The Beta 2 release of Visual Studio 2008 & .NET 3.5 is now available for download. Beta 2 includes a go-live license, which allows developers to use this version in production.
In addition to all the improvements and enhancements provided by Beta 2 the go-live license and the fact that VS 2008 is feature complete are of major importance to early adopters. Now they may put the new 3.5 features to use in production and can receive appropriate support, too.
Scott Guthrie explains Multi-Targeting Support. He also writes about the improvements for web developers: JavaScript Intellisense, new Web Designer and CSS support, and Nested Master Pages support. This summary provides an extensive list and some installation notes. There is also a video on Channel 9 by Scott and S. Somasegar, which gives some information about the new features, usage scenarios and the development of VS 2008.
David Hayden examines LINQ support and providers, such as the LINQ DataSource and the LINQ to SQL Validation. His post on Partial Methods demonstrates the extended support for code generation in C# and VB.
Microsoft plans a launch party for Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 on February 27, 2008, in Los Angeles. Judging from the release of Vista and VS 2005 the final product will be available for MSDN subscribers and may reach the stores some weeks in advance.