You know that VS 2008 (aka Orcas) just hit Beta 2 right? No? Well, in that case, this link roundup will help you get with the times!
Download VS 2008 Beta 2 - Links to download Standard, Professional, Team, and Express editions. Team editions also available as a Virtual PC image (I highly recommend this version).
Slashdotters freak out MS uses a bittorrent clone - MS has a test going to see if using "swarm" downloads will work for them. It uses the idea of bittorrent, but not the implementation (MS uses UPnP and secures the data lines for example). I find the reaction on /. humorous - who knew so many of them were dying to download the latest MS IDE? I guess Ruby is out and .Net is in!
Scott Guthrie gives us a VS 2008 hat trick of code editing improvements, a quick tour of new web development features, and some AJAX in .Net 3.5 and VS 2008 notes.
Brian Noyes posts his impressions of the VS 2008 WPF designer. In short, very nice, but still plan on using Blend with VS 2008 if you really want to polish the UI.
Speaking of Blend, Somasegar reminds us that Blend 2.0 beta is out as well as SilverLight RC 1.0. Perfect add-on when using VS 2008.
Last, not specifically .Net but, Wictor Wilen has a great post on the roadmap for Microsoft products. It seems after 5 years or so of waiting on Vista, Microsoft is going to be releasing a good deal of new software and products this fall and into the next year.
