I just spent about 37 hours downloading the August Visual Studio 2005 CTP. It installed quickly and without issue. That’s a big step forward. It has one little, miniscule, tiny, insignificant bug though. The backspace key does not work. That’s not a problem though. I never make typing misteks.
Update:
Ok, I isolated this problem. If I select a word in the code editor and press backspace the word is removed but the backspace key is inop. The other keys work fine and if I reposition to another character, backspace comes back to life. It seems the IDE is still haunted. I tried this on an empty code page and it was even stranger… try it yourself.
Bill - where???
I was curious as to "where" as well since i don't see it in MSDN Subscriber downloads
After I posted this entry I was told that there was a problem in MSDE land. Apparently, they can't post anything until a problem is resolved. I was able to obtain the August CTP as I'm on an invitation-only Beta V for a new download technology...
BTW Bill, did you try the stomp your left foot 3 times and hail "Begone the haunted keyboard spirit" trick for the backspace key?
How many changes do you see in the framework itself at this stage?
My left foot has blisters...
I've had the new CTP about 12 hours so far and I've been sleeping 6 of those hours. ;)
I'll post on any differences I see. Frankly, I'm more distressed about support (or lack there-of) in VB.NET for the nullable types (as supported in C#). First, I think a change this dramatic destabilizes the build. We're now under 83 days before they plan to release. They have to be nuts to make a change that big in the Framework and expect it to be stable enough to ship by Nov 7. We can only assume they know what they're doing--or they have another plan. Perhaps they expect to ship a preliminary build and a service pack in a month or two to fix the issues they couldn't get done on time.
Know of any talk that describes the big deal about the "nullable types".. i just don't understand what its about or more importantly, why everyone is all in a huff over it
Remember "The Empire Strikes Back"? When Yoda said "You wiiilll, you will". Hopefully this will be clear when you (and everyone else) gets the CTP.
Bill, any additional comments / experience with the August CTP over the July CTP?
I'm building a log of stuff that I found.
The DataSource wizard bug is apparently a SQL Server 2005 issue. It seems to be okay, but I'm worried that they are going to ship too soon.
Bill - Is the August CTP compatible with the June CTP of Yukon?
The August CTP is not compatible with the July SQL Server. They tell me it won't be until sometime in early November... ;) but PERHAPS the September CTP (if there is one) will be.
Incidentally, the backspace issue has been resolved as "won't fix". It is triggered when you choose a non-fixed-pitch font in the editor. They know what's wrong but are afraid to make any changes this late in the game.
Microsoft asked me to remove my link to the Avalanche beta for "security" reasons. They want to limit the beta to MVPs and selected customers. Those that don't have the August CTP by now still can't get it from MSDN--it's still not posted there. IMHO, this is a serious problem. This version is the most important of all as it includes (for the first time) the implementation of nullable types. It's essential that people download this version from whereever they can get it as soon as possible and test it.