Reveals extensive enhancements for simplified application life-cycle management, provides sneak peek at all key focus areas for Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0.

REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today provided the first look at the next version of its developer tools and platform, which will be named Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0. Microsoft described the next release through the following five focus areas: riding the next-generation platform wave, inspiring developer delight, powering breakthrough departmental applications, enabling emerging trends such as cloud computing, and democratizing application life-cycle management (ALM).

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Today's announcement included an in-depth look at how Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) 2010 (code-named 'Rosario') will help democratize ALM with a unique solution that brings all the members of a development organization into the application development life cycle, and removes many of the existing barriers to integration. Additional details on the other focus areas will be disclosed over the product development cycle.

'With Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0, we are focused on the core pillars of developer experience, support for the latest platforms spanning client, server, services and devices, targeted experiences for specific application types, and core architecture improvements,' said S. 'Soma' Somasegar, senior vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. 'These pillars are designed specifically to meet the needs of developers, the teams that drive the application life cycle from idea to delivery, and the customers that demand the highest quality applications across multiple platforms. You can expect to hear a lot more about Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0 in the coming months.'

Democratizing Application Life-Cycle Management

Today, much of application development remains siloed throughout the enterprise, leading to decreased productivity and lengthy product development cycles. With VSTS 2010, Microsoft is taking the next step forward in giving individuals and development organizations an advanced solution that enables them to integrate effectively and build and deliver high-quality applications.

This includes new capabilities that make it easier for all contributors on the software team to participate throughout the life cycle -- from the core developers and testers to the wider team of project managers, designers and business analysts. Highlights include the following:

    --  Modeling tools. With VSTS 2010 Architecture, Microsoft will enable
        both technical and nontechnical users to create and use models to
        collaborate and to define business and system functionality
        graphically. The new version supports both Unified Modeling Language
        and Domain Specific Language support, so development organizations
        will have the right tool for right job. The new modeling capabilities
        in VSTS 2010 are a core part of the larger Microsoft modeling
        platform, which will also include the 'Oslo' repository, tools and
        language.
    --  Improved efficiency throughout the test cycle. With VSTS 2010,
        Microsoft has made a significant investment in testing features and
        dramatically simplifying the tools required to integrate testing
        across the life cycle. New features include the ability to eliminate
        nonreproducible bugs, fast setup and deployment of tests to ensure the
        highest degree of completeness of test, focused test planning and
        progress tracking, and ensuring that all code changes are properly
        tested.
    --  Substantial improvements in collaboration capabilities. Microsoft has
        made major investments in the capabilities and scalability of Team
        Foundation Server (TFS) including significant improvements that allow
        teams to configure and adopt any flavor of Agile development
        processes. Teams can track and trace work more easily with richer
        linking of work items enabling hierarchical work item relationships.
        In the source code management system, TFS now provides visualization
        tools for tracking changes across branches and into the production
        build. VSTS 2010 also introduces workflow-based builds that catch
        errors before they have a chance to affect the rest of the team or,
        worse, enter production. Finally, administrators will find
        dramatically simpler TFS deployment and management.

'The application life cycle is an integral part of today's business. Regardless of core competencies, all organizations are driven by software that is created and customized to deliver a competitive advantage,' said Theresa Lanowitz, founder of voke, inc. 'Enterprises that invest in an ALM solution can decrease their total cost of ownership of applications in their IT portfolio, and bring about a global approach that is an integrated and expansive system consisting of people, processes and technology. This global approach to ALM facilitates collaboration and takes the risk out of software development to produce predictable and reliable results for an optimized business outcome. Solutions such as VSTS are poised to take advantage of market opportunity by offering an application life-cycle platform to help enterprises realize this ROI benefit.'

In another move to increase integration across the life cycle, Microsoft also announced that VSTS 2010 will provide a unified VSTS Development and Database product. As a benefit to existing Software Assurance (SA) customers, those who currently own Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition or Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition will receive all the following products starting Oct. 1, 2008, for free:

    --  Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition
    --  Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition
    --  Visual Studio 2005 Team System for Software Developers
    --  Visual Studio 2005 Team System for Database Professionals

The products will be available to SA customers through their normal Microsoft Developer Network channel. More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/sa.

More information about Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0 is available at http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9537302.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.