Microsoft Announces Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 and SQL Server 2005 April CTP

I recently got the following announcement from my contact at Microsoft:

Today, Microsoft announced the availability of Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2, .NET Framework 2.0 Beta 2 and SQL Server 2005 April CTP (Community Technology Preview), the latest major milestone in delivering the next generation products. Together, SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 will provide a tightly integrated developer and data management platform, enabling customers to make the most out of existing skills and familiar tools, while harnessing data in powerful new ways that increase productivity and efficiency. Microsoft also announced the Microsoft Go-Live license program for customers interested in deploying Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express Edition applications into production immediately. For the first time, the Go-Live License will permit the deployment of not only ASP.NET Web applications, but also Windows Forms, Visual Studio Tools For Office-based applications, and .NET Compact Framework applications.

The article continues at http://www.asp101.com/articles/john/vs2005beta2/default.asp