Microsoft has launched Visual Studio 2012 and .Net Framework 4.5, its integrated development platform for building and managing applications.
The company hopes developers will use the latest Visual Studio and .Net platform to build applications that target Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Windows Server 2012 operating systems.
According to Microsoft, the latest Visual Studio tackles team development and application lifecycle management.
In a blog post on the Microsoft Developer's Network, Sivaramakichenane Somasegar, corporate vice-president of the developer division at Microsoft, wrote: "Visual Studio 2012 is all about enabling you to build and manage these consumer-focused and business-focused apps. It provides best-in-class tools that propel developers to build new apps or evolve existing ones, and it enables individuals and teams to deliver continuous value, with agility, and on their own terms."
In addition, the latest version of Microsoft's ubiquitous .Net framework is set to bridge the gap between on-premise server applications and its Azure cloud platform. The framework is a key component of the Windows Server 2012 operating system, which was released earlier in September.
According to Microsoft, the .Net Framework 4.5 will support on-premise (Windows Server) and cloud-based (Windows Azure) applications and support asynchronous and parallel programming.
While .Net is considered an alternative to Java for building server applications, many software developers do not see the value of the Azure platform, according to analyst company Forrester.
In The Future of Microsoft .Net report, Forrester analyst John Rymer noted: "Microsoft has invested billions in its cloud computing properties, most notably Azure, and will continue to do so for many years. The company is in the midst of a painful business model transition from standalone products to cloud services. Now it just has to get a lot of enterprise customers to adopt them. This is why the new Windows platform includes Azure."
