After nearly a year filled with preview releases, today Microsoft is officially launching Visual Studio 2015 which is their brand new IDE. Unlike previous version of Visual Studio, this release is spot on with the current trend of mobile devices. Yes, developers will be able to develop cross platform applications directly through Visual Studio.


Visual Studio 2015 is still very much a Windows dependent IDE but Microsoft has included quite a number of tools which will enable developers to make apps for platforms like Android and iOS. Alongside this new release, Microsoft is also announcing .NET 4.6 and they're also pleased to announce that Visual Studio 2015 will also come with C# 6 and also VB.NET 12.

It's here! Just Announced by @SSomasegar, CVP: #VS2015 & .NET 4.6 Available for Download. http://t.co/2UOpB4ZH8s pic.twitter.com/mrRGOdZ2yP

— Visual Studio (@VisualStudio) July 20, 2015

Beyond all the improvements to Visual Studio, with this version Microsoft is also streamlining the version into three distinct software packages. Just like what was previously announced, Microsoft will also be making a a free version of Visual Studio called Visual Studio Community 2015. The free Community editions has nearly the same feature set as Visual Studio Professional 2013 which is a big win for small scale developers.

As for professional corporate level version, Microsoft will be offering both Visual Studio Enterprise and Visual Studio Professional which comes with an MSDN subscription.

SOURCE: MSDN