Visual Studio .NET? A RAD Developer's Environment

What Is Visual Studio .NET? A RAD Developer's Environment from Microsoft:

New: With Visual Studio .NET you can now construct applications for a variety of mobile devices, including Pocket PCs, Tablet PCs, mobile phones, and more. Applications can be created using either Microsoft Visual Basic .NET or Microsoft Visual C .NET

Build Applications for the Web
Visual Basic .NET  delivers "Visual Basic for the Web." Using Web Forms, you can easily build true thin-client Web-based applications that intelligently render on any browser and on any platform. Programming with Web Forms combines the RAD (Rapid Application Development) experience of Visual Basic forms with the easy deployment and maintenance of Web-based applications. The enhanced HTML editor delivers IntelliSense statement completion for HTML tags, and the separation of user interface (UI) from code enables more efficient team-based development.

Trouble-free Deployment of Windows-based Applications
Visual Basic .NET and the .NET Framework simplify Windows-based application deployment and help to make "DLL Hell" and component versioning issues a thing of the past. XCOPY deployment enables developers to install a Windows-based application simply by copying files to a directory. With Visual Basic .NET and auto-download deployment, Windows-based applications can be installed and executed simply by pointing a Web browser to a URL.

Integration of Visual J .NET
Visual Studio .NET  includes Microsoft Visual J .NET, a development tool for Java-language developers who want to build applications and XML Web services using the .NET Framework.

Enhanced Upgrade Technology
Visual Basic .NET  developers can now leverage even more of their existing investments in code and skills. The improved upgrade wizard enables developers to migrate up to 95 percent of existing code to Visual Basic .NET. The upgrade wizard is now available in Visual Basic .NET  Standard edition and Visual Studio .NET  Professional, Visual Studio .NET  Enterprise, and Visual Studio .NET  Enterprise Architect editions.

XML Web Services Support
Visual Studio .NET  includes improved support for working with XML Web services, as well as support for the latest Web services standards including WS-Routing, WS-Security, WS-Attachments, and Direct Internet Message Encapsulation (DIME).

Incorporate and extend Microsoft .NET
Of all the languages enabled on the Microsoft .NET Framework, Visual C++ offers developers extremely powerful features for targeting the .NET-connected technologies. Existing C++ code is easily recompiled for .NET without modification, and developers are able to immediately begin using the powerful .NET Framework classes with familiar C++ syntax. New and existing components and applications written in C++ are easily exposed to .NET, enabling a multitude of cross-language possibilities and solutions. Powerful interop features specific to Visual C++ ensure that C++ applications can continue to leverage their roots on the Microsoft Windows platform as they are moved forward to the .NET common language runtime (CLR). 

New ADO.NET Managed Providers
New managed providers offer easy access to Oracle 7i, Oracle 8i, and ODBC data sources.

Online, Third-party Community Sites
Gain knowledge and advice from the improved integrated Dynamic Help system, as well as a host of online, third-party community sites.

Visual Studio .NET Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
The enhanced Visual Studio .NET  IDE provides improved start-up time, performance, and reliability.