Technology Previews of Visual Studio "Whidbey"

Have you heard?  Microsoft has decided to start publicly dropping Visual Studio Whidbey builds on a regular basis.  That means we'll regularly just grab a build of the product and publish it. 

Cool, huh? I think this is totally awesome.  (Dude!)

This is a pretty new idea for Microsoft, but I come from a Linux background and know how valuable this can be.  It's an opportunity for you to see where we're going, and to provide feedback about what you see.

It's different from an alpha or beta in two major ways. 
 1. You never know what will be broken, since the stabilization process is much shorter.
 2. You get to see what we've done very recently, sicne the stabilization process is much shorter.
There are a bunch more disclaimers.  Watch the official site for details.

It also gives me the opportunity to discuss what we're doing in more detail.  If you've seen the latest, then we have a common experience to build on.

I'm definitely interested in hearing about thoughts on the C# editor as you see it in the Tech Previews.  Maybe on your blog?  I'd publish my email address here, but I'm afraid of getting more spam.  Any suggestions?

My toddler son was pretty excited, too, and typed this:

nggggewrtsaDFGGDSAqsdfbv  bfvdsas

Comments

• Anonymous
  February 21, 2004
  This is awesome. I really like MSFT seeking new way to communicate with developers continuously these days, and this is probably one of the best proposal.
  I couldn't find details on the Whidbey official site yet, I just wonder when this is going to start. After beta 1 may make more sense, but I wish it starts before beta 1.
• Anonymous
  February 21, 2004
  Same here - where was this ever published?
• Anonymous
  February 21, 2004
  Where is the link, and I guess you have to PAY for it anyway via MSDN.
  
  
• Anonymous
  February 21, 2004
  Microsoft should do "PUBLIC" builds for feedback, not restricted to MSDN. Sure we can sigh up but not pay no way, pay for daily build, forget it. After all we will be the ones testing it. They should be grateful.
• Anonymous
  February 21, 2004
  How about a Public RAID / PS or whatever via the web for public bug reporting like bugzilla?
  
  
• Anonymous
  February 22, 2004
  The comment has been removed
• Anonymous
  February 22, 2004
  let us give proof of a registerd vs.net 2003 and perhaps a simple "disclaimer & bug" form to register to get it....
  
  I'll be in MSDN soon but I'm starting my private consulting gig.... so I am working to buy my own MSDN and stuff and not use what my soon-to-be-former-employer has paid for....
  
  so right now I runing eval and trial stuff till I get some cash to pay for the membership in "Club Microsoft" :-)
• Anonymous
  February 22, 2004
  The comment has been removed
• Anonymous
  February 22, 2004
  I have no intention of paying for it, it will be on networks on day zero. Whats restricting this going to prevent, nothing, hey they may even get feedback that makes it a better product, I guess you dont want that eh.
  
  "Where do you want to go today", I guess yo u want to go nowhere.
• Anonymous
  February 22, 2004
  Keep an eye on MarkCli's blog because he is the GPM focusing on these community efforts:
  http://blogs.msdn.com/markcli/archive/2004/01/15/59202.aspx
  
  I suspect that the restrictions won't be in place to be elitist but to make support less of a nightmare. VS hasn't done anything like this before so it just makes sense to test the process on a small scale first.
  
  Also, there is a external bug database but it is currently restricted to registered users. It used to be http://www.betaplace.com, now it's http://www.beta.microsoft.com
• Anonymous
  February 22, 2004
  Regarding public a bug database: there is an effort underway in this area, but I don't know much about it. I don't know when it'll happen, or how it'll work. But it definitely fits in with our efforts to be more open with the development community.
  
  Regarding access to the technology previews: I don't know what it's going to be. If I had my way, I would choose weekly drops of the product, including full source & symbols & Source Control change history.
  
  Regarding mudslinging: please don't do it. This is my blog, but I'm going to avoid censoring any comments if I can. I hope that you can act mature here. In your blog, however, you're welcome to say whatever you please.
  
  Thanks for the link to MarkCli's blog.
• Anonymous
  February 22, 2004
  Restrictions on releases just ignores the developers who do not sub to MSDN. I lost count of the CDs I got for free trial copies of VS.NET at trade shows. Just because its a pre prelease doesnt make any difference. Look at IE, theyve done pre-releases also to the public.
  
  Showing reg codes for people that have licenses is just stupid really. Hey guess what "We dont want any new licensees", thats all it says. What about education users, they dont sub to MSDN. I can name countless reasons why its bad. You are only driving people awway to SharpDevelop, Borland or other IDEs. Do you want that?
  
  As for the issue of managing public feedback, sure I can understand that but thats a different issue.
  
  Weekly or nightly, probably weekly is enough for external and daily for internal testing for obvious reasons.
  
  You will also get more buckets in watson for UEs by having more users out there than restricting it.
  
  I for one do not sub to MSDN yet im a developer. Guess you dont want my products to add value to the platform then.
• Anonymous
  February 23, 2004
  Koji: Glad to hear you're excited, too. I don't know what the schedule is. When I have more information, I guess I'll blog about it.
• Anonymous
  February 24, 2004
  This is going to be incredibly helpful to software developers who are planning on delivering Whidbey-based business software.
  
  Thanks for the good news Jay!
• Anonymous
  March 11, 2004
  RequestForEditAndContinueFeatureInCSharp++;
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