Visual Studio .Net 2003 adds Compact Framework support

By Alun Williams

Posted on 25 Apr 2003 at 11:59

Microsoft has officially unveiled Visual Studio .Net 2003, its major software development system.

Following on from the release Windows Server 2003 and a 64-bit Edition of SQL Server, there is also a new release of Microsoft's programming environment.

A highlight of the new release is the inclusion of a 'compact' version of the .Net framework for Web services. The .Net Compact Framework is designed to extend the reach of .Net to mobile devices.

As we reported back in March, a version of Virtual PC is used to emulate a Pocket PC running as an isolated process. A full x86 version of the PocketPC environment, it is intended to shorten the code-deploy-test loop, to speed development times.

Beyond small-scale devices, Microsoft emphasises the range of Visual Studio 2003 and its close integration with Windows Server 2003. According to Tom Button, corporate VP of the Developer Division at Microsoft: 'Microsoft's application platform has the set of services required to build modern applications, including transactions, reliable messaging, a high-performance Web server and data access. By integrating the .NET Framework 1.1 into Windows Server 2003 and building a productive set of tools on the application platform, Microsoft is helping businesses eliminate unnecessary layers of middleware, boosting performance, security and reliability of the platform.'

Ivo Salmre, Microsoft's UK .NET Developer Tools and Technology manager, told us, however, that this latest release represented a 'maturing' of the product rather than a radical overhaul. It was the first '.Net' release of Visual Studio - released in February 2002 - that represented a major reworking of Microsoft's venerable IDE (integrated development environment). With its incorporation of .Net, its focus moved towards the provision of Web services.

Visual Studio .Net 2003 exists in three different forms. The entry-level product is the Professional edition, while the team-oriented version is the Enterprise Developer edition, and there is the all-encompassing Enterprise Architect edition.

Pricing for Visual Studio .Net 2003 is as follows. The Professional edition is priced at $1,079 (£678), the Enterprise Developer edition is $1,799 (£1,131) and the Enterprise Architect edition is $2,499 (£1,572). Exact UK pricing has yet to be announced.

Microsoft is also offering ViewSonic V37 Pocket PC devices to the first 25,000 people to officially register an interest. This is to encourage developers to get to grips with the .Net Compact Framework supported within Visual Studio.

At the launch, the London Stock Exchange was highlighted as being among the high-profile customers using the latest Visual Studio.