Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 has been released

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I assume all of you know by now that Microsoft has released Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 to manufactoring. If you don't, you must be living in a cave or something. Nevertheless, if you want, you can download trial versions from here. If you have an MSDN Premium subscription, then you can download the full Team Suite edition directly from MSDN Subscriptions.

Since there have been so many different posts on this on the web, I've collected some of the more interesting ones right here.

  • If you still have beta 2 or a previous build installed, check out this post. It helps you uninstall any residual leftovers.
  • Daniel Moth is well-known for providing very detailed info on what's new in Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5. He has been my primary source for learning the nitty gritty.
  • Although the Team Foundation Server version you can download from MSDN is a 90-day trial, it is safe to upgrade your existing servers. Upgrading to the retail version is just a matter of entering the appropriate license key. No reinstall necessary.
  • An important license change (one which my current customer will be very happy with), is that you don't need a Client Access Licence (CAL) if you only use TFS for tracking defects.
  • Brian Harry has blogged about planned upgrades for the TFS Power Tools and the TFS Web Access upgrades here. If you can't wait, the current CTP will work with the RTM version.
  • Jeff Beehler has compiled a comprehensive list of what's new in TFS 2008 over here.
  • The people responsible for the AJAX Control Toolkit have also releases a new version compatible with the final version of the .NET Framework. Download it from here.
  • The Visual Studio 2008 SDK has been shipped as well. Those who have been building custom DSL-based solutions, can now upgrade as well.
  • The plan is to port the Web Service Software Factory : Modeling Edition to Visual Studio 2008 and release it before the end of February 2008. However, Don Smith expects to have a CTP available before the end of the year, and maybe an alpha drop a bit earlier.
  • Glenn Block, the product planner for the Web Client Software Factory told me that they plan to have a version in the beginning of next year. There is an article though that should allow you to modify the factory manually, but I haven't tried that yet.

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