Microsoft Releases Visual Studio LightSwitch

Today Microsoft announced the availability of the Visual Studio LightSwitch final release version, which is available today to MSDN subscribers and will be generally available on July 28. Non-MSDN subscribers candownload a 90-day trial version of the product today.

Visual Studio LightSwitch, which was originally announced nearly a year ago, is a simplified version of the Visual Studio IDE geared toward both non-developer users and developers who want to build small-scope, data-driven line-of-business applications quickly. LightSwitch applications use Silverlight for the front end and can pull data from multiple sources, such as SQL Server, SQL Azure, SharePoint, and Microsoft Access.

Jason Zander, corporate vice president for the Visual Studio team in the Developer Division at Microsoft, blogged about the Visual Studio LightSwitch announcement here. In the blog, Zander discusses highlights of the release, including starter kits, the ability to publish LightSwitch applications to Windows Azure, and LightSwitch extensions.

DevProConnections has been covering Visual Studio LightSwitch since its announcement in August 2010. Check out the following articles on LightSwitch for independent developer perspectives on the product by several DevProConnections authors--Jonathan Goodyear, Michael K. Campbell, Michael Otey, Tim Huckaby, and Don Kiely. And look for more in-depth technical articles on LightSwitch coming soon!

Visual Studio LightSwitch: Mort Lives!
Jonathan Goodyear explains why Microsoft's Visual Studio LightSwitch should be a big favorite with Mort, the classic Visual Basic persona for the non-developer interested in creating LOB apps for his team.

Visual Studio LightSwitch: A Useful Rapid Development Tool for Building Data Applications
Don Kiely appreciates Visual Studio LightSwitch, now in Beta 2, because it's based on tried-and-true Microsoft technologies, like Silverlight 4, WCF, and SQL Server, and provides a good way for developers to build data-centric applications for small businesses or groups quickly.

Visual Studio LightSwitch: A Silverlight Application Generator
Visual Studio LightSwitch is a uniquely SKU’d version of Visual Studio that has tools to quickly build Silverlight applications through a series of wizard choices and configuration settings.

Visual Studio LightSwitch and WebMatrix: Are They Good for Professional Developers?
Microsoft's recent releases of the WebMatrix and Visual Studio LightSwitch tools for non-developers shows real vision in encouraging businesses to use the Microsoft stack for ALL their development needs.

Visual Studio LightSwitch’s True Target Audience
Here's why despite Microsoft positioning Visual Studio LightSwitch as an end-user developer tool, it’s actually a better fit for professional developers.

Turning On to LightSwitch
Microsoft once owned the novice developer space with Visual Basic (VB) 6. When Microsoft took a turn down the .NET road, VB6 with its simplicity and productivity was lost for good. This is where the new Visual Studio LightSwitch product comes in.