releases of these products,” Amos said.
At this point in time, early adopters can still grab the bits for the RC builds of VS 2010 and .NET 4. At the same time, the Release Candidate of Silverlight 4 is also available for download, having been offered in mid-March 2010, at the MIX10 conference in Las Vegas.
“Releasing the next wave of Microsoft developer products is a process that requires time and a lot of decisions. I have seen everyone on the Microsoft’s Visual Studio, .NET Framework and Silverlight teams put in a lot of hard work. It was all done with one key goal: Enabling developers to focus on quality and creativity by delivering a platform that makes it easy for them to use their existing knowledge to build apps for current and emerging environments,” Amos added.
Visual Studio 2010 Premium Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2010 Professional Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
.NET Framework 4 Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
Silverlight 4 Release Candidate (RC) Build 4.0.50303.0 is available for download here.
UPDATE: Availability correction in the first line.