Visual Studio 2010 SP1 Live on Microsoft Update

The first upgrade to Visual Studio 2010 is now live on Microsoft Update, at over seven months since Microsoft launched the service pack.

As developers undoubtedly know, Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 has been available for download since March 2011.

Still, as it’s the case with a range of upgrades for Microsoft technologies, the distribution process also involves Microsoft Update, simplifying delivery.

According to a member of the VS team, Visual Studio 2010 SP1 availability through Microsoft Update started on October 25th, 2011.

“If you have opted into Microsoft Update and haven’t installed SP1 yet, you will soon have it offered to you. The service pack was initially released in March and includes some often requested feature improvements, fixes that improve reliability as well as the most commonly-reported customer bugs,” the VS team representative added.

Of course, devs can continue to manually download and install Visual Studio 2010 SP1. The Microsoft Download Center still offers both the ISO and installer options for the service pack.

All Visual Studio 2010 SKUs are upgraded by the same SP, namely Express, Professional, Premium, Ultimate, Test Professional, the software giant stressed.

There are a number of comprehensive enhancements in VS 2010 SP1, including IntelliTrace support for 64-bit and SharePoint and new Silverlight 4 Tools.

KB 983509, dubbed “Description of Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1” is designed to provide an exhaustive list with all the changes introduced with the upgrade.

Microsoft is currently working on Visual Studio 11, the successor of VS2010, a release designed to offer developers the necessary resources to build Windows 8 projects, including Metro apps.

A Developer Preview of VS11 is already available for download along with the Windows 8 Developer Preview. The Redmond company released both in mid-September 2011 at BUILD.

At the same time, the Redmond company is already building the successor of Visual Studio 11, and delivered a taste of the future with Project Roslyn CTP.

Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM ISO and Installer are available for download here.

Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview is available for download here.

Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.