Visual Studio 2005 vs 2008 and .NET Framework question?

I'm moving from Visual Studio 6 to something with .NET. I noticed 2008 is out, but the price (on PC Connection) isn't much different than that of 2005. Is it just minor incremental changes? Any reason not to go with 2008? I work in C/C++, Java, and VB.





Second, it uses .NET framework 3.5. Is that pre-installed on XP? I have it on my system, but as a developer I really don't recall if I downloaded it for something or it came with XP Pro. I'd be looking to write consumer apps and don't necessarily want them to have to download some large framework to run the executable or an app/control in the browser. Is anything .NET pre-installed on XP (and now Vista).





Thanks in advance

Visual Studio 2005 vs 2008 and .NET Framework question?
Definitely go with 2008. XP is actually installed with .NET 1.1 %26amp; 2.0 (used for Visual Studio 2003 %26amp; 2005 respectively). Vista comes with .NET 2.0 and 3.0 (I'm almost positive it doesn't come with 3.5) However if you're going to buy one and they're priced similarly go with 2008. The changes made were actually pretty substantial. With 2008 you can still create .NET 2.0 apps if you want to avoid people having to d/l the 3.5 framework. Plus it'll save you from having to buy it in a year or two when pretty much everyone is developing .NET 3.5 apps.