Visual Studio.NET 2008 Released

Microsoft has officially released Visual Studio.NET 2008 along with ASP.NET and .NET 3.5, new features of VS.NET include:

• JavaScript and CSS support.


• Browsing .NET framework classes using VS.NET.


• Multi-Targeting Support ( VS.NET 2003 was for ASP.NET 1.x, VS.NET 2005 for ASP.NET 2.0 ), while VS.NET 2008 lets you target the version you're developing to.


• AJAX inherent support and intellisense.


• JavaScript intellisense.


• Nested MasterPages.


• Split view for design and markup views.


• LINQ ( Language Integrated Query ) language.


• ASP.NET ListView and DataPager controls ( ListView is similar to the ASP.NET 1.x DataList and Repeater, it's providing same GridView features with support for templates ).

For downlading VS.NET 2008, please find this excerpt from Scott Guthrie's blog:

"Today we shipped Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5. You can download the final release using one of the links below:
If you are a MSDN subscriber, you can download your copy from the MSDN subscription site (note: some of the builds are just finishing being uploaded now - so check back later during the day if you don't see it yet).
If you are a non-MSDN subscriber, you can download a 90-day free trial edition of Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite here. A 90-day trial edition of Visual Studio 2008 Professional (which will be a slightly smaller download) will be available next week. A 90-day free trial edition of Team Foundation Server can also be downloaded here.
If you want to use the free Visual Studio 2008 Express editions (which are much smaller and totally free), you can download them here.
If you want to just install the .NET Framework 3.5 runtime, you can download it here."

To get a bird's eye view on the most commonly .NET used classes, I'd recommend you download this poster that depicts the evolution of .NET framework class libraries, you can get it here.