Upgrade Advice
Joined: 28-Jun-2004
Ok, what do you more experienced devs do at a time like now where vs.net 2005 is just around the corner and almost every other tool/component coming out will have a new version being release on .NET 2.0
Say you got a project that will you will start in probably 2 months time, and prolly take quite some time to finish all the sub projects for it, maybe 8 months to a year. Do you build it in Whidbey or 1.1? Personally i love all the new features in .NET 2.0 so i would say since beta 2 has a go live license start to build it in whidbey. But what do you do about your other apps like LLBLGen which will have a new version out, about midway through your development. Or infragisitics for example will have a new version out that takes advantage of .NET 2.0 shortly after vs 2005 is RTM. Do you just use the current versions of the tools (assuming they give you no problems)? Do you start the project with a beta of the tools (ie. Infragistics 2005 volume 1 beta 1 for .NET 2.0) . Do you yell at frans to get the lead out?? 
Answer wrote:
Ok, what do you more experienced devs do at a time like now where vs.net 2005 is just around the corner and almost every other tool/component coming out will have a new version being release on .NET 2.0
haha just around the corner he says 
Make that RTM in december 2005 and released into your hands somewhere in january/february 2006, mark my words. I'd be VERY surprised if this was different. (i.e.: released in september for example)
Say you got a project that will you will start in probably 2 months time, and prolly take quite some time to finish all the sub projects for it, maybe 8 months to a year. Do you build it in Whidbey or 1.1?
Definitely 1.1. I've worked with MS betas long enough to know that this is still a beta and with that come a lot of problems, problems you don't want to deal with. Plus, the documentation likely isn't final yet, perhaps they even change a method here and there...
Personally i love all the new features in .NET 2.0 so i would say since beta 2 has a go live license start to build it in whidbey. But what do you do about your other apps like LLBLGen which will have a new version out, about midway through your development. Or infragisitics for example will have a new version out that takes advantage of .NET 2.0 shortly after vs 2005 is RTM. Do you just use the current versions of the tools (assuming they give you no problems)? Do you start the project with a beta of the tools (ie. Infragistics 2005 volume 1 beta 1 for .NET 2.0) . Do you yell at frans to get the lead out??
heh 
As with all the new major platforms: they're useful after a while, not when they're in beta. That's also why I don't rush a 2.0 version out the door while .NET 2.0 isn't even released. The vast majority of developers are in projects on .NET 1.1, and have to stay on taht version for a long period of time. Just an indication: all 3rd party controls I've worked with in the past year are build against .NET 1.0 and for a reason.
That aside, if you want to utilize the .NET 2.0 features, you can of course take the risk of using a beta and go ahead. Though, also don't forget: it will take perhaps 6 months before you and I (I think I need 5 to 6 months minimum to fully grasp all new .NET 2.0 functionality) know what to do in .NET 2.0 and what not to do.
Joined: 28-Jun-2004
Yeah.....hehe Just around the corner was NOT the correct wording
Whidbey Code editor is far better in my opinion to 2003. I have a hard time going back!
That aside, if you want to utilize the .NET 2.0 features, you can of course take the risk of using a beta and go ahead. Though, also don't forget: it will take perhaps 6 months before you and I (I think I need 5 to 6 months minimum to fully grasp all new .NET 2.0 functionality) know what to do in .NET 2.0 and what not to do.
i would be willing to bet i probably would not be taking advantage of to many of the .NET 2.0 features, but rather the new features of the IDE. Your right, it takes forever to learn the new stuff and become aquainted with it.
One such example would be the better webservice support. Hopefully you can create a plugin faily quick (hint hint...hehe ) to generate for the client. Makes life much easier then having to deal with the stupid file getting overwritten all the time.
I just hate designing something then like a year later you look back and say dam, that would be so much more slick and easier if i would have only used generics 
Answer wrote:
Yeah.....hehe Just around the corner was NOT the correct wording
If you want to have that functionality, resharper or coderush offer similar experiences today . But the code editor is indeed pretty slick. The rest is very unstable. It crashed on me at least 5 times yesterday and the overall IDE performance is slow, except for the code editor.
That aside, if you want to utilize the .NET 2.0 features, you can of course take the risk of using a beta and go ahead. Though, also don't forget: it will take perhaps 6 months before you and I (I think I need 5 to 6 months minimum to fully grasp all new .NET 2.0 functionality) know what to do in .NET 2.0 and what not to do.
i would be willing to bet i probably would not be taking advantage of to many of the .NET 2.0 features, but rather the new features of the IDE. Your right, it takes forever to learn the new stuff and become aquainted with it. One such example would be the better webservice support. Hopefully you can create a plugin faily quick (hint hint...hehe
I'll try to add that. It's a bit problematic though I think at first glance, as it works with XSD's, but perhaps I've overlooked something.
I just hate designing something then like a year later you look back and say dam, that would be so much more slick and easier if i would have only used generics
heh, that's always the case. "It's always better in the next release!"
Joined: 09-Jul-2004
Just my two cents. I'm with Frans and others on this about the release date. I'd be shocked if they do release in September. With that being said, I chose to "port" a new product that I'm working on to 2005. The reasons were numerous, but 2 major points, first this is a new product with numerous objects exposed to the end user for customization. It makes a lot of sense to use generics and I would hate to have to release 1.0 without generics (i.e. w/ VS2003) then turn around and release the next version and break everybody. Sure, I could provide backwards compatibility or some sort of easy migration, but why count on that when you haven't even released 1.0. Second, if the product is a few months late, it's not going to choke our revenue stream that badly. In fact, we could probably use the extra time to pack in some more features and do some last minute tweaks to make the product that much better.
I think you need to fully analyze your situation to determine what makes sense for you and your customers.
Answer wrote:
Ok, what do you more experienced devs do at a time like now where vs.net 2005 is just around the corner and almost every other tool/component coming out will have a new version being release on .NET 2.0
Say you got a project that will you will start in probably 2 months time, and prolly take quite some time to finish all the sub projects for it, maybe 8 months to a year. Do you build it in Whidbey or 1.1? Personally i love all the new features in .NET 2.0 so i would say since beta 2 has a go live license start to build it in whidbey. But what do you do about your other apps like LLBLGen which will have a new version out, about midway through your development. Or infragisitics for example will have a new version out that takes advantage of .NET 2.0 shortly after vs 2005 is RTM. Do you just use the current versions of the tools (assuming they give you no problems)? Do you start the project with a beta of the tools (ie. Infragistics 2005 volume 1 beta 1 for .NET 2.0) . Do you yell at frans to get the lead out??