Visual Studio 2008 SP1: Why not VS 2009?
Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack (SP) 1, which Microsoft released to manufacturing on August 11, isn't just a bunch of fixes and patches.
VS 2008 SP1 -- and the accompanying .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 -- include a boat-load of new features, too, from ADO.Net Data Services ("Astoria"), to the first version of the (maligned) .Net Entity Framework. SP1 also adds VS 2008 support for SQL Server 2008, which Microsoft just finalized last week.
Why not just call SP1 a new release, say Visual Studio 2009, I asked Partner Product Unit Manager Shanku Niyogi.
"There are still lots of bug fixes and improvements," he said simply.
SP1 isn't so much about adding support for a new class of apps as it is for providing "new building blocks for building applications in a better and more modern way," Niyogi explained.
(I'd bet the VS team also isn't keen on getting on the annual-release update cycle that other teams at Microsoft are attempting to escape, at the behest of customers.)
Developers interested in the latest bits can download VS 2008 SP1 and .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 from the Microsoft Download Center as of today.