Microsoft has launched the final RTM release of Visual Studio 2010, which will be available in three (3) editions, namely Ultimate, Professional and Premium. In addition, there are also a Visual Studio Test Professional 2010, a specialized toolset for QA (quality assurance) test execution; Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010, which streamlines and automates software delivery process for all team members; and Visual Studio 2010 Express, which is available for free. Visual Studio is a IDE (Integrated Development Environment) from Microsoft for developers and programmers to develop console and graphical user interface (GUI) applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code together with managed code for all platforms supported by Windows OS, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, .NET Framework, .NET Compact Framework and Microsoft Silverlight.

Visual Studio 2010

The released Visual Studio 2010 RTM has the build version 10.0.30319.1 RTMRel. Visual Studio 2010 provides several feature enhancements over Visual Studio 2008. Visual Studio 2010 includes a new editor which uses the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and supports multiple monitors. The upgraded IDE broadens Visual Studio’s ALM capabilities and introduces code-focused productivity features, such as code search across all languages; the ability to highlight all references to a symbol; generation of stubs for types, methods, properties and constructions; new method of recognizing bugs with cause determine or identification; and displaying live build-error information in design-time for C#. In addition, there is addition of architecture and testing tools that help developers automate testing, reproduce bugs and model software.

Visual Studio 2010 also includes upgrades to Team Foundation Server (TFS) which focuses on helping large development teams to collaborate and adhere to requirements. Third-party tools can plug into TFS to extend its functionality.

Microsoft is making available Visual Studio 2010 trials for free download at Microsoft Download Center. MSDN subscriber, WebsiteSpark, BizSpark and DreamSpark members can also download full pre-activated version of Visual Studio from respective program. In fact, the pre-activated Visual Studio 2010 ISO images from MSDN have been leaked, and the generic master product keys used to activate Visual Studio 2010 has been revealed.

For people who wants to try out and evaluation Visual Studio, here’s the direct download links to the web installers and ISOs of various SKU and editions of Visual Studio 2010. Users can evaluate Visual Studio 2010 editions free for 90 days. After 30 days, customers must register the product to obtain a free key which extends the trial an additional 60 days.

Note: Visual Studio 2010 is only available in 32-bit (x86) version, but it can be used to develop and compile programs for 64-bit (x64) environment. The only difference between trial version of Visual Studio 2010 and the pre-activated Visual Studio 2010 is that the generic MAK product key for Visual Studio activation is removed.

Visual Studio 2010 Professional Trial

Web Installer: vs_proweb.exe
ISO: VS2010ProTrial_4PartsTotal.part1.exe, VS2010ProTrial_4PartsTotal.part2.rar, VS2010ProTrial_4PartsTotal.part3.rar and VS2010ProTrial_4PartsTotal.part4.rar

Visual Studio 2010 Premium Trial

Web Installer: vs_premiumweb.exe
ISO: VS2010PremTrial_4PartsTotal.part1.exe, VS2010PremTrial_4PartsTotal.part2.rar, VS2010PremTrial_4PartsTotal.part3.rar and VS2010PremTrial_4PartsTotal.part4.rar

Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Trial

Web Installer: vs_ultimateweb.exe
ISO: VS2010UltimTrial_4PartsTotal.part1.exe, VS2010UltimTrial_4PartsTotal.part2.rar, VS2010UltimTrial_4PartsTotal.part3.rar and VS2010UltimTrial_4PartsTotal.part4.rar

Visual Studio Test Professional 2010 Trial

Web Installer: vs_testproweb.exe
ISO: X16-42549VS2010TestProTrial1.iso

Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 Trial

ISO: VS2010TFS_3PartsTotal.part1.exe, VS2010TFS_3PartsTotal.part2.rar and VS2010TFS_3PartsTotal.part3.rar

Visual Studio 2010

Pricing Details for Visual Studio 2010

Visual Studio 2010 Professional

with MSDN Essentials (Upgrade or Renewal): $549
with MSDN Essentials (Full Version): $799
with MSDN (Upgrade or Renewal): $799 (e.g. Visual Studio 2008 Professional)
with MSDN (Full Version): $1,199

Visual Studio 2010 Premium (include MSDN)

Full Version: $5,469
Upgrade or Renewal: $2,299 Renewal (e.g. Visual Studio 2008 Architect Edition, Database Edition, Developer Edition and Test Edition)

Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate (include MSDN)

Full Version: $11,899
Renewal or Upgrade: $3,799 (e.g. Visual Studio 2008 Team System and Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite)

Visual Studio 2010 Test Professional

Full Version: $2,169
Upgrade or Renewal: $899

For differences between various Visual Studio 2010 products, visit Visual Studio homepage.

Visual Studio 2010

Update: Visual Studio 2010 SP1 has been released.a href=”http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/6/6/F6615AB8-E082-4E92-A715-A087E83D37F8/X16-42549VS2010TestProTrial1.iso”