WinInsider

After months of silence from the development team, Microsoft has finally issued the first post-Beta 3 build of Windows .NET Server, branded 3604. Build 3604 is an interim release between Beta 3 and RC1 meant to preview progress being made as the new server operating system nears release quality. Installation for testers is optional, as build 3604 has not gone through proper internal testing to be deemed an official beta milestone.

Microsoft on Wednesday shipped Visual Studio.Net, a revamped package of the company's popular software development tools that includes Visual Basic, Visual C++ and its new Java-like language, C#.

"What we're saying is, today is a major step forward for letting people build the next generation of applications designed around XML Web services," Gates said in a speech to attendees of a Microsoft-sponsored developers conference here. "It's the most comprehensive development tool of all time."

According to Microsoft's Marie Huwe, Visual Studio .NET marks the largest developer launch in Microsoft history, with 3.5 million betas issued; 350,000 customers receiving gold code in advance; 190 add-in tools, including components, launching simultaneously with Visual Studio .NET; 250,000 developers already trained, and more than 200 books and 200 courses on developing for Microsoft .NET currently in place. In addition to today's VSLive! event in San Francisco, 150 other launch events are planned worldwide.

It's not Windows or Office, but Microsoft Corp. is about to launch what analysts say is one of its most important products, a key stepping stone to the software giant's goal of dominating the dawning era of Web-based services.

Top Microsoft brass like Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer will hit stages in San Francisco and Chicago on Wednesday to unveil Visual Studio .NET, a set of tools for software developers that will let them create applications based on the company's .NET technology.

Join Bill Gates, Anders Hejlsberg and other industry gurus as the development world comes together for the biggest and most important developer launch of the year, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. On February 13th, thousands of developers will gather at VSLive! in San Francisco to celebrate the arrival of the developer tool that will help you unleash the power of .NET.

You're in a meeting away from the office and need to quickly pass along to coworkers a product design you've just sketched. What if you could use digital ink -- text written with a pen-like stylus on the screen of a computing device the size of a pad of paper -- to e-mail the hand-drawn figure and include notes on how to proceed?

Or you're racing through the airport, you've missed your flight, and you want to check the Internet for the next available flight. Your hands are full and there's no place to open your laptop. What if you could search the Web to check flight availability by speaking your destination and preferred take-off time into your cell phone, wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) or laptop?

The launch of Visual Studio.Net (VS.Net) marks the official debut of Microsoft .Net, the ambitious, bet-the-company initiative that aspires to weave a fabric of XML-enabled software and services across the Internet. As Microsoft's flagship integrated development environment (IDE), VS.Net contains the first release versions of two major new programming languages--C# and Visual Basic.Net (VB.Net)--and signals the end of the old Visual Basic line. Together, VS.Net and its languages provide all the tools necessary to build and deploy applications on Microsoft's bold new platform.

XP Team Launches Wireless Home Networking Beta. Despite a month-long moratorium on new coding, Microsoft's XP Home Networking Team sent out alerts this week about a new beta program aimed at improving the Wireless home networking experience. In meetings with the company late last year, members of the team told me that the feedback they had gotten on XP's home networking components indicated that they had some work to do, and this beta program is the first visible result of that feedback. The invite-only beta program is set to begin in April and end quickly, probably by early May.

Microsoft is set to take its all-important Web services plan to its most important clientele: software developers. After four years of development and two years of marketing hype, Microsoft will on Wednesday release Visual Studio.Net, a bundle of development tools crucial to translating its Windows monopoly into a key advantage in the growing market for Web services technology.

The tools bundle replaces the existing Visual Studio tools--used by some 5 million developers, according to Microsoft--and includes several new features, along with updates to existing products such as the company's popular Visual Basic and Visual C++ tools.

Starting February 13, 2002 in locations around the world, experience the excitement of the highly anticipated launch of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. Celebrate the arrival of the developer tool that will help you unleash the power of Microsoft .NET.

Attend a Visual Studio .NET Launch in a Location Near You: U.S. Cities - - Worldwide Locations