News

Visual Studio 2005 Gets New Edition

• By Scott Bekker
• 09/21/2004

The company unveiled a new low-end edition of Visual Studio 2005 called the Standard Edition. It joins the Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition, unveiled in late June; the Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition; and the Visual Studio 2005 Team System.

"With Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft's goal was to move away from the idea that one tool fits all developer needs," Microsoft Developer Division vice president S. Somasegar said in a statement.

Visual Studio 2005, formerly code-named "Whidbey," is supposed to come out around the same time as SQL Server 2005, or "Yukon." Visual Studio 2005 and a related point release of the .NET Framework will provide upgrades to class libraries, the common language runtime (CLR), programming languages and the integrated development environment. The release will provide deep hooks into SQL Server 2005, especially by enabling developers to write stored procedures.

The new Standard Edition is aimed at occasional developers working in small organizations. It will have more functionality than the Express Edition, which is designed for enthusiasts and students.

The new lineup is significantly different from Microsoft's last release, Visual Studio .NET 2003. That version came in four editions based on job description: Enterprise Architect, Enterprise Developer, Professional and Academic.

In announcing the new Standard Edition at the VSLive! show in Orlando, Microsoft also released a refresh version of Visual Studio 2005 Beta 1 for MSDN subscribers and show attendees.