Microsoft had previously intended that Visual Studio 2005 would ship in the summer of this year, but it is now looking like the second half of the year will be more likely. There will be several different versions of the development suite, which we should see by the end of 2005.
The Redmond, Wash., company announced that estimated retail pricing for Visual Studio 205 Express will be $49; Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition will run $299 or $199 for upgrades from the previous edition; and Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition will run $799 and $549 for upgrades, as will Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System.
Microsoft has pledged that subscribers to MSDN Universal, the current elite MSDN subscription, will be able to move to Visual Studio 2005 Team System at no charge. There will, however, remain a number of MSDN options for Microsoft customers.