Earlier today, we reached another very significant milestone for Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET Framework 2.0. At the Professional Developer’s Conference in Los Angeles, we made the first Release Candidate of Visual Studio 2005 available to attendees and MSDN subscribers.
We continue to be on track to complete the product and launch with SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006 on November 7, 2005 in San Francisco. The San Francisco launch event is only the beginning of our “world-wide rolling launch season”. In the months after the San Francisco event, we will hold nearly 100 additional events in major cities around the world. Moreover, thanks to user group leaders, student consultants, and other partners, we expect to augment these launch events with over 750 regional launch events. All together, the SQL Server, BizTalk Server, and Visual Studio launches represent the single largest Microsoft product launch event in history.
I want to encourage all of you to come out and see a launch event for yourself. In addition to deep technical education and an opportunity to meet with the Microsoft employees who designed and built these products, you’ll be able to win valuable prizes and even free products. To sign up for a launch event near you, please visit the launch portal site on Microsoft.com.
Thank you all for your continued support. We’re excited to deliver the best product in the history of Developer Division and look forward to meeting you over the coming months.
Namaste!