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Navigate the Road to Whidbey
The next version of VS.NET includes a plethora of enterprise and RAD features, but the tool remains geared more toward higher-end than occupational programmers.
by Don Kiely

Posted November 14, 2003

Technology Toolbox: VB.NET, C#, SQL Server 2000, ASP.NET

Microsoft's claims for Whidbey—the next version of VS.NET—are impressive: It represents the maturation of all the .NET tools and technologies with support ranging from the smallest devices to the largest servers. Microsoft also asserts that the tool is friendly to all developers, from hobbyists to seasoned professionals. As usual, the reality falls somewhere between this description and the notion that Whidbey is a nice upgrade to familiar tools. Some of Whidbey's more ambitious features won't make the cut before it ships, and many will evolve into more usable forms of real tools. Will it make a substantial difference to Windows development?

Microsoft began active work on the next two VS.NET releases (the release after Whidbey is called Orcas) long before it released the current 2003 version. Whidbey and Orcas are tied to the next releases of SQL Server (code-named Yukon) and Windows (code-named Longhorn) (see the sidebars, "What's in a Code Name?" and "Riding Up to Longhorn"), respectively.

Microsoft started its marketing machine early for the initial version of VS.NET, announcing a ".NET Day" long before there were any products based on .NET technology. It's getting started even earlier this time; Microsoft has begun announcing many of these products long before public betas will be available. If you attended Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in October 2003, you heard about little besides products and development tools that will be unavailable until well into 2004 and beyond.

Other articles in this issue drill down into the details of Whidbey's new features, but it's important at this early date to have a sense of perspective on what has been promised—and what you'll likely receive—as well as how the disparate announcements fit together. This analysis of Whidbey's importance to you as a programmer or system architect should help you understand better the real benefits Whidbey and Orcas are likely to deliver to you as you read about the specific features of different aspects of the tools.