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Microsoft has released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5.  This update patches numerous bugs, improves performance, and even adds a few new features. 

As a .NET commercial software developer, I am most excited that SP1 provides a .NET Framework installation optimized for client applications.  The optimized download is less than 28 MB, compared to the original 200 MB download that all but ensured consumers would not download .NET 3.5 and hence forced us to remain on .NET 2.0 (see FAT .NET).

Visual Studio 2008 Updates

The improvements for Visual Studio 2008 include:

• Improved WPF designers
• SQL Server 2008 support
• ADO.NET Entity Designer
• Visual Basic and Visual C++ components and tools (including an MFC-based Office 2007 style ‘Ribbon’)
• Team Foundation Server (TFS) usability and performance improvements
• Richer JavaScript support, enhanced AJAX and data tools, and Web site deployment improvements

.NET 3.5 Updates

The improvements for .NET 3.5 include:

• Performance increases between 20-45% for WPF-based applications – without having to change any code
• WCF improvements that give developers more control over the way they access data and services
• Streamlined installation experience for client applications
• Improvements in the area of data platform, such as the ADO.NET Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services and support for SQL Server 2008’s new features

Important Tips

Here are a few tips you should read before upgrading to SP1:

• Prior to installation, review the VS2008 SP1 ReadMe and .NET 3.5 SP1 ReadMe files for known issues with this release.
• If you previously installed the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 beta or a hotfix, you must run the Service Pack Preparation Tool before installing SP1.
• If you have multiple Visual Studio products installed, you must upgrade all of them to SP1. 
• If you have a 2008 Express Edition, you must upgrade Visual Studio first before upgrading the Express Edition.
• Windows Vista users: be sure to close the Sidebar before installing Visual Studio 2008 SP1.
• Note that a bug in SP1 has already been found to affect Sitecore and potentially other ASP.NET applications.

Important Links

• DOWNLOAD VISUAL STUDIO 2008 SP1
• DOWNLOAD .NET 3.5 SP1
• Download MSDN Library for 2008 SP1
• Microsoft details about Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1

Article published on August 20, 2008

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