Visual Studio "14" CTP 2 is released

The CTPs of the next major release of Visual Studio "14" (like other CTPs) are for testing and early adopters to try out (and hopefully provide no cost useful information to Microsoft) exciting new features.

You can download and install them or, you can use the image on a pre-built Azure Virtual Machine. You can access the Azure site gallery for information regarding this.

If you are planning to install on your desktop/laptop then you must read the release notes here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2967191

as some side-by-side installations with other versions will not work without a little bit of lifting. You will be better off on a new machine without any of VS 2013.

Release notes also provide details regarding the enhancements to ASP.NET and web development; Visual Studio IDE, and Visual C++.

The Visual Studio 14 CTP1 download details here:

CTP 1

3 June 2014

14.0.21730.01.DP •

• Visual Studio Professional (web | iso)

Web:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=399011

ISO:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=399010

 

ISO SHA1: 3A02CD387314E8F8E56CEB20048E89A97FA9EC25

• Remote Tools (x86 | x64 | arm)

 x86:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=399015

x64:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=399014

arm:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=399013

• Visual Studio SDK (exe)

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=399012

Visual Studio 14 CTP2 download details here:

CTP 2

Date: 8 July 2014

Version: 14.0.21901.01.DP

• Visual Studio Professional (web | iso)

ISO SHA1: 49B068267F0EA532028B9644797789757B53EC29

 

Web:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=401041

 

ISO:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=401042

 

• Remote Tools (x86 | x64 | arm)

x86:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=401046

x64:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=401045

arm:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=401044

• Visual Studio SDK (exe)

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=401043

 

SQL Server 2014 goes RTM

SQL Server 2014 RTM, billed as 'Microsoft Cloud First Platform' will be RTM on April 1, 2014
The main feature is the in-memory OLTP processing which will turbo- charge transaction processing making it as much as 30 times faster. In order to use this feature you need memroy-optimized databases and tables declared as memory optimized. These memory-optimized tables are stored in file groups.

In-memory transaction processing appears to be not new, but peer pressure from products already in the market makes it important to highlight this feature in this offering as it is fully integrated with the present version.

The other prominent feature is the enhancements to Microsoft Azure in particular the enhancements leading to integration between on premises and cloud based environments. SQL Server 2014 instances can be backed up to Windows Azure Storage which can then be deployed as Windows Azure VM by just invoking a wizard. This  can then be designated as a high availability node for SQL Server 2014.

Of course to reap all this benefit you need to purchase SQL Server 2014. I know people using SQL Server 2000 even now, I assume it is still supported.

For more information read these articles:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/dbms/sql-server-2014-supercharged-in-memory-tables-azure-connectivity-238639?source=IFWNLE_nlt_daily_pm_2014-03-18

http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-sql-server-2014-crowns-redmonds-data-platform-7000027444/