Microsoft makes Visual Studio 2017 available

During the celebration of Visual Studio’s 20th anniversary, Microsoft made the latest version of the integrated development environment available on Tuesday. According to the software developer, Visual Studio has made it faster, among other things.

That speed should, among other things, come to the fore at startup: according to Microsoft, Visual Studio 2017 starts three times faster than its 2015 predecessor. The installation procedure has also been accelerated; the software takes up less space and users can choose to install only the parts they need.

The new version of the ide gives developers more options to target mobile applications, including the integration of Xamarin 4.3, which directly adds support for Apple’s tvOS. The software further improves the link between mobile apps and cloud services. In addition, there is the possibility to develop for Linux with C++.

The possibilities for collaborating on projects have been expanded. Feedback is more visible and new Git features have been integrated into Team Explorer. An important addition is the Live Unit Tester, which shows changes live in the editor. However, it is only available in Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise.

The Enterprise version is priced identically to Visual Studio 2015, and developers also get Redgate Data Tools and a new DevOps Accelerator for that amount. The Community Edition remains available at no cost. The software runs on Windows 10 from version 1507, Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter and Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Standard and Datacenter.

Microsoft lists the full list of changes on the Visual Studio site. At the same time, Microsoft has provided updates to the test versions of Visual Studio for Mac, Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2017, and Visual Studio Mobile Center.