REDMOND, Wash. — May 10, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. and Developer Express Inc. today announced the availability of Refactor! for Visual Basic® 2005, a no-cost plug-in that brings refactoring to Microsoft® Visual Basic 2005 developers. Microsoft’s decision to deliver no-cost refactoring support to Visual Basic 2005 was in direct response to community feedback; it will enable developers to simplify and restructure source code, making it easier to read and less costly to maintain. Developer Express is a member of the Visual Studio® Industry Partner (VSIP) program, and its tool will provide Visual Basic developers with an intuitive and powerful refactoring experience.
“We’ve received a number of requests from the Visual Basic developer community to add refactoring support in Visual Basic 2005,” said Rob Copeland, product unit manager for Visual Basic at Microsoft. “Microsoft is excited to work with Developer Express and make Refactor! for Visual Basic 2005 freely available to Visual Basic developers.”
More and more developers are recognizing that simple, easy-to-read code is the key to application flexibility and easy maintenance. However, uncertainty about maintenance costs and concern about breaking code keep many developers from cleaning up their code. Refactor! for Visual Basic 2005 solves this problem for Visual Basic developers by dramatically reducing the cost and complexity traditionally associated with improving, simplifying and refactoring existing code.
“From architects and engineers to hobbyists, Refactor! offers intuitive and easy-to-use code-shaping tools for individuals involved across the entire development spectrum,” said Richard Morris, chief technology officer at Developer Express. “We are delighted that the relationship between Microsoft and Developer Express ensures that every Visual Basic 2005 developer has immediate access to Refactor! and the inherent benefits of code refactoring.”
Developer Express is a longtime member of the VSIP program and provides Visual Studio developers with an array of tools and components that plug directly into the integrated development environment (IDE). In addition to Refactor! for Visual Basic 2005, Developer Express provides Refactor! Pro, which is available for $99 and works with Visual Basic 2005 and Visual C#® 2005 beta 2. Refactor! Pro also is available for the Visual Studio .NET 2002 and 2003 versions of Visual Basic and Visual C#.
Availability
Refactor! for Visual Basic 2005 is available for download at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/downloads/2005/tools/refactor or http://www.devexpress.com/vbrefactor. The current version supports Visual Studio 2005 beta 2. Refactor! for Visual Studio 2005 will support all future versions of Visual Studio 2005, including the final release.
About Developer Express
Founded in 1998, Developer Express engineers feature-complete visual components and IDE tools for Visual Studio .NET designed to help developers write less code, increase their productivity and deliver stunning applications for Windows® and the Web.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Microsoft, Visual Basic, Visual Studio, Visual C# and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
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