.NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 is now available to MSDN subscribers as of 9:30 AM PST. This release includes the new version of Connected Framework products like WCF and WF 4.0, Entity Framework 4.0 and a host of additional new features across work streams including MEF, Parallel Extensions, and significant enhancements to Visual Studio Team System and Team Build.
Having spent some time with both WCF and WF limited CTP, Beta and pre-Beta 2 bits, this release includes significant improvements, re-design and new features specifically around WCF and WF 4.0. If you are like me, you will likely welcome many of the designer enhancements in WF 4.0 and may lament a number of designer design changes within messaging activities. You’ll just need to rip off the shrink wrap on Beta 2 to find out yourself!
I plan to start doing a significant amount of writing around WF 4.0 because I think that having been re-written from the ground up, WF 4.0 addresses many, many of the pain points in the 3.0 and 3.5 version, and I believe that WF + WCF 4.0 will lower the barrier of entry for writing workflow and service/model-oriented applications. In addition, the improvements within Workflow Services and the ease with which those new to WCF can get a service up and running are both significant and necessary to increasing the reach of these fantastic technologies.
Another major area of VS 2010 I am excited about is in the new architecture and design tools in Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2010 Architecture Edition which introduces new UML designers, use cases, activity diagrams, sequence diagrams and the ability to explore and visualize existing code, design and apply layering to enforce dependency rules, and physical designers to visualize, analyze, and refactor your software. In May of the year, I demonstrated how VS 2010 extends UML logical views into physical views of your code along with how to create relationships from these views to work items and project metrics, and how to programmatically transform models into patterns for other domains and disciplines.
Needless to say, I’m excited about VS 2010 Beta 2, and am even more excited to announce that the official launch of Visual Studio 2010 will take place on March 22nd, 2010.
Until then, you can download Beta 2 on October 21st here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/dd582936.aspx
Some other notes of interest:
- Microsoft is announcing a new, streamlined packaging lineup and licensing options for Visual Studio 2010 and MSDN. This includes an "Ultimate Offer" to help customers upgrade to the latest developer tools. For more information on the new packaging, licensing, and pricing of Visual Studio 2010, visit: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=166249
- As you may have noticed, MSDN has undergone a significant redesign which includes new benefits for all MSDN subscribers: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx
March 22nd will be here before you know it, so jump on the Beta 2 bits now and get ready!
Oh, and don’t forget, PDC 2009 is right around the corner. Register now for key insights you just won’t find at any other conference: http://microsoftpdc.com/