Visual Studio 2010, .Net 4.0, Silverlight Launched

Earlier this week Microsoft announced the launch of their latest next-generation developer suite, Visual Studio 2010. They declared that the .NET Framework 4 and Silverlight 4, a plug-in similar to Adobe’s Flash, will come out this week.
Bob Muglia, president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft, said at the company’s Visual Studio Conference and Expo launch event in Las Vegas: “We’re excited to celebrate the launch of Visual Studio 2010 with developers around the world today. Customer and partner feedback was instrumental in shaping this release. The functionality of Visual Studio 2010, .NET Framework 4 and Silverlight 4 creates a powerful and unique combination, opening up new opportunities for developers to build applications that take advantage of new and existing devices, as well as emerging platforms like cloud services.”

Key goals of the new toolset

• To make it easy for developers to create apps that run on the web, desktop, and mobile platforms.

• The new IDE (integrated development environment) allows programmers to take advantage of multiple monitors, for example, showing code in one, user interface in another, and database structure in a third.

• It also features built-in support for the “ribbon” interface, familiar from Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows 7 multitouch.

Tools for developing Azure cloud apps, Silverlight apps, and Windows Phone 7 apps figure notably in Visual Studio 2010 with “phone design surfaces” incorporated. New team development and bug squashing capabilities come with the suite’s Application Lifecycle Management tools.

Steve Schlonski, vice president of global technology and offering development at Xerox Global Services said in a statement that “The enhanced testing features in Visual Studio 2010 automate the majority of common tasks and streamline the flow of information across our team”.

The new version of the .NET framework includes an 80 percent reduction in the size of the runtime, which will make installation less tedious for the apps’ end users. The new framework version also offers more language choices, more support for industry standards, and not forgetting the ability to run side-by-side with .NET 3.5.

Silverlight Goes Offline

The big news for Silverlight 4 is that it will now be able to run applications outside of the browser. This means that instead of requiring two runtimes for browser and desktop, as Adobe does with its separate Flash Player and its AIR runtime for browser and desktop apps, Silverlight already exists in versions for Mac OS X and Windows. Verion 4 adds Linux and Windows Phone 7 to the supported OS mix.

Microsoft’s Brian Goldfarb, director of the developer platform group, said in a call last week that unlike AIR applications, Silverlight desktop apps will be unconstrained in terms of user interface, with 60 customizable pre-built controls for quick development. He also noted that the Silverlight runtime is already been installed in 60 percent of personal computers worldwide despite having first shipped just two years ago. In that time, the team is about to release the fourth version of the software.

“I’m excited in our ability to respond to the developer community,” said Goldfarb. “We’ve addressed nine out of the top ten requested features.” Goldfarb pointed out Silverlight’s ability to deliver a DVR-like experience in NBC’s Olympics coverage online. “It brought interactive TV to life, with multiple camera angles, and the best video quality was delivered using IIS streaming, without making the user choose the resolution,” he said.

Goldfarb also noted that Silverlight is being used by Major League Soccer and Netflix.com, and the video quality does look pretty darn sharp and smooth. Goldfarb pointed to eBay’s new listing app, which the online auction house built in just eight weeks. The app uses web mashups and lets sellers list items in under a minute, a much more streamlined process than possible on the eBay Web site. Microsoft also announced approximately 50 partners, including Micro Focus, Quest Software, Telerik, and Developer Express, with products and solutions built on the new developer technologies.

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