Microsoft has released updates for two of its most popular developer tools. The company introduced .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1), which it has been beta testing since February, and Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008. Both products are relatively new; the .NET Framework 3.5 shipped last November and Visual Studio 2008 came out in February.

With the new upgrade, Visual Studio 2008 SP1 release sports JavaScript support, enhanced AJAX and data tools, and Web site deployment improvements, as well as improved tools for ADO.Net Entity Framework and better Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) development tools. The new Visual Studio release will also be fine-tuned to work with SQL Server 2008, allowing developers to tap into the database management platform when creating new applications.

Next up is what the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 will deliver. Major features in .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 include a 20 to 45 percent improvement in WPF applications and changes to the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) to change the way data and services are accessed. It also includes improvements in the area of data platform, such as the ADO.NET Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services and support for SQL Server 2008’s new features.

"This is a huge step forward for the more than four million .NET developers worldwide," said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of Microsoft's .Net developer division. "The .Net Framework Client Profile significantly speeds up the installation of Windows and enables a much more consumer-friendly experience."

The Visual Studio 2008 SP1 can be downloaded here, whereas .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 can be downloaded by clicking here.