Movements in .NET area
Microsoft previews the SP1 for .NET Framework 1.1. Since yesterday, they offer for free all the six parts of the beta Visual Studio 2005 called VB 2005 Express, VC++ Express 2005 etc. The packages include a preview of the 2.0 Framework, a SQL Express version (testers said it is the Jet killer) and a Web development application.
This follows the trend started with Framework 1.0, when the C# compiler was included, and continued with Framework 1.1 and Visual Studio 2004, when Microsoft gave away for free the C++ compiler.
On the opposite side, Mono 1.0 was released.