REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 22, 2002 — Microsoft Corp. today outlined the road map for future versions of its flagship development tool, Visual Studio® .NET, and the Microsoft® .NET Framework. By providing details on the direction of its development products, Microsoft is helping its customers plan future investments in Microsoft .NET-connected software. Forthcoming versions of Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework take advantage of their relationship with important platform milestones including Microsoft Windows®
.NET Server and the next version of SQL Server (TM) , code-named
“Yukon.”
“Developers are one of the software industry’s most important assets and they constantly have their eyes on the future,”
said Eric Rudder, senior vice president of the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division at Microsoft.
“By providing the road map for Visual Studio, our goal is to give developers the clarity they need to be successful on the Microsoft platform.”
Microsoft plans to synchronize the next version of Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework, code-named
“Everett,”
with Windows .NET Server, which incorporates the .NET Framework into the Windows platform infrastructure. Visual Studio
“Everett,” an incremental release, will focus on delivering enhanced reliability, stability, security and performance for enterprise organizations. In addition, Visual J# (TM) .NET will be included with the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE) along with Visual Basic® .NET, Visual C++®
.NET and Visual C# (TM) .NET. Visual J# .NET was previously available as a download and began shipping with Visual Studio .NET in July 2002.
Millions of Visual Studio .NET Developers Go Mobile
As mobile development becomes increasingly important in the enterprise, Microsoft will integrate the .NET Compact Framework and Smart Device Extensions into Visual Studio
“Everett,”
enabling developers using Visual Studio to use existing skills to build applications for
“smart”
mobile devices, such as the Pocket PC 2002 and other devices based on Windows CE .NET. The .NET Compact Framework is Microsoft’s mobile application platform technology that harnesses the power of XML Web services on mobile devices. Now, in addition to simple mobile applications commonly found on many of today’s devices, developers can take advantage of advanced productivity features in Visual Studio
“Everett”
to quickly build meaningful enterprise applications. The Smart Device Extensions, an extension to the Visual Studio .NET IDE, delivers features that simplify mobile development.
Choosing the Right Tool for the Job
Just as home builders use a hammer or a saw as the job requires, developers choose programming languages based on the job at hand. Microsoft is committed to further increasing developer productivity in Visual Studio
“Everett”
and beyond. Visual Studio
“Everett”
will support more than 20 programming languages and enhance language productivity by fully integrating each of the Microsoft programming languages with visual design support. Visual Studio for
“Yukon”
will build upon these improvements to deepen the synergies between the tool and the language, as well as provide additional support for the latest XML Web services standards and specifications.
Pricing and Availability
For a limited time, registered users of Visual Studio .NET who do not have rights to the next version under annuity licenses or MSDN®
subscriptions will be able to acquire
“Everett”
for $29, which includes the cost of materials, shipping and handling. Full pricing and availability for Visual Studio
“Everett”
have not yet been determined. Full details will be announced at a later date. Microsoft’s road map for its development products is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/roadmap.asp .
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, Visual Studio, Windows, Visual J#, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C# and MSDN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
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