I’m using the 2005 version, and wondering if I should upgrade. The big question is the extent to which this requires immersion in Vista issues. Will VS2008 work acceptably under XP (which I’d like to keep)? Does the switch have important advantages? Is upgrading existing projects straightforward or a nuisance? Will I be producing software that works well only under Vista, or can I continue to make XP users happy?
In short, should I get with the program or soldier along as I am?
I am using 2008 exclusively under XP. I have no issues with it and it produces software for XP fine.
I can’t tell you if it has any advantages of 2005 as I did not use 2005 long enough to get a feel for the differences. You might try asking your question here. StackOverflow was just introduced to me via this board and I am finding it a great resource. They have a place just for Visual Studio questions too.
There shouldn’t be any problem running VS 2008 on XP, or using it to produce software that runs on XP. Not surprisingly, however, the IDE consumes even more memory than VS 2005. You may want to hold off on an upgrade if you don’t have a lot of free memory on your development system.
I haven’t had any problem importing VS 2005 projects.
There are some nice enhancements here and there, but overall it isn’t radically different from 2005.
I will note that there is an annoying bug for IE users of ASP.NET Ajax applications developed with VS2005 that only goes away if you upgrade to ASP.NET 3.5 with VS2008 (it has to do with framed windows, such as you need if you want to write Facebook apps). That was the final straw that made me convert my projects to VS2008 (I had the more recent version, but hadn’t made the jump because all of my clients were still using 2005).
I have to say that if you’re using .NET, VS2008 is a huge step forward in productivity. The new features of C# (and VB.NET if you use it), mixed with the improved Intellisense and code completion make coding a pleasure. Combine that with the new Test Project features and the class diagramming tool and you have a much more complete environment for design, coding and debugging.
Thanks - good advice here. It sounds as if I should certainly upgrade.
Khadaji, thanks for the StackOverflow link. Looks quite useful - can’t believe I haven’t stumbled across this sooner.