Service Pack 1 of the development platform also includes more than 70 improvements for common development scenarios, including new processor support for code generation and profiling, as well as performance and scale improvements in Microsoft's TFS (Team Foundation Server).

Other improvements include TFS integration with Excel 2007 and Project 2007, tool support for occasionally connected devices and SQL Server Mobile Edition, additional support for project file-based Web applications, Windows Embedded 6.0 platform and tools support, and increased MFC (Microsoft Foundation Class) class support for device developers. The improvements also enable ClickOnce deployment to work with devices.

Last month, Microsoft confirmed an "extremely critical" vulnerability in Visual Studio. Click here to read more.

For developers using Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista, Microsoft is working on an update to Visual Studio 2005 SP1 called the Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista. This update builds on the improvements made in Visual Studio 2005 SP1 and delivers an improved user experience for developers using Vista, sources said. The Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2007, after the consumer launch of Vista, which is slated for the end of January, sources said.

In a blog post from September, S. "Soma" Somasegar, corporate vice president of Microsoft's tools division, said: "Visual Studio 2005 SP1 will run on Vista but will likely have a few compatibility issues. We are working with the Vista team to understand those, to provide workarounds where possible and also work on providing you with a set of fixes beyond SP1. We had a choice to make internally—hold up VS 2005 SP1 till we get the fixes in or decouple and ship VS 2005 SP1 as soon as possible knowing that we have to provide fixes for some of those Vista compatibility issues later. Based on your feedback of having SP1 for VS 2005 soon, we decided to separate the two."

Microsoft also recently announced a pilot program offering downloadable hotfixes for the Visual Studio 2005 family of tools. Many of these hotfixes are available in Visual Studio 2005 SP1, the company said.

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This article was originally published on eWeek.com.

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