Visual Studio 2008 extensions for SharePoint v1.3

I’m not much of a SharePoint dev.  I’ve taken a SharePoint development class, but that’s it.  I keep telling myself that I am going to dig in to SharePoint more. 

I know that many of the folks that attend the Developer Dinners are doing a fair amount of SharePoint development.  I just came across the announcement for a the CTP of the latest extensions to Visual Studio 2008 for SharePoint.  Based on my limited SharePoint dev experience, the new features in the extensions look like they will useful.  Details at http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/01/12/announcing-community-technology-preview-of-visual-studio-2008-extensions-for-sharepoint-v1-3.aspx.