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As it was the case with Windows 7, the Redmond company paid close attention to customers, .NET developers 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 Microsoft 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 Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. The successor of Microsoft Visual Studio 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.
Microsoft is working not only on the imminent release of .NET Framework 4, but also on expanding support beyond the now-traditional Windows client and server operating system. In this regard, the Redmond giant is hard at work delivering .NET 4 support for its Cloud platform. The promise from the software giant is that customers leveraging Microsoft Azure will be able to start taking advantage of .NET Framework 4 for their applications in mid-2010.
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
