Visual Studio.Net launch day

C|Net | at | by Mike

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.