Microsoft News Tracker

Microsoft’s David Boschmans reveals that the March Community Technology Preview of the upcoming Orcas release of Visual Studio is now available from the Microsoft Download Center. The download overview has a list of what’s new in the March CTP, but the major highlights to my mind are:

• Incorporation of LINQ
• Addition of the Sapphire Web Forms designer (similiar to Expression Web Designer)
• Inclusion of the Cider Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) visual designer to support all that rich Vista UI goodness

Since these were the anticipated big ticket items, it looks like Orcas is really coming together but no specific date has yet been set for its release. For a nice overview of Orcas, see Scott Guthrie’s recent presentation.