Anthony @ MS : Development Tools for .NET Framework 3.0

VS 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (WPF & WCF) CTP is Coming off the MS Download Center

acangialosi — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:34:00 GMT

In November 2006 Microsoft released a CTP version of the VS 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (WPF & WCF). We released this CTP as a stop gap to provide developers the needed (albeit very limited) set tools to start developing for the .NET Framework...(read more)

Orcas CTP vs. Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP

acangialosi — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:18:00 GMT

I wanted to take a minute and clarify the difference between Microsoft Visual Studio codename "Orcas" CTPs and "Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP".

Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP
This is a product that can be installed on top of Visual Studio 2005. This product enables Visual Studio 2005 customers to begin developing .NET 3.0 based applications by providing a set of project templates, WPF designer, and WCF services integrated into VS 2005. This product is available as a stop gap to enable .NET 3.0 development until the Microsoft Visual Studio Orcas product is released to manufacturing. Though this product is named November 2006 CTP for consistency with other related releases there will not be any future releases of this product. November 2006 CTP was the last release of this add-on to VS 2005.

It is important to note that this product underwent a name change in November. This will hopefully clarify which product to use in the future but may have provided some initial confusion for existing users. This product has always been codenamed Fidalgo but until November it had previously been publicly named Visual Studio codename "Orcas" development Tools .NET Framework 3.0 CTP. This name was being confused with the product described next and so we changed the name for our final CTP to the name above.

Microsoft Visual Studio codename "Orcas" CTPs
This product is an early look at the next version of the full Visual Studio product This new and upcoming version of Visual Studio will have support for building .NET 2, 3 & 3.5 applications and have a suite of other new features. This release will be a standalone release that will not require VS2005. Microsoft Visual Studio codename "Orcas" CTP will have built in the functionality currently available in VS 2005 + "VS2005 extensions for .NET 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP". As of today Microsoft Visual Studio codename "Orcas" CTP does not have all the functionality available in "VS2005 extensions for .NET 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP" yet.

This product has released a September CTP and will be release periodic ongoing CTPs with varying functionality until it RTMs. When this product RTMs it will replace VS2005 extensions for .NET 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP as the preferred method of developing .NET 3.0 applications and so VS2005 extensions for .NET 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP will be removed from our download servers.

What should you use?
If you are looking to evaluate what features will be in the next version of Visual Studio then you should install Microsoft Visual Studio Codename "Orcas" CTPs. Here you will be able to see where the next version of VS is going.

If you are looking to get up and running with building .NET 3.0 applications quickly then you should install VS2005 extensions for .NET 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP on top of VS 2005.

I hope this helps address some of the confusion between these two products.

Thanks

Anthony

Fidalgo Ships its Final CTP!

acangialosi — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:45:00 GMT

We have shipped our final Fidalgo CTP release under a new name. The new name is "Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP" This new download of Fidalgo works against the RTM of the .NET Framework 3.0. It will not install against any previous versions of the Framework. The .NET Framework 3.0 RTM is a prerequisite as is the Windows Vista SDK and Visual Studio 2005. You can pick up a copy of this last release at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f54f5537-cc86-4bf5-ae44-f5a1e805680d&DisplayLang=en.

This release wraps up the last bug fixes we will address in this series of CTPs for this technologies. It comes under a new name to help understand how to choose between Fidalgo and Orcas. This last release also ships the final CTP of the WPF Designer currently codenamed Cider.

Going forward the future CTPs of Visual Studio codenamed Orcas will integrate the technology available today in Fidalgo. You will find going forward that Orcas will be at par of the technology presented with Fidalgo and eventually supersede it. I encourage you to regularly review the Orcas CTPs to understand how these features will be presented in that release.

Fidalgo Has a New Name

acangialosi — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:12:00 GMT

The product codenamed Fidalgo has undergone a name change. Fidalgo was previously named "Microsoft Visual Studio Code Name “Orcas” Community Technology Preview - Development Tools for .NET Framework 3.0" and prior to that "Microsoft Visual Studio Code Name “Orcas” Community Technology Preview - Development Tools for WinFX". We originally made this first change from WinFX to .NET Framework 3.0 because the runtime itself had changed names and it was important for us to match that name change.

With the most recent CTP of Fidalgo we have adjusted the name again. The new name is "Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (WCF & WPF), November 2006 CTP".

Many questions probably come from this. Let me answer a few of them:

Q:Why did we change the name?
A:We chose the original name because we wanted to communicate to customers that this CTP of ..NETFX3 development tools would be fully available in the next Version of Visual Studio. As the next version of VS started releasing its own CTPs we realized the confusion this would create. This didn't change our charter that customers will be expected to upgrade to Orcas when it ships but we could at least make things easier for the time you do use Fidalgo.

Q:What is the difference between Fidalgo and the WF extensions for VS 2005?
A:Fidalgo only focuses on WCF & WPF. It does not have any features to work with WF. The WF extensions focus exclusively on WF.

Q:Why did Fidalgo go from Development tools for .NET Framework 3.0 to .NET Framework 3.0 (WCF & WPF)?
A:Fidalgo always only focused on the WCF & WPF technologies of the .NET FX 3. We just didn't spell it out in the name because it was already long enough. With the new name we felt it was important to distinguish this from the WF extensions for VS 2005 which focus on on WF.

Q:Why do the name change now?
A:This is the last release of the Fidalgo CTP. Any future technology improvements will appear in the next release of Visual Studio which is codenamed Orcas. We wouldn't get another chance to clarify this in the future as more customers began using Fidalgo.

I hope this helps address some of the questions around why we went with this name change and I hope it makes it easier to understand what role Fidalgo serves for you.

VS Codename "Orcas" CTP - Development Tools for .NET Framework 3.0 (June CTP)

acangialosi — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 08:54:00 GMT

The June CTP of the .NET Framework 3.0 (formally WinFX) has been successfully released to the web. Along with this updated release of the NetFX30 the Fidalgo team has released an update to the Development Tools that will work with this new version of WinFX.

The Development tools for .NET Framwork 3.0 features are largely the same. This June CTP of the tools addresses all the compatibility issues that have been brought about by rebranding from WinFX to .NET Framework 3.0. This release of the tools has begun some of the rebranding from WinFX to .NET Framework 3.0 internal to the tools but this is not yet complete. The June CTP still has templates, template folders, and other features that contain the WinFX branding. We will complete the rebranding in the RC1 release.

Additionally this release of the tools contains an update to the SvcUtil components and the Xaml editor (code named Cider). These tools contain a variety of bug fixes and have also been updated to work with the latest June CTP of the NetFX30.