Yesterday, Microsoft's Developer Division (DevDiv) released beta 1 of Visual Studio "Orcas", which corresponds with the Connected Systems Division’s beta 1 release of the .NET Framework 3.5. Soma blogged this yesterday morning. Visual Studio "Orcas" enables developers and development teams to rapidly create Software + Services on the latest platforms, including the Web, Windows Vista, the 2007 Office System, and Windows Server "Longhorn".
As usualy, one of the most common questions about Orcas is, "When will it ship?". Well, here's Microsoft's official/public timeline:
Orcas Beta 1 will ship "Before TechEd Orlando in early June." - done! (see below)
Orcas Beta 2 will ship "In the North American summer."
Orcas RTM will ship "Before the end of the year."
BTW you can download the ready-to-go VPC images here (Team Suite) and here (TFS) of Orcas.