June 2004 - Posts
Microsoft today introduced the new MSDN Product Feedback Center: It's an improved mechanism for exchanging feedback about beta versions of Microsoft's software, starting with the current betas for Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0. Oh, and they even have a blog for the new feedback site.
In mid June, Microsoft have released a couple of custom controls written in Visual Basic .NET 2003, full source code included under a Shared Source License. They call them "Visual Basic Power Pack" and have released that package to its own
GotDotNet Workspace.
Robert Green has written an
article for MSDN Online which introduces you to the controls available with the Power Pack, providing a good first overview.
Last thing a broader public saw of Visual Studio 2005 ("Whidbey") was the Community Technology Preview in May. No official beta announcement on Tech.Ed 2004 in San Diego, CA (USA) by the end of May, as Jim Minatel noted on FTPOnline.
Now with Tech.Ed Europe 2004 beginning this Tuesday in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Microsoft will come up with the first official Beta bits (Beta 1), according to an eWeek report by Mary Jo Foley. This should make it as a keynote topic, so expect the announcement on Tuesday. The beta bits could be downloadable from MSDN Subscriber Downloads shortly afterwards.
Also, Microsoft will announce a Visual Studio 2005 product line directed at hobbyists and students (took them quite a while) consisting of a couple of appropriately downscaled products: Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition (for building dynamic web sites and web services), Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition, Visual C# 2005 Express Edition, Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition and Visual J# 2005 Express Edition. Finally, there will be a SQL Server 2005 Express Edition.
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