Microsoft Nears Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Release

But for Windows Vista early adopters, Visual Studio 2005 SP1 won't fix dozens of bugs that pop up under the new operating system. For those fixes, users will have to wait for the Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista, scheduled for release after Vista's consumer launch on Jan. 30.

A full list of Vista compatibility issues is posted on MSDN. Problems range in severity from slow operation and missing buttons on some screens to certain templates vanishing in the upgrade process

A beta version of Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista will be released simultaneously with Visual Studio 2005 SP1.

For users on Windows XP and older operating systems, Visual Studio 2005 SP1 will fix a variety of problems, many reported through MSDN's customer feedback forum. Visual Studio 2005 SP1 addresses minor bugs like syntax-coloring glitches and major ones such as crashes triggered by specific scenarios.

Visual Studio 2005 SP1 also includes about 70 product updates, such as support for SQL Server Compact Edition and for integrating Team Foundation Server with Microsoft's new Excel 2007 and Project 2007.

When Visual Studio 2005 SP1 goes live, it will be available as a free download on Microsoft's Visual Studio Developer Center Web site. That link will go live as soon as the bits work their way through final approvals, according to Jay Roxe, group product manager for Visual Studio.

There are other compatibility issues in the Microsoft stack as Vista rolls out. CRN first reported last August that database users must update to a future Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2005 database in order to be fully supported on Vista. An early beta of SP2 was made available early this month and the final version is due soon after Vista itself becomes broadly available in later January.

This story was updated Friday afternoon with more information on the SQL Server SP2 rollout plans.