Microsoft News Tracker

S. “Soma” Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Developer Division unveiled some eagerly anticipated developer tool betas today via his blog:

I am pleased to announce the release of Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2, .NET Framework 3.5 Beta 2, and Silverlight 1.0 RC. 

You can download Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 and the .NET Framework 3.5 Beta 2 from here. Over the next couple of days, we will make Silverlight 1.0 RC available for download as well.

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To add to this, we are also releasing a Go Live license for Visual Studio 2008, the .NET Framework 3.5, and Silverlight 1.0 to make it easier for you to start developing in our next generation of tools.

Visual Studio 2008 (formerly codenamed “Orcas”) is now feature complete and for Silverlight, Microsoft is also releasing a CTP of the Silverlight Add-In for Visual Studio 2008. For more details on Visual Studio 2008, this video featuring Somasegar and Scott Guthrie provides a useful overview. If you prefer text, Guthrie has more on his blog plus some last minute beta tips.

Update 7/27: The Silverlight 1.0 RC is now available along with some associated betas including the Expression Blend August preview.